Synopsis
Parminder Nagra is at odds with her family, who want her to follow the traditional path foran Indian woman. She wants none of that, and dreams instead of becoming a professional soccerplayer. Kiera Knightley is already playing on a female team, but has her own familial issues, witha mother (Juiet Stevenson) who despairs of what she perceives as her daughter’s lack offemininity. Knightley sees Nagra playing soccer in a park, and recruits her for the team. Thoughthis i… a dream come true, Nagra must hide her new life from her family. Inevitably, the secretgets out. All sorts of generational and cultural clashes are played out, and do so in a mostengaging manner. Nothing really surprising happens here, and the script is rather weak, with thesame conflicts being played out over and over again. The performances triumph over the script,however, and the film is well night impossible to dislike.
Audio
A pleasant 5.1 score, but one that doesn’t score any impressive goals. The sound is very clear(in spite of one or two moments where dialogue gets buried by other sounds). The music isstrong, and it more than dominates the rear speakers. The environmental effects are very low key,and the surround capabilities, from a sound effects perspective, are rather underused.
Video
The colours are absolutely brilliant. The lushness of English greenery and the richness ofIndian pageantry are captured in all their splendour, with the result that the colours themselvesplay out the culture clash. Bright as the colours are, they remain very natural. There is no grain,the blacks are deep but never murky, and the image could hardly be sharper. An excellenttransfer.
Special Features
Director/co-producer/co-writer Gurinder Chadha is joined on the commentary by co-writerPaul Mayeda Berges. Their conversation is very much in the everybody-was-so-great mode, andis very anecdotal, with the result that some of what they have to say will mean a lot more toBritish than to North American audiences. The Making-of featurette is the usual sort of thing,but the other featurette is a bit different: “Who Wants to Cook Aloo Gobi?” wherein Chadhashows us just how to do this (under the supervision of aunties). A recipe for the dish is alsoprovided. There are 10 deleted scenes, a music video (the closing credits song and its outtakes), twointernational trailers, and the trailer for Antwone Fisher. The menu’s main page and intro areanimated and scored.
Closing Thoughts
Familiar stuff, and a plot that needed more variety in its incident, yet completely winningall the same. And the picture is superb.
Special Features List
- Audio Commentary
- Deleted Scenes
- “Who Wants to Cook Aloo Gobi?” Featurette
- Making-of Featurette
- Music Video and Outtakes
- Aloo Gobi Recipe
- International Theatrical Trailers
