India Sweets and Spices review

Manisha Koirala, granddaughter of former Prime Minister of Nepal Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala has been in the Indian film industry for more than three decades.

Almost a year after the US release, Koirala’s film India Sweets and Spices saw the UK release this weekend. The film features Koirala as a housewife who was a dynamic feminist during her college days but wants to hide that identity from her kids. It also stars Sophia Ali, Rish Shah, and Adil Hussain.

Directed by Geeta Malik, India Sweets and Spices is an entertaining film, often funny, and truly thought-provoking. It gives a glimpse of the life of an Indian American family. Actor Koirala takes on the role of Sheila, a perfectionist, who is very proper and always acts in the manner that she thinks is the right way to be in her life. However, the why of her behavior will be revealed as the movie progresses and an underlying story is revealed. Her daughter, Alia, comes home and discovers a secret that Sheila had been keeping for years. It transforms both their lives and the lives of the people around them.

Similarly, In a film, a young Indian American woman Alia (Sophia Ali) rolls her eyes at her mother’s generation in the affluent New Jersey community where she grew up. The aunties, she jokes, are a bunch of “sari-wearing zombies”, only interested in shopping and gossiping about who’s getting married and who’s getting fat. Alia’s assessment of her mum – and her own privilege – are the subject of this extremely likable mother-daughter comedy with a smart script from Geeta Malik, who has said in interviews her affectionate send-up is semi-autobiographical.

Alia is back home for the summer holidays and planning to chill. Her dad Ranjit (Adil Hussain) is a successful doctor; her mum Sheila (Manisha Koirala) is devoted to keeping up appearances. All the families in their world take it in turns to throw fancy parties, trying to outdo each other with the catering. On a whim, Alia invites the Duttas, a family who’ve just taken over the local south Asian shop, to a party at her parents’ house (mainly because she fancies their son Varun, played by Rish Shah). It’s a clumsy thing to do: her dad is appalled (“who next, the gardener?”). At the party, the other guests are frosty and condescending towards the “shopkeepers”.

Malik’s script has interesting, awkward things to say about the class: Alia is completely oblivious to her privilege, and unexpectedly it turns out that Mrs. Dutta (Deepti Gupta), knew Alia’s mother from university in Delhi; they were political activists together. The impossibility of ever really knowing our parents is a familiar storyline, but it’s told here with real generosity and warmth. Malik slyly pokes fun, but never meanly. This is satire with the thermostat turned up to 22 degrees.