Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Writer/director: Geeta Malik, Rialto Distribution.
India Sweets and Spices is an authentic picture of a polyglot culture that continues to grow and thrive throughout the United States — and in other parts of the world. This English-language Indian movie chronicles the ways values, customs and beliefs have been brought to America by first-generation Indians.
The setting is suburban New Jersey, and the fictional town of Ruby Hill that is home to the affluent Kapur family: mother Sheila, father Ranjit, their eldest daughter Alia and her two younger siblings. Ranjit is an eminent heart surgeon, while Sheila pays tribute to her husband’s success as one of the community’s most glamorous doyennes.
Elegant, restrained and painstakingly correct, Sheila (played by one of India’s beloved actresses, Manisha Koirala, Dil Se, Akele Hum Akele Tum) is sometimes exasperated by her spirited daughter, but underneath her polished exterior she does care.
The film first introduces us to Alia (Sophia Ali, Grey’s Anatomy, Faking It), an honours student at UCLA, who returns to her family’s posh home after a year away at college and upends their well-ordered life with her newfound independence. Befriending Varun (Rish Shah), the handsome son of the new owners of the local Indian grocery store, Alia invites his family to a weekly dinner gathering with her parents’ wealthy friends. Then she is shocked to learn that her obsessive mum has a previous connection to Varun’s mother Bhairavi (Deepti Gupta, Neeyat, Walkaway).
The film’s pivotal scenes take place at lavish dinner parties (an authentic cultural touchstone) where the same people gossip about the same things — while sensitively trying to outshine one another with their own polished perfection.
Scratch the veneer of this comedy-drama and you uncover a family that’s fractured, putting up an artificial front that’s bound to crumble as two worlds collide. It exposes a community where some prefer not to talk about their indiscretions.
Deepti Gupta holds her own against a powerhouse like Koirala, bringing a grounded quality to her character.
Director Malik (Troublemaker, Shameless, Beast) has created a world that’s true-life, easily communicating the occasional frustrating and illusorily complex silhouettes. Good lessons can be learned, laughs are intermittent and there are downsides to being flawed.
India Sweets and Spices will screen in selected cinemas from 3 February 2022.
