Wondering at this afterlife

Its a Wonderful Afterlife

Director – Gurinder Chaddha

Writer – Gurinder Chaddha, Paul Mayeda Berges

Cast –  Shabana Azmi, Goldy Notay, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Zoe Wanamaker, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Shaheen Khan, Adlyn Ross, Ash Varrez, Mark Addy, Sally Hawkins, Jimi Mistry, Ray Panthaki, Don Warrington

What goes for the film – Its comic tone, charming. And the quirkiness, in parts.

What goes against the audience – Petering down of the premise into regular forgettable fare.

Cinemaa opinion – A little bolder, a little naughtier, a little whackier and the sauce would’ve been saucier! Scroll down for a detailed review.

The premise of the film is as charming as the title. And so is the tone. Then what got lost in the final analysis? An attempt to find out.

‘Afterlife’ is a tepid rom-com situated in the usual Brit-Punjabi setting all of Gurinder Chadda’s films are based in.  This one talks about the constant failed efforts of a mother trying to get her rotund daughter married and everything that comes out of that. No, not the social, emotional mess that surrounds the issue, but murders, spiritual experiences and a tacked-together love-story.

Murders in a rom-com, you may ask? Yes, complete with stuffy, quaint ghosts too! And not in CG. But real-life people pancaked as ghosts. Mrs Sethi, the culprit goes on a killing spree when person after person rejects her ‘sarv-gunn-sampann’ daughter for her weighty looks and the ghosts of those killed return to haunt her. The army of spirits gradually increases as Mrs. Sethi’s destiny writes two more accidental deaths through her hands. The only way they can get ‘mukti’ is when Mrs. Sethi herself dies (So says the nut-cracker Aussie best friend of the daughter who herself has an Indian ghost trapped inside her, symbolically of course!) but being a mother she cannot rest in peace (pun intended) until she sees her daughter happily married. So the ghost factory plus Mrs Sethi decide to put their heads together and get the girl married ASAP.

And this is when the premise loses its way. The group keeps talking about plans but does nothing much but stand around, comment, discuss and hee-haw about happenings that happen at almost unthought-of plot points centering around the daughter and a dunno-how-he-is-a-hunk-but-he-is Raj. Over-seeing the direct connect to the DDLJ dream icon reference, the love story, the ultimate answer to all the questions the premise throws up, kicks in. With no fervour. Under the cover of an investigation the dream Raj comes closer to Roopi and falls in love with her. It is undistinguishable if he does that because he genuinely discovers a chemistry with the woman or the script specifically asked him to do so.

Which brings us to characterizations. Comprised brutally on the altar of a half-baked ‘safe’ script, most characters are either stereotypes or caricatures or semi-fleshed out personas that are worn by semi-convinced actors. The latter, largely is also a director’s debacle. Mrs. Sethi, is by far the only character, who is layered and hence arouses empathy and Shabana Azmi may be a lot to be complemented for there. The control on hamming and ‘proving’ of special acting abilities is exceptionally mentionable and the character lives through her portrayal, live as a lonely widow, live as a worried mother, live as a fearful criminal. Goldy Notay, portraying Roopi is caught in the worlds of under-expression and real histrionics. Her genuine effort and visible talent is belied by a vague characterization and misguided direction.

Yet. The film has a quaint charm. Like a lukewarm coffee on a mildly warm Sunday afternoon, with sun streaming through the slightly parted windows throwing up shadows of the swaying branches outside. The comic flavour of the film appeals in a mildly entertaining way, hooking if not engaging. It balances the compelling questions of Roopi’s situation, a terribly real and painful one, universal in its Indian context without trivializing its import or caricaturizing it. The situational comedy, however, of the climax is out of sync and formulaic attempt at increasing the tempo rings false. The predictable and formulaic end too is a disservice to a quirky, interesting and inherently original idea.

To its credit and surprisingly for all its superficiality the film does not bore. The narrative keeps the suspense of the spin on and that is the primary take-away. To the extent of redeeming the disappointment of a charming idea let down by a watery, pot-boiler treatment.