India Sweets and Spices

I think my review will be a bit bias considering I can definitely relate to what happened in the movie. Parents relationship, community dynamic, being an independent/rebellious girl in the family, etc.

With that said, this movie was very enjoyable. The story was interesting and dramatic. The acting was mediocre but I believe that was the script's fault. Overall, a great movie.

I enjoyed this film. Visually it's often quite beautiful, especially if you're someone like me who loves the Indian aesthetic. It's also at times amusing and at other times addressing deep issues. More than once it reminded me of what I consider to be one of the greatest films of all time, The Graduate. Not that India Sweets and Spices approaches The Graduate's greatness, but they have a few things in common. This includes a main character who is twenty-ish, exploring life and her own role in it, and grappling with the phoniness, hypocrisy and superficiality of the adults in her life. Oh, and of course, there's the scene in which she attempts to escape the world around her by exhaling bubbles while sitting at the bottom of her parents' pool.

Added to this in India Sweets is something The Graduate does not have, i.e., the implications, both subtle and not, of what women have to tolerate in a male-driven culture. The message comes across, loud and clear!

I came into this movie expecting another Bollywood mishmash of action/drama/comedy/romance. What I found with something original and different. The movie revealed the dark side of Indian culture with its gossip and rumormongering. Being of Indian descent, I know this is a reality although the movie obviously amplified it for entertainment purposes. The movie was entertaining but like lacked a little depth and made a few plot decisions which didn't make much sense. Overall, it could've been fantastic but ended up being a sweet, not too spicy, and fun watch.

This movie provides a perfect look into the Indian marital system and how women make sacrifices for culture over their hearts. A charming transition from a patriarchal society into the modern world of how young Indian women navigate society while keeping true to their culture yet spurning the patriarchy that has held women down for centuries. What a refreshing view on the evolution of feminism in Indian culture.

I am pleasantly surprised how smart the script is. Calling this film a comedy is misleading and a mistake, but it's definitely worth a watch. It doesn't glamorize and idealize the Indian culture, it presents how rich, upper "class" is snobbish and conceited. The main character is an interesting, intelligent girl from the "upper class", whose personal life suddenly gets complicated because she falls for a poor Indian man. It's fascinating to see that the Indian diaspora keeps the old prejudices and flaws of the traditional Indian society despite living and being successful in modern America. Apparently you can get an Indian out of India but it's much more difficult to get India out of an Indian...