Main Cast: Rahul Khanna, Lisa Ray, Moushumi Chatterjee, Dina Pathak, Ranjit Chowdhry
Release Year: 2002
Country: CA
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
After making a string of social commentaries, Canadian director Deepa Mehta satirizes India's beloved genre in the lighthearted romantic musical Bollywood/Hollywood. Indo-Canadian millionaire Rahul (Rahul Khanna) goes against the wishes of his mother and grandmother to date the Caucasian pop star Kimberly (Jessica Paré); however, she gets killed in an accident and he is left devastated. His mother (Moushumi Chatterjee) seizes the opportunity and announces that he must get engaged to an Indian girl before his sister is allowed to wed. This is complicated by the fact that his sister is already engaged and pregnant. Under pressure, Rahul enlists the help of Sue (supermodel Lisa Ray), a professional escort who agrees to play the part of his Indian fiancée. He thinks she is really Hispanic, and she claims to have no love for traditional Indian men. Throughout his sister's wedding preparations, Sue begins to befriend his entire family, including the tough old grandmother (Dina Pathak). After some random bursts into songs and dances, Sue reveals her true identity and they fall in love. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Review
If you're expecting a lighthearted romantic comedy with upbeat song-and-dance routines and a plot that's as predictable as it is thin, then you're right on the money. Bollywood/Hollywood doesn't feature particularly outstanding music or choreography, but it does have a fun-loving spirit, and writer/director Deepa Mehta handles it all with a loving wink. The film is rife with clichés, but Mehta does manage to twist a couple of them and toss in a few offbeat details to give the story a little bit of originality. She also drops several references to Bollywood films and actors, although viewers who are unfamiliar with this genre should still be able to follow the story line without any difficulty. The lead actors are both appealing, and some of the supporting actors, including Dina Pathak as Rahul's grandmother and Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Sue's father, are entertaining enough to steal their scenes. The film is a bit too earnest at times and it would have been improved if Mehta played around with the clichés more, but it's still enjoyable in its own silly way. ~ Todd Kristel, All Movie Guide
Kulbhushan Kharbanda - Mr. Singh; Jessica Paré - Kimberly; Jolly Bader - Daddy Ji; Rishma Malik - Twinky; Arjun Lombardi-Singh - Go/Govind; Jazz Mann - Bobby; Leesa Gaspari - Lucy; Neelam Mansingh - Mrs. Singh; Rohan Rama Bader - Young Rahul; Akshaye Khanna - Himself; Damon D'Oliveira - Stevie Sood; Nick Gill - Bobby's Mom; Larissa Gomes - Bride to Be; Pragna Desai - Pauline; Christina Lee - Dancer; Candi Barr - Dancer; Manjit Bumrah - Bride to Be; Angie Canuel - Dancer; Jeremy Chow - Brian; Sarah Connell - Dancer; Mike Cota - Dancer; Mike "Killer Khalsa" Deol - Killer Khalsa; Sunny Dhillon - Dancer; Linda Garneau - Dancer; Caryn Green - Twinky's Friend; Tara Hewitt - Dancer; Nicole Innis - Nicole; Sveta Kohli - Bride to Be; Starsah Lauriten - Dancer; Bhavin Lodhia - Dancer; David Lopez - Dancer; Chad McFadden - Dancer; Jodi McFadden - Dancer; Misakiu - Dancer; Anne Mroczkowski - Reporter; Rupinder Nagra - Rahul's Friend at Wedding; Kat Osen - Dancer; Nick Peel - Dancer; Imali Perera - Twinky's Friend; Monisha Randhawa - Bobby's Sister; Ronica Sajnani - Ronica; Karamjit Singh - Ruby's Friend; Sofanda - Dancer; Terry Stevens - Veronica; Artee Suri - Twinky's Friend; Vinod Suri - Ruby's Friend; Neela Tandon - Ruby's Friend; Vincent Tong - Dancer; Mike Tracz - Dancer; Allana Upcraft - Dancer; Jena Vaneslander - Dancer; Elena Vazintaris - Dancer; Jason Westlake - Dancer
Credit
Jason Graham - Art Director, Uma Da Cunha - Casting, Devyani Saltzman - Casting, Erin Faith Young - Casting, David Connolly - Choreography, Sean Atkinson - Conductor, Dipa Motwane - Conductor, Robert Wertheimer - Co-producer, Anne Dixon - Costume Designer, Ritu Kumar - Costume Designer, David McAree - First Assistant Director, September Death - First Assistant Director, Effy Papadopoulos - First Assistant Director, Deepa Mehta - Director, Barry Farrell - Editor, Camelia Frieberg - Executive Producer, Ajay Virmani - Executive Producer, David Hamilton - Executive Producer, Bryn Garrison - Location Manager, Mehernaz Lentin - Line Producer, Sandeep Chowta - Composer (Music Score), Pravin Mani - Musical Arrangement, Ganesh Bala - Musical Direction/Supervision, Ajay Virmani - Songwriter, Jaideep - Songwriter, Taabish Romani - Songwriter, Tamara Deverell - Production Designer, Douglas Koch - Cinematographer, David Hamilton - Producer, Barbara O'Kelly - Story Editor, Michael E. Uslan - Special Effects, Mr. Janardhan - Sound/Sound Designer, R.R. Murlidhar - Sound/Sound Designer, Urmas Rosin - Sound Recordist, Paul Rapovski - Stunts Coordinator, Plato Fountidakis - Stunts Coordinator, Michael Arakkal - Special Effects Supervisor, Deepa Mehta - Screenwriter, Barry Farrell - Supervising Editor, Barry Brown - Consulting Editor, Deepa Mehta - Executive Music Producer, Ajay Virmani - Executive Music Producer, David Hamilton - Executive Music Producer, Raja - Musical Performer, Lisa Vijitchanton - Musical Performer, Neil Mukherjee - Musical Performer, Naveen - Musical Performer, Raju Raghavan - Musical Performer, Sivamani - Musical Performer, O.P. Nayyar - Musical Performer, Vikramaditya Motwane - Post Production Supervisor, Warren Wilensky - Production Coordinator, Elius Caruso - Re-Recording Mixer, Christian Carruthers - Re-Recording Mixer, Andrew Tay - Re-Recording Mixer, Selene Strilesky - Script Supervisor, Clive Turner - Sound Effects Director, Rob Bertola - Sound Effects Director, Jeff Skochko - Special Effects Coordinator, Ray Dumas - Steadicam Operator, Jeremy Benning - Steadicam Operator, Joe Lafontaine - ADR Editor, Emma England - Costumes Supervisor, Virginia Story - Foley Artist, Etheline Joseph - Key Hairstylist, Josie Stewart - Key Hairstylist, Ava Stone - Key Make-up, Rafiq Shaikh - ADR Supervisor, Peter Persaud - Foley Recordist, Dave Tomassini - Pilot, Four Seasons Aviation - Pilot
Bollywood/Hollywood is a 2002 film by Indo-Canadian director Deepa Mehta. It is lighthearted, humorous, and family-oriented in nature, as opposed to Mehta's other films (most notably her Elements Trilogy of Fire, Earth, and Water), which feature very serious themes and focus on social issues.
The film pokes fun at traditional Indian stereotypes, as well as at Bollywood (the film features several Bollywood-style song-and-dance numbers). Bollywood actor Akshaye Khanna (the brother of Rahul Khanna) makes a special guest appearance in the movie.
The film centres around the character of Rahul Seth (Rahul Khanna), a young, rich, Indo-Canadian living in Toronto whose widowed mother (Moushumi Chatterjee) is anxious to get him married after the freak-accidental death of his Caucasian pop singer girlfriend, Kimberly (Jessica Paré). Furthermore, the mother proclaims that the impending wedding of her daughter Twinky (Rishma Malik) & Bobby will not take place until Rahul has found himself a bride first. The pressure mounts on Rahul as he finds out that Twinky must get married to preserve the family's reputation because she is pregnant.
Rahul goes to a bar and there meets Sue (Lisa Ray). Thinking she is a Spanish escort, he hires her to pose as his fiancée. Rahul eventually discovers that Sue is actually Indian (her name is short for Sunita), and despite his initial anger at her lie, the two grow closer—due in no small part to a confidence boost Sue gave to Rahul's tormented younger brother, Govind, who incorrectly believes that no one cares about his welfare—and eventually consider one another a fit match. Pleased, Mrs. Seth agrees to sanction Twinky's wedding.
Rahul and Sue grow more intimate, later to share stories about their pasts. It is revealed here that Sue was once offered as a bride to the well-meaning but dim-witted prizefighter known as Killer Khalsa; offended that her parents would even consider such a match, she has been playing mischief in revenge. This mischief is not fully explained, but her liking for it is suggested by her audacity. Sue is quite immune to social norms; she speaks bluntly to all, particularly to Rocky, Rahul's driver, who she knows as a famous drag queen.
The blossoming romance is shaken, however, when Rahul is told that Sue was not only an escort, but a prostitute as well by a drunken friend at Bobby's bachelor party. Sue is so hurt that he would question her honesty and integrity that she leaves him. He is forced to confess to his family that he never really courted Sue, but merely bribed her to act the part of his fiancee. His mother is forced to withdraw her sponsorship of Twinky's wedding, due to her promise—but she need not; Twinky's wedding has already taken place, well before the planned date.
Prodded by his understanding, Shakespeare-quoting grandmother (Dina Pathak), Rahul goes after Sue and professes his true opinion of her, and proposes marriage to her as well. Sue initially turns him down, only to be found later in the driver seat of his limo to show her acceptance of his proposal.
