Monday, April 12, 2010

COOKING WITH STELLA




Drama
Some dialogue in Hindi with English subtitles.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Seema Biswas: Stella Elizabeth Matthews, cook and housekeeper
Don McKellar: Michael Laffont, recent arrival to the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi
Lisa Ray: his wife Maya
Shriya Saran: Tannu, the family’s newly hired nanny
Vansh Bhardwaj: Anthony

REVIEW
This subtle social comedy with shades of Bollywood has some light moments but some serious overtones as well.

The performance by Biswas is far and away the best of the lot and that of Saran delightful. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the rest of the cast, some of whom are downright awful (see last entry above)

Some gorgeous misty (or is it just smoggy?) day-time scenes and some taken at night make New Deli look its best, lovely in fact.

There are times when things bog down a bit: I found it a tad too long.

CLASSIFICATION


P.S.
• 500 rupees is worth about $10
• In many parts of India when referring to anyone meriting respect they add the suffix “ji” as in "Please call a taxi for Gupta-ji"
• When someone asks “what is your good name?” they want to know the person’s formal or legal name as opposed to the pet name used by friends and family
• It is common practice to use the English words “uncle” and “auntie” when addressing people who are unrelated to you such as neighbours, acquaintances, even total strangers (like shopkeepers) who are significantly older than oneself.
• Diwali is a significant 5-day festival in the fall; it is also known as the Festival of Lights

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