Masand's Movie Review: Videsh a thought-provoking film

A LAYERED DRAMA: It's difficult to describe just how good Preity Zinta is in her role as a battered young bride.

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Director: Deepa Mehta

Cast: Preity Zinta, Vansh Bhardwaj

It's difficult to describe just how good Preity Zinta is in her role as a battered young bride in director Deepa Mehta's Videsh. So good in fact, you're almost willing to overlook the film's lapses.

Zinta stars as Chand, a cheery Punjabi girl who travels from her home in India to Toronto for an arranged marriage. Met at the airport by her husband-to-be and his family, she's driven through the wintry expanse of stone-cold grey and welcomed into the matchbox-sized home he shares with his parents, his sister, his brother-in-law and their two kids.

More than likely coerced into this marriage by his domineering mother, Rocky (played by Vansh Bhardwaj) has little affection or sympathy for his new bride, and lets his fists do the talking when Chand stands up against her mother-in-law's manipulative ways. Thus begins a cycle of unhampered abuse, met with an embarrassed silence from the rest of the family, until Chand herself finds solace in hopeful hallucination which ultimately gives her the strength to make a change.

A layered drama that touches upon a handful of relevant issues including the reality of the NRI dream, the politics of physical abuse, and the power of the imagination, Videsh is ultimately the story of a woman's struggle for her identity and self-confidence in the face of domestic violence. Yet, director Deepa Mehta suggests everyone's a victim here, including Chand's tormentor Rocky, an immigrant living the hard life, the only significant earning member in a household bursting at the seams.

Videsh is engaging for the most part, till it interweaves folklore into this modern-day immigrant story. Inspired by Girish Karnad's celebrated play, Naagmandala, Mehta throws in an element of magic realism for Chand to hold on to. A cobra shows up in the backyard, and takes human shape in Chand's hallucinations, assuming an affectionate and loving form of her husband Rocky.

This track is wobbly, and appears contrived too; it's here that Videsh loses some of its steam.

The irregular and inexplicable shifts to grainy black-and-white seem to serve little purpose, and Chand's constant muttering to herself is a tad overdone.

But if you're willing to overlook these faults and immerse yourself in the kitchen-sink drama, you'll find it's a satisfying watch. Of the cast, Vansh Bhardwaj playing Rocky has a simmering intensity, and Balinder Johal is just perfect as his insecure mother who competes for Rocky's attention, turning him against his wife. But Videsh belongs to Preity Zinta who delivers a career-best performance as Chand, using her eyes alone to convey shock and horror, bringing depth to a character that could so easily become a stereotype.

A thought-provoking film unquestionably, Videsh is slow in parts and indulgent too. You could argue also that like "Water", Mehta's last film, this one too serves up an image of India and the immigrant lifestyle that the West is happy to lap up. Two out of five for director Deepa Mehta's Videsh. It's hardly perfect, but watch it nevertheless for Preity Zinta's earnest performance; that is unquestionably this film's biggest strength.

Rating: 2 / 5 (Average)

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