Nina's Heavenly Delights

I hate the way this film has been criticized in the press. By insisting, as the BBC does in their review of her film, that any treatment of Asian queerness needs to be portrayed as brutish and gritty, and that any story of an Asian family coping with a queer member must be shown through the lens of a "multicultural family and their troubled psyches", the press is putting the same straight-jacket on Asian filmmakers, as they do on black filmmakers, when they insist that the only stories that can come of out the black community are stories of gun violence and rat-infested squats.

The critics demand that queer Asians aren't allowed to do "Kissing Jessica Stein", that domain is reserved for whites only. Reading the reviews, you get the clear picture that the crime they want to charge Pratibha with, is not "making a bad film" but for "not telling an Asian queer story in the appropriate manner", as set out by films like East is East and My Beautiful Laundrette. That bloody sucks. More power to her for daring to challenge the stereotypes.

Knowing the struggles that a lot Asians go through with coming out and their acceptance by their families, this movie is a breeze of fresh air. It is OK for parents to have preconceived ideas and hopes for their kids but a little bit of open mindedness can make everyone so happy!

I watched this movie at the GLBT Festival at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where this movie was selected to be screened on the closing night. Its a movie I can comfortably watch with my parents without making them uncomfortable also.

I also got an opportunity to hang out with Ms. Parmar, the director of the movie, who I interviewed for a magazine. A very down-to-earth, real person, who has kinda lived the story.

Kudos to Pratibha Parmar for giving me 2 hours of smiles and happiness through her movie!!

I just viewed this film at the MGLFF in Miami Beach, Florida. The audience very much loved the film. It was shown at the Regal Cinema on Lincoln Road. I like great cinema.I also liked the internation feel of the film. Great detail to light and framing make this film unique. I so enjoyed the beautiful truth that unfolded. We are fortunate to have such great filmmakers who celebrate relationships like this one. Pratibha(Director) takes the viewer on a journey that uses all of their senses. I loved the story. Here are some words to describe it. ENLIGHTENED! EVOLVED! BEAUTIFUL! I look forward to seeing more of this young directors work. I know that she will be doing more and more great projects....

I saw this movie at The Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, though this funny, witty and entertaining movie about love and passions set against a cross-cultural, Glaswegian background could be featured at any film festival. I laughed at the witty, self-humorous dialogue, jiggled in my seat alongside the Bollywood songs, and drooled at the sight of all that delicious food. This is a rare gem which entertains the majority and identifies with the minority. You'll end up rushing to your nearest Curry House and checking out the chef! Here's one funny girl loves girl story which doesn't end in tears for a change. It can and does happen! Thank you Pratibha! Hope we don't have to wait another 7 years for the next one.

"Nina's Heavenly Delights" is actually more interesting for the milieu in which it's set - a community of Indian ex-pats living and thriving in Scotland - than for the story it has to tell.

Nina (Shelley Conn) moved to London a few years back to escape an arranged marriage to a man she knew she could never learn to love. When her father dies unexpectedly, Nina returns to Glascow to help run the Indian restaurant he's owned and operated for decades. Her partner in the endeavor is Lisa (Laura Fraser), a close friend of the family whom Nina finds herself falling in love with, a fact that may not sit too well with her traditionalist family.

"Nina's Heavenly Delights" is definitely a mixed-bag when it comes to virtues and flaws. It's at its best in its quieter, more serious moments, as Nina engages in thoughtful discussions with her family members and her new-found love interest. But when it aims for a more lighthearted tone, the movie tends towards the coy and the cloying. The coming-out aspects of the tale are handled with delicacy and restraint, though the determinedly upbeat ending is a trifle on the implausible and unconvincing side, to put it mildly. The movie also suffers from a surfeit of soulful montage sequences and irrelevant musical interludes, a holdover from its Bollywood roots, no doubt (the movie may be British in origin but its Indian influence is undeniable). Moreover, the blending of gourmet cooking with magical realism feels too reminiscent of "Like Water for Chocolate" for total comfort.

However, the performances are so authentic and the whole enterprise so well-meaning and upbeat that it's hard not to have positive feelings about the movie in the long run.