Mira Nair is one of the best directors. Her movies are different and deep. I liked the concept behind this movie. It addresses prejudices in different cultures. This should have been a really good movie. It wasn't. What spoiled the movie for me was the choice of the female lead. Sarita Chowdhary could not possibly pass as the daughter of the two parents on the screen (played by Sharmila Tagore who was one of the top actresses of her era in Bollywood, and Roshan Seth). If you see their features, they are angular. Sarita has a completely different face- thick lips, flat nose, rectangular face, darker skin than both parents. She did not even look like an Indian. That killed the whole racial difference theme of the movie.
In the beginning we see a young Meena about 9 years old, in tears when her parents decide to leave Uganda. They were basically forced to leave their home and their belongings behind. What was most painful to all three of them was losing their Ugandan friends. Meena loved her African friends, and it is not surprising that she is attracted to an African American after moving to the USA, much to the chagrin of the resident Indians.
The end was touching, however, and lifted the movie quite a bit. When the father goes back to Uganda, which he considers his true home, and feels love toward an African baby, he realizes that color does not matter. That was the high point of the movie. He also realizes that his past home is no longer his home. So the beginning and the end of the movie are good. The in betweens are not as strong.
The accent was an issue. If Meena (Sarita Chowdhary) spent several years in Uganda, then UK, before moving to the USA, why did she not have some British accent? The parents accents were Indian. If the father was born in Uganda, he should have had a different accent (not Indian).
It's not clear what profession the father had in Uganda, why he chose Mississippi and not one of the northern states, why the daughter was uneducated. The lack of education is very un-Indian. Culturally Indians (even those who live in other countries) place very high value on education.
There are too many deficiencies in the body of the movie, and for me watching Sarita Chowdhary as Sharmila Tagore's daughter was just too much. She spoiled the whole movie for me. It was too unrealistic, despite a very good idea behind the movie.
In the beginning we see a young Meena about 9 years old, in tears when her parents decide to leave Uganda. They were basically forced to leave their home and their belongings behind. What was most painful to all three of them was losing their Ugandan friends. Meena loved her African friends, and it is not surprising that she is attracted to an African American after moving to the USA, much to the chagrin of the resident Indians.
The end was touching, however, and lifted the movie quite a bit. When the father goes back to Uganda, which he considers his true home, and feels love toward an African baby, he realizes that color does not matter. That was the high point of the movie. He also realizes that his past home is no longer his home. So the beginning and the end of the movie are good. The in betweens are not as strong.
The accent was an issue. If Meena (Sarita Chowdhary) spent several years in Uganda, then UK, before moving to the USA, why did she not have some British accent? The parents accents were Indian. If the father was born in Uganda, he should have had a different accent (not Indian).
It's not clear what profession the father had in Uganda, why he chose Mississippi and not one of the northern states, why the daughter was uneducated. The lack of education is very un-Indian. Culturally Indians (even those who live in other countries) place very high value on education.
There are too many deficiencies in the body of the movie, and for me watching Sarita Chowdhary as Sharmila Tagore's daughter was just too much. She spoiled the whole movie for me. It was too unrealistic, despite a very good idea behind the movie.