Friday 6 February 2015

All in good time (3½ Stars)


The film is set in beautiful Bolton. Atul Dutt works as an assistant projectionist in a Bollywood cinema. He lives in cramped accommodation in a working class area. His newly wed wife Vina comes from a wealthy middle class family who live on the outskirts of the town. It's an anti-Bollywood film. What I mean is, Bollywood films end with a marriage after a couple has overcome mountains of difficulties. "All in good time" begins with the marriage, and then the difficulties begin.

The wedding is large and colourful, as is typical for Indian weddings, but Atul and Vina don't like it, because the celebrations are more for their parents than for them. In the evening they move in with Atul's parents, which is apparently the Indian way of doing things. The two lovers are traditional Hindus, still virgins on their wedding night, but due to the lack of privacy in the house they don't consummate their marriage. They decide to wait until they're on their honeymoon the next day. But their travel agent has gone bankrupt and they have to stay at home, so they don't have sex the second night. Or the third. Or the fourth. Or the fifth. As time goes by the friends and relatives realise something is wrong, and everyone starts meddling.

The film is rather disjointed. It begins as a comedy, then turns into a tragedy as it progresses. I enjoyed the comedy elements, but the lack of humour in the second half bothered me. It should have been a comedy all the way through. I'm sure there are many ways to make fun of married virgins. The film could have been a lot better, but it missed too many opportunities.

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