大象传媒

Bollywood regularly uses foreign countries as backdrops in its movies, but rarely bothers to base its stories on their people. However writer/director Romesh Sharma goes against grain by using the Indian and English communities in Mauritius to examine the East versus West clash in Dil Jo Bhi Kahey. Starring Amitabh Bachchan as a family man whose reputation is put to the test when his son falls for a non-Indian college mate, this simple love story is as warm as its exotic setting.

When Shekar (Bachchan) and his wife Sandhya (Revathy) send their son Jai (Karan Sharma) to Stockholm to study, little do they expect him to return home declaring his undying love for Sophie Besson (Annabelle Wallis), the daughter of an English businessman also based in Mauritius. While liberal-minded Shekar approves of the relationship, his orthodox wife isn't keen on having a white daughter-in-law. Similarly Mr Besson (Malcolm Stoddard) refuses to see his family name linked to people he considers ancestral slaves. In today's society such prejudice may seem outdated, but you soon realise that it is ignorance and fear of change that lie at the heart of matters.

"CROSS-CULTURAL CONFLICT AND MELODRAMA"

Although fundamentally a love story, Sharma's screenplay manages to inject enough cross-cultural conflict and melodrama into the plot to sustain interest for both Asian and western audiences. However as a romance it should be the star-crossed lovers who hold centre stage. Sadly newcomers Sharma and Wallis, while photogenic, fail to ignite fireworks on screen. Instead it is Dil Jo Bhi Kahey's supporting cast, particularly Bachchan, Revathy and Bhumika Chawla as a young Indian doctor drafted in to marry Jai, that bring passion into play.

In English and Hindi with English subtitles