neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Bollywood/Hollywood
	Deepa Mehta Rahul Khanna, Lisa Ray, Rishma Malik, Jazz Mann, Moushumi Chatterjee, Dina Pathak, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Ranjit Chowdhry, Leesa Gaspari, Jessica Paré 2002		"Bollywood/Hollywood" is a klutzy novelty with a smattering of agreeable aspects. Director/writer Deepa Mehta's low-budget romantic comedy concerns Rahul, a young man of Indian descent, and his mandatory search for a wife. Rahul (Rahul Khanna) is a handsome millionaire who lives in Canada. He's in love with a pretty Caucasian pop singer, but his widowed mama doesn't approve. Fate intervenes, the singer falls out of the picture, and Rahul's aggressively traditional mother lobbies for him to marry a nice Indian girl, quickly, so his little sister can then wed her boyfriend in proper succession. A chance encounter in a bar with sultry escort Sue convinces Rahul to make a deal with her. She's says she's Hispanic, but she could pass for Indian. If she pretends to be Rahul's fiancée and sways his mom, she'll be well paid. The "Pretty Woman"-ly plot is hoary, and some of the performances are awkward or crude. But there are wisps of good humor and a few well-conceived, Westernized tributes to the production numbers in India's extravagant movie musicals. As an additional benefit, Lisa Ray, the woman who plays Sue, is strikingly beautiful, even if her acting seldom rises above sitcom/soap-opera level.