Cricketer Brett Lee pairs up with Tannishta Chatterjee in an exceedingly familiar but enjoyable culture clash drama set in Sydney. Will (Lee) teaches “Aussie English” at a local university that he hopes will help his multicultural wards adjust better to Australian society. But words fail Will when he sets his eyes on single mother Meera (Tannishtha Chatterjee) at a Holi celebration that he has misheard as “holy”. It’s the first of many misunderstandings between Will, Meera, Meera’s pushy parents, and Meera’s button-cute daughter (Maya Sathi).
Meera’s parents (Supriya Pathak and Akash Khurana) haven’t lost their Indian traits despite having lived in Australia for several years – they still want to find a “nice Indian doctor” for Meera, and practically push her into the arms of one such smug specimen. Will, meanwhile, makes a bold play for Meera, and is given tips in dating Indian women by his room-mate TK (Arka Das). The anchor of a food show that’s going nowhere, TK is quick to defend the country from which his parents emigrated, even though he clearly doesn’t know the first thing about India.
Anupam Sharma’s movie, based on a story by the Thushy Sathi, is heavy on the sort of cultural tropes that buoy the average NRI comedy: weddings, differing values, mock horror over Caucasian men preying on innocent Indian women and the long-simmering sexual union (cut down in the Indian version). But the dialogue is easy on the ear and the cultural anxieties are just a stock-in-trade.
Although he clear finds pace bowling much easier than dancing, Lee delivers his one-liners with flair. Supriya Pathak vamps it up as the stereotypical matriarch and has one of the best lines in the film – at least Will and the dusky Meera will produce fair-skinned babies, she sighs in resignation.
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