On the face of it, India Sweets and Spices presents the contrived perfection of lives and looks as portrayed on social media—colourful outfits, parties, well-knit family, et al. But look deep within and writer-director Geeta Malik has managed to tap into the social fakery and hide bound nature of Indian society—be it anywhere in the world.
When the story begins, Alia Kapur (Sophia Ali of Grey’s Anatomy and Truth or Dare) returns to her family’s posh suburban New Jersey home after a year away at college. She is armed with her newfound brash independence, for one cutting her hair short and breaking away from straightjacketing Indian beauty standards that makes her mother Sheila Kapur (Manisha Koirala) take immediate notice: “Did you cut your hair?” Soon Alia is on a journey unearthing and confronting secret stories teeming beneath her family’s well-ordered life.
It all begins with a party errand Alia undertakes. Avoiding spoilers but suffice to say that she encounters the new family, the Duttas, running the Indian grocery store and invites them for her family party on a whim. Of course, she has a vested interest having taken an instant shine to the young handsome Varun Dutta (Rish Shah). But Sheila is not happy to have shopkeepers in the Kapur party where the wealthy rub shoulders, where the subtle nuance of class difference comes to the fore.
When the Duttas arrive at the Kapur party with their less gaudy outfits and a plastic container full of homemade desserts, they add a thrill to the gossip energies of the party. However, more surprises lay in store. Turns out Alia’s mom and Varun’s mom Bhairavi (Deepti Gupta) were together at college in Delhi. But why is Alia’s mom brusque towards her first meeting in years with a friend from college?
Alia makes excuses for her mom being a snob. In Alia’s woke world, being a part of this pseudo world of class difference is something she resists. She has no interest in her rich well-connected friend Rahul (Ved Sapru), whom all the aunties think she would marry one day. Instead, she sleeps with Varun discreetly, displaying a hubristic side to her character.
The movie’s emotional engine comes from Alia’s discovery of her mother’s past, her college days with Bhairavi when they were activists of a women’s rights group, shaving their heads and getting arrested at protests. But it is a past Alia’s mom does not want to acknowledge. ‘’I had to start again,’’ Sheila tells Alia, preserving her ability to be seen as the quintessential successful homemaker or the rich suburban housewife. For all her intelligence, emotion and energy, there’s no sense that she thinks the past fits into this structure of her life post her arranged marriage. It would change how Alia sees herself, her mother and women in general. It would question her views about her parents’ marriage.
Alia is not the only reason to watch India Sweets and Spices. The powerful performances also come from Monisha Koirala and Adil Hussain (who plays Alia’s father)—both strong names in the Indian film industry, and also all the other small characters. Also, there is no cinematic song and dance one would expect out of an Indian movie but it is a sugar sweet film that has fun and glamourous escape yet brews along the spicy stories that flavour it with secrets, revelations and love in many forms.
Importantly, with all its whimsical humour, India Sweets and Spices might also be reminiscent of Indian immigrant family stories, but Malik has managed to delve into moral complications and how façade slides out at the end. In the end, Sheila does finds a way to be honest to herself, her daughter and her friend. It also makes you think of the parallels of the generation gap, one faced by many families including immigrants.
As Malik herself said in an interview somewhere, “We don’t often see movies about the duality of identifying strongly with both Indian and American traditions, and not having to choose between them… And I didn’t want to make a movie specifically about any sort of culture clash. Every generation, no matter what their background, has to find a way to both break free from and embrace their history. That’s what this film is about and it is set in the world I know best.”
India Sweets and Spices is produced by Sidney Kimmel (The Lincoln Lawyer), John Penotti (Crazy Rich Asians), Naomi Despres (Kill the Messenger), and Gigi Pritzker (Drive). Executive producers are Mark O’Connor, Kilian Kerwin, and Rachel Shane. It opens to the cinemas on 3 February.
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