Videsh (2009) – A Heaven on Earth Review

On the whole, VIDESH – HEAVEN ON EARTH works in parts, but it’s not enough.Despite the hiccups, you can’t deny the fact that Deepa has handled the material with sensitivity. Even the end — you can predict the conclusion — is well executed. At the box-office, the Indian market may not be too receptive to the film. It will have to look internationally to recoup the investment.

A thought-provoking film unquestionably, Videsh is slow in parts and indulgent too. You could argue also that like “Water”, Mehta’s last film, this one too serves up an image of India and the immigrant lifestyle that the West is happy to lap up. Two out of five for director Deepa Mehta’s Videsh. It’s hardly perfect, but watch it nevertheless for Preity Zinta’s earnest performance; that is unquestionably this film’s biggest strength.

The film scores mainly in its cinematography (Giles Nuttgen) which captures the claustrophobic interiors of the NRI existence with chilling close-ups. Preity’s new home is a festering ghetto, spilling over with disgruntled people who left their homes in search of paradise. And ended up with no hope, no space, no pride. Preity Zinta too puts in a powerful performances as the de-glamourised, disenchanted young bride, but the rebellion comes too late and the snake-lore, complete with a nag-pariksha, seems too bizarre in a 21st century denouement of domestic violence.

It’s as difficult to relate with the titles (even on an sarcastic note), as impossible it is to connect with the treatment of this film (even after metaphorical decoding).Deepa Mehta chose to be daringly different in all her earlier ‘element’ary outings including Fire, Earth and Water but never lost her connect with the audience. She tries a bit too hard to be deliberately different here and it shows. Heaven on Earth turns into a hell of a viewing experience.

If this sounds bizarre, well, it is an incongruous intertwining of domestic violence and alienation with the ancient tale dramatized in Girish Karnad’s Naga Mandala, in which a bride tries to woo her indifferent husband with a magic potion but succeeds instead in enchanting a cobra. Put simply, it just doesn’t work here, transposed into a Canadian context (why, why, Deepa?).To her credit, Preity Zinta gives more than she gets as she traverses fantasy and reality seamlessly in a marvelous performance. Even if the movie doesn’t.

It’s as difficult to relate with the titles (even on an sarcastic note), as impossible it is to connect with the treatment of this film (even after metaphorical decoding). Deepa Mehta chose to be daringly different in all her earlier ‘element’ary outings including Fire, Earth and Water but never lost her connect with the audience. She tries a bit too hard to be deliberately different here and it shows. Heaven on Earth turns into a hell of a viewing experience.