Bollywood/Hollywood

This homage to Bollywood movies is actually a melodramatic farce with vibrant colors and a just dose of romance. The movie does have some charm and is funny in more than one way. But more musical numbers would have been nice. Good to get a taste of what life is for the Toronto's East Indian community. Nice way to address the culture clash of Toronto's multi-cultural facade. The acting is good by Rahul Khanna and gorgeous Lisa Ray.

Out of 100, I give it 80. That's good for *** out of ****.

Seen in Toronto, at the Alliance Atlantis Cumberland Cinemas, on November 3rd, 2002.

I see some of the reviewers here describe this as a parody of or satire on Bollywood musicals. Having seen nothing of Bollywood except a few music clips, I can't talk about that. I have to take this movie at face value, and on its face this is a moderately diverting musical with a few good moments amidst too many rather drab ones.

The story is somewhat interesting, the character of Sue, who fulfills the role of shaker-upper-of-things is quite appealing, and some of the musical numbers are pleasant (surprisingly, no one sang in that helium-junkie pitched style the girls all seem to have whenever I see clips from Bollywood musicals, although I don't know if this is because they were trying to make the movie more appealing to the west by having a more western-style voice singing these Indian songs or whether that high-pitched voice isn't as common as it seems to be). But the movie feels underdeveloped (even though I found it a little dull, I still felt it needed to be longer to flesh itself out) and most of the characters are overly generic (except for the grandmother and Sue's father). Ultimately watchable but nothing more, unless you're a fan of Bollywood films in which case this may work on a whole different level I don't see.

Nice attempt at a combination of Bollywood *and* Hollywood spoof, plus gentle fun being poked at the Indian-Canadian community. But too amateurish a production, and TOO LONG! After introducing the characters, the story drags and drags till you lose interest.

The silent subtitles are sometimes funny ("Non-veg scene. What to do?") but mostly just annoying and trying too hard. Similarly, uneven quality and terrible delivery by the young characters makes the dialogue embarrassing.

The biggest problem is the movie's own utterly predictable storyline. Just because it's spoofing Pretty Woman and numerous Bollywood movies doesn't mean its own story has to be such a cliche.

I gave it a 6 out of 10 for trying, but I think I was being too generous.

When you don't expect much from a movie and it makes you smile, laugh and gaze – then it can be said that it is a has been worth while.

What made me smile? Well it was really the whole concept of BH. English dialogue being spoke by Indians and them dancing to Indian songs. It was a reminder that 2002 was definitely the year off bollywood in the UK. I saw BH at the same time as seeing the West End production of Andrew Lloyd Webbers ‘Bombay Dreams' and they both made me sit up and look twice. Also the director has purposely ensured that it is a simple story line, easy to follow and easy to relate to. A plus point is that it is the length of an English movie rather than an Indian one (90 minutes compared to 240).

What made me laugh? Definitely the grandmother and her quotes. Dina Pathak definitely did a good job on this and was good to she her outside her Indian movies. The over the top mother was also very good, typical of some mothers.

No need to guess what made me gaze? Well it was Lisa Ray. This movie really made me look up and take notice of her. Her performance is good, though with some room for improvement. She looks really good in the song ‘Sona Sona'.

Overall, a good entertainment movie to watch on a night in.

Rahul is quite well off, hard working, young and handsome. However when he tells his mother and grandmother that he has been seeing a white woman, they bully him into letting them help him select a nice Asian girl – a promise he made to his dying father convinces him to give it a try. Naturally it is a disaster but he cannot get out of it now. Consoling himself in a bar he meets a woman called Sue – she looks a bit East Asian but maybe Spanish, regardless she could certainly pass for Asian if it wasn't for her very western attitudes and dress. It occurs to him that she may be able to help him and he offers her money to pretend to be his Asian girlfriend. She accepts but getting her dressed correctly is only the first step.

Sold as an affectionate cross between the structure and style of an American (well, Canadian) romantic comedy and the Bollywood films, this film manages to have enough of each to be recognisable and still produce sufficient mutual good to be enjoyable. In truth, neither cinematic culture is that well represented here because neither is the best it has to offer but the mix still works for the most part. The story is pretty obvious but, aside from the odd moment here and there, flows well with a bit of spark and energy. From the "American" side of things it is engaging and occasionally sweet even if it plays pretty much to formula the whole way. The Bollywood stuff is mainly the song and dance routines and, although they are OK, they don't quite have the size and style of the best that Indian cinema has to offer – although the film still does well enough and the songs are quite cool.

The cast take to the mixed material well. Khanna plays up the Indian background well in contrast with his Canadian home; he isn't great but he does the job. Ray is a lot more fun because she has a sassy character that works well with her as an actress. Her looks and her attitude make her an appealing character and actress and she helped the energy level of the whole film. The rest of the cast are so-so but nothing special. I enjoyed the turn from Pathak but Chowdry, Malik and Mann weren't that good.

Overall this is an OK film that I quite enjoyed but not one that will still in my memory for that long. It has enough life to it to be entertaining without ever threatening to be that original, clever or memorable. Worth a look if you like Bollywood films because it does work as a slightly different take on them but generally it probably isn't good enough to draw a much wider audience.