movie review : Videsh -heaven on earth.

Cast: Preity Zinta, Vansh Bharadwaj


Director: Deepa Mehta




I like Preity Zinta. Period. I like her so much that Im almost in love with her. But, Im tellin you, folks, this is review ain't a biased one. Man, Preity Zinta was awesome in the movie is kinda like the only thingy y'al wonder once the movie is over.



Pz plays Chand, a young Punjabi girl who's parents have fixed her marriage with Rocky, played by Vansh Bhardwaj, who's family resides in Toronto. So, for her marriage Chand travels to Toronto from India and lives in a small house containing her husband's entire family which includes,a grandfather, a mom, an aunt, brother's, brother's wives & their children. There she is tormented my her mother in-law & is ignored by her husband who talks more with his hands than his mouth whenever she stands up against his ill-treating mother. After several such incidents she even tries to poison Rocky gathering courage as advised by a black-American-woman cum door-mat working with her. (Well this tells us somethin bout American women too; they won't take shit lyin flat on their back, something which i always felt Indian women should also practice)



Rocky's mother like any any age-old-mother shown in Indian cinema thinks that the 'bahu' will take his 'beta' away from her. There's a wonderful scene where when Rocky & Chand live in a hotel room for a night for you-know-wot, and the mother shows up in the pretext of missing her son too much & sees to it that they don't come close that night.



Sounds like any other bollywood film, ryt? Yeah, it is, xcept for the Zinta babe's performance who portrays the sorrow's and feelings of Chand brilliantly thru' her eyes only. Vansh brings intensity to Rocky's character and his mother played by Balinder Johal, too, does a fantastic job as a insecure mother. But boy, Videsh is driven by Pz who delivers her career-defining role as she brings so much depth to the character of Chand.



The movie's quite realistic for most of it's part until Mehta decides to use the unrealistic element like a cobra showing up in the backyard which forms a part of Chand's imagination and takes the human form of her loving-husband Rocky. It looks a bit too much as it gets repetitive.
It's here where, Videsh looks cold.



The movie is ultimately the story of a woman's struggle for her identity and self-confidence in the face of domestic violence.



Videsh is slow yet alarming. I'd say it's worth a watch for Pz's honest performance. Go ahead, folks.