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Arts/Society Patiala House, With Akshay Kumar: A Fanciful Take On British Multiculturalism And Cricket Dreams

spnadmin

1947-2014 (Archived)
SPNer
Jun 17, 2004
14,500
19,219
Nikhil Advani’s Patiala House is a melodramatic tale of a large Sikh family living in the London suburb of Southall, in a supposedly postracial Britain. The film plays with diasporic cultural politics, generational strife, and the aesthetics of a community frozen in time. However, like all previous Bollywood films about the diaspora, it doesn’t quite pull it off.

Watch the trailer for Patiala House .

It seems the only one to not receive the memo announcing the end of racism is the patriarch of this family, Gurtej Singh Kahlon (Rishi Kapoor). With his mostly silent and loyal wife (Dimple Kapadia), he rules over his multigenerational clan and the community. Decades ago, in response to racist attacks by skinheads, Gurtej became the angry champion for his ethnic group and has never stopped fighting that fight. His son, Gattu (Akshay Kumar), was compelled at the age of 17 to give up his dreams of playing cricket for England to appease his father’s political principles.

Gattu is now a sad middle-aged man who is resented by his younger cousins for having set a standard of obedience to which they all must comply. With the help of Simran (Anushka Sharma), a young woman with a bad reputation whom Gattu secretly crushes on, the cousins manage to convince him to give his cricket dreams a second chance. They work together to keep this plan from the patriarch.

It is unclear what transformative power there could be in an act of rebellion that is so concertedly concealed. The film does not fixate on such questions of logic and realism. However, with a fanciful and triumphalist take on multiculturalism, the formulaic underdog sports plot, cameos from famous cricketers, and a small role for rapper Hard Kaur, this film works marginally as a coming-of-age story in which the hero hasn’t been a teenager in decades.

http://www.straight.com/article-374...-kumar-fanciful-take-multiculturalism-britain
 

ballym

SPNer
May 19, 2006
260
335
I watched the movie just now and wanted to express my views immediately.It is another attempt to get money from Overseas circuit. There is no plausible story. None of the characters are developed.
I got a feeling that Akhshay has some bad vibes about sikhs. It may be coming from his stay in Canada where a large Indian population feels that sikhs have tarnished their image by doing simple jobs.
A Gurudwara is shown and from outside only..... Rishi Kapoor is shown as a foolish psychotic Sikh
Movie looks like clips joined together in haste to get the money before any other producer comes out with another similar movie and gets it.
 

spnadmin

1947-2014 (Archived)
SPNer
Jun 17, 2004
14,500
19,219
ballym ji

Thanks. I stayed silent on this only posting the reviews. I am finding that the individual who goes to the film is coming out disappointed and some of them even offended. Glad that you confirmed in that regard.
 

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