Mixed masala

>> Cultures clash with varied results in Chutney Popcorn

by MATTHEW HAYS

In Nisha Ganatra's feature directorial debut, she plays Reena, a young Indo-American lesbian, happily ensconced in a live-in love affair with Lisa (Jill Hennessy, formerly of Law & Order). They are happy urban dykes who hang out with their other dyke buddies and exchange various witticisms, while occasionally giving each other temporary tattoos.

It's not a bad setup, one that soon leads to the melding of Reena's world with her (much) more traditional family of Indian heritage. Her mother (played with gusto by Madhur Jaffrey) wants nothing more than for Reena to settle down with a nice Indian boy. Reena brings Lisa along to family gatherings, but the pressure is still present. Reena's lifestyle stands in stark contrast to the life of her sister Sarita (Sakina Jaffrey), married to a white man and eager to pop some kids.

Sarita's dilemma, and the film's main plot point, comes when she finds she can't have children. Overwhelmingly depressed by the prospect of not giving birth, she finds her sister is, at least initially, not that sympathetic. Steeped in a lesbian/feminist crowd, Reena can't quite see how a woman's world could crumble simply because she can't procreate. Over time, however, she sees her sister's sorrow and comes up with a plan.

Reena suggests that she should get impregnated with Sarita's husband's sperm, give birth and then hand the little bundle of joy over to Sarita to bring up as her own. It's a sweet plan, a thoughtful one undoubtedly, but as the film progresses, complicated child-rearing strategies turn out to be predictably, well, complicated. Relationships are strained, people have serious second thoughts and pregnancies succeed even when people have attempted to call the whole thing off.

As well-meaning as a film like Chutney Popcorn is, I'd be lying if I said it was perfect. The film feels far, far too earnest, there are too many scenes of people looking pensive, and you know you're in trouble when the characters onscreen are getting a bigger laugh out of the film's jokes than the actual audience is.

Still, the film takes an underexamined subject--queers and the prospects of parenting--and places it under the screenwriting microscope. Chutney Popcorn endeavours to represent a world we've seen far too little of. As such, it will win over audiences made up of certain starved demographic groups, despite its shortcomings.

Chutney Popcorn opens Friday, Nov. 17 at Cinéma du Parc