The Indian actor-turned-producer-turned-director Romesh Sharma has launched his son into the movie business by starring him in his new film, Dil Jo Bhi Kahey. The film is a cross-cultural love story in which Karan Sharma plays Jai, a Mauritian student of Indian descent who falls in love with Sophie (Wallace), the beautiful daughter of a prominent white family in Mauritius. The two meet while in Sweden, studying for degrees in the hospitality industry, but know that their love will face objections from both families upon their return home. Actually, the movie begins with a preamble in which we see Jai’s mother (Revathi) being rushed to the hospital. Then the next hour backtracks to tell the story of the love that almost kills his mother. It’s in this section that most of the movie’s songs and dancing appear. The middle is given over mostly to the drawn-out melodrama, which advances only slightly with the introduction of an alternate woman, chosen by Jai’s mother to wed her son. Sophie’s father is a rabid white supremacist, who makes fervent pronouncements about the proper arrangements between masters and slaves. (Some background history about the social and racial legacy of Mauritius, which is provided at the beginning of the film, proves helpful to those unfamiliar with the politics of the region.) Unfortunately, Sophie is as much a daddy’s girl as Jai is a momma’s boy, thus their future seems forever cursed. As a leading man Karan Sharma is little more than adequate, although Wallace provides a sunny presence, and veterans Bachchan (Sarkar) and Revathi lend the film a certain grounding. Interestingly, more than half the film’s dialogue is in English, as befits a cross-cultural story. However, Dil Jo Bhi Kahey is not likely to cross many cultural barriers of its own.
This article appears in September 30 • 2005.
