An Aussie teacher Will(Brett Lee) falls in love with an Indian woman, Meera(Tannishtha Chatterjee), a single mother based in Sydney. But given their cultural differences and Meera’s past, can her family accept this’UnIndian’ match?
Anupama sharma’s romcom is a refreshing take on cross-cultural relationships in contemporary times. The film doesn’t succumb to cliches. It is nothing like Gurinder Chadha’s standard musical chick-flick with an overdose of Punjabi tadka, predominantly catering to the Indian diaspora and that is its victory. Though it has the usual characters — a’groom seeking’ Indian mom(Supriya Pathak, funny) and a conservative Indian father(Akash Khurana, effective), the situations are far more real and thus, relatable. There are noaloo gobi jokes either. Meera isn’t seeking a wealthy Indian man settled in Australia, nor is Brett Lee a professional cricketer in the film.
The breezy love story is realistic and so is the spontaneous humour, thanks to TK(Arka Das as Lee’s sidekick) and his witty one-liners. Brett Lee tricked into mouthing, ’Maine kaccha nahi pehena hai’ is hilarious. Sharma also brings forth valid points in a light-hearted way. Be it our knack of taking offence to phirangs’ ignorance of our cultural rituals; the relevance of which, we ourselves may not be aware or Indian mothers obsessing for’Doctor damaads’ and’fair grandchildren’. For instance, TK warns Will that "You don’t call an Indian woman a chick, or a hottie with a dot. It’s called a bindi and holds cultural significance." When asked about the significance, he bails himself out by saying, "I don’t know that."
However, not everything is hunky-dory here. The pace drops in the second half as Sharma infuses unnecessary emotional drama(Bollywood ishtyle) in the proceedings, which wasn’t required at all. It makes the movie predictable and conventional. Also, some scenes linger on for much longer than required.
While Tannishtha is a competent actor and renders a mature performance once again, Brett Lee, the former cricketer-turned-actor is, surprisingly, a natural on camera. He slips into his casual role effortlessly. The speedster’s fans won’t be disappointed for sure.