(5) HEAVEN ON EARTH with Preity Zinta, Balinder Johal and Vansh Bhardwaj, directed by Deepa Mehta (Uptown Theatres). Reviewed by Mogan Segadavan IF you are looking for a Bollywood song and dance movie, Heaven on Earth will disappoint. There isn’t even any background music.
The film by Mehta, whose previous film was the outstanding Water, is based on a young woman with a university degree who becomes a victim of domestic violence in a abusive arranged marriage.
Preity Zinta plays Chand, an Indian who finds herself trying to adjust to marriage in the unfamiliar surrounds of Canada where her new world turns into a nightmare.
She is cut off from her family by husband Rocky (Vansh Bhardwa) who beats her up. Her mother-in-law (Balinder Johal) is an ogre.
Chand is forced to work at a laundry for a meagre salary that is paid directly to her husband. She befriends Rosa (Yanna McIntosh), a tough Jamaican who gives her a magical root which will supposedly cause Rocky to fall helplessly in love with her.
While the beautiful Zinta (who was recently in PE for the IPL Twenty20 cricket tournament) gives an excellent performance and the scenes of domestic abuse are suitably horrific, the film is slow, and seems to drag on for ever.
The film is in Punjabi with English subtitles.
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