the leading man is my tpye

the audience applauded

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

After having seen 'Monsoon wedding' and 'Fire' by Mira Nair, I would rate this movie just above average by her standards and lacks the 'wow' factor which makes Nair's movies interesting. The movie basically revolves around an Indian girl who falls in love with a black guy which is not only acceptable to her family but to entire Indian community living the locality.The story might hold you for the entire length of the movie but does not leave any impact at the end. Performances by Sarita Choudhary and Denzel Washington are very good. Even Rohan Seth has done a great job in acting. Rest of the actors were below par, but I was most disappointed by Sharmila Tagore from whom I had expected a far better performance. A mere one time watch movie!!

It is rare for what amounts to a simple love story to cover as much ground as this film ultimately does.There's a political layer, with the 1970s era unrest in Uganda being a primary driver and motivator for much of the other decisions made by the characters. There's a racial layer, with racial tension in Africa spilling over into reciprocal racial tension in Mississippi in turn. There's a layer for interpersonal relationships as well, with Demetrius and Meena's growing love and the estranged friendship with her father and his friend back in Uganda.Weaving all these layers together requires a very deft suite of actors and a very deft director and, for the most part, everyone is up to snuff. There are some very high quality acting performances indeed in this film.Ultimately, the film is about the first generation of an immigrant family struggling to come to grips with their diminished situation. Some members of this first generation embrace the change and attempt to adopt many of the idioms and customs of their new home, and the second generation most definitely does this, but the patriarch of the family struggles to accept that his life in Uganda is essentially gone. The entire film builds to a climax that ultimately has nothing to do with Demetrius and Meena's relationship.The real climax is the father's ultimately forced acceptance of his new situation. The interracial relationship is the driver, but the destination is purely internal for the family patriarch.A nod has to go to Denzel Washington for opting into this small-budget film of exceeding quality when his star was clearly on the rise and such films could easily have been deemed beneath him. Choudry is positively mesmerizing, and she steals many scenes with her subtle facial expressions and body language. Clearly, she was a gem that needed a better setting for her later career.I'd love to give a cast award, because the cast is almost univerally above average, which is very rare for a film. Some very bit parts become part of a larger tapestry that is very worth one's time to witness.

This film begins in the early 1970s in Uganda. Idi Amin, the insane dictator, has just announced that all non-blacks must leave the country. So, a young Meena and her parents are forced to leave the only place they've ever lived. While they are Africans, their heritage is Indian.The film picks up two decades later. The family now lives in Mississippi of all places--in a small Indian community. They work for an Indian-owned motel. Meena (Sarita Choudhury) meets a nice young black man, Demetrius (Denzel Washington). And, after dating a very short time, they sleep together...and are discovered by her relatives. The family is incensed--presumably because Demetrius is black. And, lots of chaos and repercussions occur.My feeling is that the script missed the point a bit. While only idiots might be angry at the interracial angle, I guess I'm old fashioned and can see the family getting upset that Meena is spreading her legs after only two dates. In movies, this is a good thing--in real life, pregnancy and STDs might be the result. So, had Meena and Demetrius had a deeper connection before they were discovered, the film would have made a lot more sense--and the conflict would have been much more interesting. As it is, the relationship between Meena and Demetrius is unconvincing and makes little sense. And, speaking of that, the film ends very, very, very abruptly and left me feeling very flat. Overall, a film with some real possibilities but that just didn't come together well. A bit of a disappointment.

Mira Nair is one of the best directors. Her movies are different and deep. I liked the concept behind this movie. It addresses prejudices in different cultures. This should have been a really good movie. It wasn't. What spoiled the movie for me was the choice of the female lead. Sarita Chowdhary could not possibly pass as the daughter of the two parents on the screen (played by Sharmila Tagore who was one of the top actresses of her era in Bollywood, and Roshan Seth). If you see their features, they are angular. Sarita has a completely different face- thick lips, flat nose, rectangular face, darker skin than both parents. She did not even look like an Indian. That killed the whole racial difference theme of the movie. In the beginning we see a young Meena about 9 years old, in tears when her parents decide to leave Uganda. They were basically forced to leave their home and their belongings behind. What was most painful to all three of them was losing their Ugandan friends. Meena loved her African friends, and it is not surprising that she is attracted to an African American after moving to the USA, much to the chagrin of the resident Indians.The end was touching, however, and lifted the movie quite a bit. When the father goes back to Uganda, which he considers his true home, and feels love toward an African baby, he realizes that color does not matter. That was the high point of the movie. He also realizes that his past home is no longer his home. So the beginning and the end of the movie are good. The in betweens are not as strong. The accent was an issue. If Meena (Sarita Chowdhary) spent several years in Uganda, then UK, before moving to the USA, why did she not have some British accent? The parents accents were Indian. If the father was born in Uganda, he should have had a different accent (not Indian).It's not clear what profession the father had in Uganda, why he chose Mississippi and not one of the northern states, why the daughter was uneducated. The lack of education is very un-Indian. Culturally Indians (even those who live in other countries) place very high value on education. There are too many deficiencies in the body of the movie, and for me watching Sarita Chowdhary as Sharmila Tagore's daughter was just too much. She spoiled the whole movie for me. It was too unrealistic, despite a very good idea behind the movie.