'Heaven on Earth', a good script gone awry

Heaven on Earth
Cast: Preity Zinta, Vansh Bhardwaj
Director: Deepa Mehta
Rating: **

A long opening scene of a pre-wedding celebration in a Punjabi home leads to scenes of Chand (Preity Zinta) flying to Canada. From a joyous dance in her home town to grooming herself in the airplane toilet before her first meeting with her husband-to-be at the airport, Chand arrives in Canada full of innocent hope. Rocky (Vansh Bhardwaj) is surrounded by his family as they greet Chand.

Till after the wedding rituals, the film has a documentary-like feel. But this pace is the calm before the storm awaiting Chand as her mother-in-law sabotages her relationship with Rocky who in turn uses Chand as a punching bag to vent his pent up frustrations. The quintessential Punjabi mama’s boy, Rocky, is the sole bread-winner and thus has power and pressure upon him.

This horror version of the Adams Family includes, a witch-like mother-in-law (superbly played by Balinder Johal), a slightly senile father-in-law, a domineering sister-in-law with her benign husband and their two kids. Mentally abused and physically assaulted, Chand retreats in to a make-believe world where she finds comfort in stories from her childhood.

Until this point Mehta succeeds in capturing the claustrophobia of a prison-like existence, But when Chand’s pain and desperate loneliness lead to hallucinations about a cobra, and the story moves to fantasy, mythology and potions, she disconnects from the viewer. Inspired by Girish Karnad’s play Nagamandala, she attempts to convey that strong desires can manifest themselves in all kinds of forms.

The greatest triumph of Videsh is Preity Zinta’s performance. Her slow death within and enthusiasm to do the right thing are heartbreaking. Bhardwaj is well cast as the chauvinistic wife-beater. However, Mehta is unable to do justice to such a complex story which makes the final Sita like agni-pariksha appear absurd rather than thought-provoking. Not for the impatient.