unIndian
Australia, 2015, 102 minutes, Colour.
Tanishta Chatterjee, Brett Lee, Arka Das, Maya Sathi, Sarah Roberts, Adam Dunn, Nicholas Brown, John Howard, Tiriel Mora, Anupam Sharma.
Directed by Anupam Sharma.
Local audiences may not know that there is an Australian Indian film foundation. It is Australian-based and, the company hopes that this film will be popular with Australian audiences, and, of course, with Indians who have settled in Australia. It is to be hoped that it will be popular in India but it does tackle some social problems that may be too much sometimes for Indian censorship.
Not that the film needs much censorship. Rather, it is a very cheerful film which provides quite a number of laughs, quite a number of emotional moments, does send up some of the stereotypes of Indian in-laws as well of Ocker Australians.
One of the key publicity aspects for both Australia and India is the fact that it stars veteran test cricketer, Brett Lee. While Lee has his done a number of commercials, he is not generally thought of as a movie leading man. Actually, he is quite a pleasant screen presence, cheerful, genial, and his romancing is quite credible.
The film spends a lot of time with Meera () and her 10-year-old daughter, Smitha. Meera has settled well in Australia, works as an executive for the firm Cochlera which promotes cochlear implants for hearing impaired people – and Cochlear is one of the sponsors of the film (with Brett Lee, in fact, as its international ambassador). Meera’s parents are of the old school, her mother busy ritually incensing a new house, planning to marry her daughter off to a surgeon (Indian background of course) and interfering in a stereotypical way. Her father is low key, less prone to action.
Brett Lee teaches a course at the University of New South Wales (well promoted in the film – for prospective students – and also a sponsor of the movie.). His course is a specialty, on Australian culture, training the overseas students to immerse themselves in Australian culture, vocabulary, accents and pronunciations – and quite a few funny scenes concerning Australian slang and, especially, the pronunciation of the word mate with its difficult vowel for newcomers to the country. There is a little drama of the department wants to axe the course – and the media comes to the rescue in the form of coverage by SBS.
It’s one of those love at first sight stories, at least on Brett Lee’s part. He seems to be meeting Meera all over the place, at an Indian celebration with people blowing paint all over each other, at some cricket practice, and then doing camera work for his close friends, TK and Mitch, for a TV series on cooking.
So, this is a film about courting, about parental disapproval, about coffee and romance.
Towards the end, there are some more serious themes, especially about Meera’s ex-husband and the fact that he is gay and the issue of his coming out, of his wanting to abduct his daughter and take her back to India – and there is some apprehension on the part of the film makers that this may not be too welcome in India and might damage the film’s distribution.
Be that as it may, this is a film that for audiences wanting an easy night out will be easy to enjoy and get some laughs. And, maybe, Brett Lee will get to do another film!
1. Genial story, an Australian story, Indian story? For both audiences?
2. The title, the Indian focus, the non-Indians? Comedy, caricatures, the meeting of cultures, clash of cultures?
3. Destination Sydney: the sites, Harbour Bridge and Opera House, showboat, the beaches, homes, cricket, the University of New South Wales, the Cochlear headquarters?
4. The music, the songs, the dancing, the final credits with everybody joining in?
5. Meera’s story, the opening dream, waking, the new home, her mother with the incense, her relationship with her parents, irritated by them, tolerating them? Her love for Smitha? The bond between mother and daughter? The background of the divorce, the gradual revelation of the truth, her husband’s family, his being gay, in the closet, abducting their daughter, going to prison, her parents not knowing the reality of his homosexuality? Reaction? Her mother and the thought of a means of cure?
6. The character of Will, the range of photos from his childhood to adulthood, the friendship with TK, with Mitch, shared flat, the television cooking program?
7. The Festival of Holi, colour, powder and paint, Meera and her daughter, Will persuaded to go, his white coat, Meera’s family and the plots for her to meet Samir? Will and his reaction, going to the drycleaner, meeting Meera, the different encounters, Meera doing the TV program, Will and Samir arriving and allowed to take over with the camera, his demands,, Will and his bonding with Smitha?
8. Will needing advice about Indian culture, the imagining the date and everybody looking at him, the awkwardness? Going to the cinema, the crowds, sitting next to Meera, the aunt coming and pushing him out of the seat? His sitting and imagining himself dancing and romancing in the film?
9. Will and Smitha, pleasant, meeting, talking, occasions to meet Meera, Will asking Meera to help Prya? Meera helping, Prya grateful, meeting TK and the romance, sitting with Will and the rehearsal of her having to leave? Possibilities for coffee?
10. His course, the students, Australian English, jokes, pronunciations, bonding? The head of the department and his hostility? TK and Mitch going to see the SBS producer, his agreeing, televising the interviews, the students giving testimony for Will, the Vice Chancellor? Will retaining his job, the overseas extension of the course?
11. Indian arranged marriages, Meera’s girlfriend, organising the girls night, inviting Samir, the explanation, Samir and his arrogance, the restaurant and bookings, the phone calls, Will and his disappointment? Flowers and a kiss as a sign of a date?
12. Smitha, reading the note with the flowers, not wanting Will and her mother to kiss? Wanting to visit her father, wanting his love, persuading Will to take her secretly?
13. On the showboat, Will taking Smitha to her father, the father saying Will had no idea of Indian culture? Will going to the hotel, his student at the desk, the word choice mistakes? The police, the information about the wharf, Smitha with her father, her disappointment, his arrest? Meera’s anger?
14. Will, upset, the new job, the television program, Meera watching it, Smitha not wanting Will to go? Going to the airport – and the explanation of the ICN network and the man at passport control turning Will back?
15. And a happy ending for all?
