Starring Sophia Ali, Manisha Koirala, Rish Shah, Adil Hussain, Anita Kalathara, Deepti Gupta

(Okay Film)

Returning home to her affluent neighborhood and family in New Jersey, UCLA student, Ali Kapur (Ali), meets a handsome, working-class boy, Varun, and finds a host of family secrets among the classist society she grew up in. India Sweets and Spices is not the wise family-drama you might expect from its material. Nor is it really a comedy-of-manners. Honestly, it’s mostly a Lifetime movie, but that isn’t to say it’s not enjoyable, at times, or engaging, at times. The acting is strong and I’m not above shameless melodrama, but I did hope for more. Not a very thoughtful movie, it will likely be best appreciated in terms of its feminist-edge and solid female characters.

-Walter Tyrone Howard-

-9-