Bollywood/ Hollywood Director: Deepa Mehta Country: Canada Year: 2002

CAST:
Rahul Khanna, Lisa Ray, Moushumi Chatterjee, Dina Pathak, Kulbushan Kharbanda, Ranjit Chowdhry, Jessica Paré

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With her latest feature, Deepa Mehta confirms her status as one of Canada's most versatile and dynamic directors. Having dealt masterfully with displacement in Earth and social transgression in Fire, she displays her gift for comedy in the wonderfully entertaining Bollywood/Hollywood. With the recent high-profile distribution of such Bollywood features as Monsoon Wedding and Lagaan, Western audiences are becoming acquainted with the singing, dancing and appealing young couples that are the staples of blockbuster Bollywood fare. For those both fond of and new to Bollywood cinema, Mehta's latest feature is a delightful melding of these musical and romantic traditions – with a Hollywood twist.

The story, set in Toronto, begins with Rahul (Rahul Khanna), an attractive and wealthy Indian man, having broken a deathbed promise to his father: he has become engaged to a white pop star (Jessica Paré), instead of choosing an Indian girl closer to his roots. His family is intent on affirming that no one is more Indian than Indians living abroad, but, in truth, their lifestyle is a hodge-podge of traditions from the home country, colonial customs from Britain, and North American pop culture. When Rahul's girlfriend dies in an accident, he decides to bring home a girl his family will approve of and employs a mysterious woman named Sue (the radiant Lisa Ray) to play the part of his Indian fiancée. The results, of course, are both funny and romantic.

Bollywood/Hollywood is a wonderful weave of the cinematic and cultural traditions of West and East. Amid the singing, dancing and good old-fashioned melodrama, we see Mehta's skill in balancing the two cultures that dominate the characters' lives while they find a space that is both Bollywood and Hollywood. Khanna is charming as the bewildered male lead torn between love and duty who slowly succumbs to Sue's charisma. Bollywood/Hollywood illustrates that choosing between two cultures isn't always necessary – and that having it all is an option.

– Programme note by Liz Czach and Stacey Donen