Chutney Popcorn

Firstly, it's a refreshing film worth watching. Indian/Lesbian twist really adds spice on an old rebellious child eloping plot.

I have some problems with some minority themed films. In these films, somehow gay/lesbian always had a brief dancing with heterosexuality, and minority character has to have conflict with mother culture by dating white guy/gal. What's up with that? Otherwise audience won't "get it"? It's almost "pandering" to mass audience.

But then others might say "otherwise it might not worked". It really depend what the author is trying to make, a "product" or an art statement or whatever is in between.

ok, i have some preparation for this film before seeing it in that i am a white guy married to an Indian woman, have gay friends, and i have an affinity for independent films, but this film has great characters and lots of charm. so, it sort of feels like an independent film in that it doesn't feel glossy all over and the characters are more offbeat, those are plusses in my book. it is a very human movie about the experiences of life with other people. my wife really liked it too. if you liked this movie, another really good non-traditional Canadian-Indian movie is Masala (not Mississippi Masala) from 1991 by Srinivas Krishna.

As an Indian American and a female, I was pleasantly delighted by this movie. I found it to be very funny and especially interesting because of the lesbian themes. It surprised me to see this in the movie, because Indians generally feel uncomfortable talking about homosexuality at all. I don't think it's necessarily a bias or prejudice against it, just conservatism.

I didn't really relate to any of the characters in the movie, mostly because there were too many characters and little development of any of their personalities. But I adored Madhury Jaffrey, who was very natural and realistic as the mother. She reminds me so much of my own mother, and many of the things she says to her two daughters about marriage and family are comments my own mother's made to me. It was strangely comforting to see the ambivalence that Indians born and raised in the US feel in trying to maintain their culture while being true to themselves. Until now, I haven't seen it discussed so frankly and honestly in a movie.

Shout out to production and location management on this film. This movie is a little gem among similar fare with so many diverse outlooks that every scene gives you a nugget of character. The colors make this film really pop; along with Nisha's use of visual metaphor melting together seamlessly.

However, Nisha is no actor and the ADR can be pretty....uncanny at times. Like "The Room" levels of bad dubbing of lines that can break focus for many viewers.

What really stands out about Chutney Popcorn is the sense of humor that persists through an emotional plot, and this gives it a good degree of realism. Even as the family is falling apart, one can still laugh at their quirks. Life, and the funny moments that define it, goes on for these people. The humor transforms this film from the overdone melodrama it could have been into a sweet and convincing story.

The realistic quality of this film is what makes it so wonderful, in my opinion. The characters are really genuine human beings who talk like real people instead of actors with a script. There aren't any gaping plot holes or implausible events. There's plenty of lesbian humor that you don't have to be part of the gay culture to understand, and the family's Indian heritage has its parallels in any family's cultural background. The camerawork, acting, everything pretty much makes the film down to earth and real. The movie was a bit slow at times (the plot isn't really conducive to a lot of action) but it held my attention.

If you're a fan of movies about people and family, go see this! Expect more character-based humor than slapstick - it's not so much a comedy as a story that happens to have funny moments. Check this movie out, it's a lot of fun.