Aloo Chaat
Cast: Aftab Shivdasani, Aamna Shariff, Linda Arsenio, Manoj Pahwa, Sanjay Mishra, Kulbushan Kharbanda
Direction: Robby Grewal
Rating: * 1/2
The close-up can be a dangerous device in the wrong hands. And Robby Grewal is rather partial to focusing on Manoj Pahwa’s generously proportioned chins, Aftab Shivdasani’s gummy grin, Aamna Shariff’s pretty pancaked face devoid of any expression and Sanjay Mishra’s many over-the-top expressions.
This, amidst some painful episodes in the life of a conservative, decidedly unsecular, middle-class Punjabi family in Lajpat Nagar. The dilemma facing them: is an American bahu worse than a Muslim one? The American is so fair, but she doesn’t give a rat’s ass about Indian culture. The other scores on the sanskriti scale but how will they eat food cooked by a ‘Mohammedan’ (as they insist on calling her)?
Advising them is the neighbourhood sexologist Hakeem Tarachand (Manoj Pahwa), though there is no current evidence of any sex between their US-returned son Nikhil (Aftab Shivdasani), his alleged American girlfriend Nikki (Linda Arsenio) or his real girlfriend (Aaamna Shariff).
You could find this movie offensive and/or irritating if you could even begin to take it seriously. It has its stray moments, but they are more like aberrations. This is a chaat that will give you a very bad case of Delhi belly.