Basmati Blues (2018)

Why would such an apparently minor and lightweight movie attract stars like Donald Sutherland and Brie Larson? Because there's a surprise inside!Basmati Blues is, superficially, a simple, Americanized version of a Bollywood romantic comedy. It contains the usual elaborate song & dance numbers, many of them adapted to a Western audience, sometimes rather cleverly; and a fairly typical plot of a developing romance between two seemingly different and incompatible people who eventually find a way to be together. For a serious Bollywood fan, an American take on the genre might be worth watching as a novelty, and some of the musical numbers are not bad. What caught my interest, however, is the use of the movie to deliver a political message. The basic storyline involves a pretty young American woman, Linda (Brie Larson), something of a prodigy who works as a research scientist for a company called Mogil. (Mogil is very obviously intended to represent the Monsanto corporation; it even uses more or less the same logo.) Linda has developed a new genetically engineered form of rice. The company's CEO, Gurgon (Donald Sutherland), sends Linda to India to win over the farmers and convince them to sign on for the new rice variety. The scenes in India make good use of the beautiful landscape and give a positive impression of the close-knit farming communities. An idealistic young agriculture student from one of the farming villages begins a half-flirting, half-disputing relationship with Linda. As their romance slowly develops, the more serious part of the plot comes to the fore: the Indian farmers are at first unaware of the implications of accepting Mogil's engineered rice, and how it will change and possibly destroy their livelihood and way of life. One of the high points of the film is Donald Sutherland leading a song and dance number involving Gurgon and the Mogil executives, singing "The Greater Good," a musical explanation of Mogil's right to spread their product where possible, regardless of the possible loss of customers' savings, land, and way of life. Gurgon is a villain, but one who rationalizes his actions as benefiting the world in the long run, as it is right and natural for the superior person (himself) to control things. When the Indian farmers belatedly discover what signing on for the engineered rice might mean to them, a minor rebellion begins, and Linda must choose sides. A very well done musical interlude expresses the farmers' mass rebellion. Because this is a Bollywood-style movie above all, we are given a happy ending - and of course the elaborate Hindu wedding scene - along with the warning message.It may not be the most informative film about GMO crops in India, but it's certainly the most fun.

A brilliant scientist is plucked out of the company lab and sent to India to sell the genetically modified rice she created which she doesn't realize will destroy the farmers she thinks she's helping. Basmati Blues is one of those films where one actor will feel embarrased that even starred in it and that actor will be Brie Larson. This film is not original, not comedic and definitely not a good musical since the singing part doesn't even sound like Larson herself and that was disappointing since actors like Jackman do their own singing. Overall a disappointing film that makes sense for the 3.9 that it got and the 0% that it received on Rotten Tomatoes. (0/10)

Same old same old I'm afraid. Go out and have a curry instead of watching this rubbish.

(This is my first review, though I've seen over 1500 films so far, but in this case, I had to do one because I'd been waiting this for since 2014 (longest wait for me in any single movie), based on the cast, genre, setting and plot synopsis alone. I watched it last night in YouTube after purchasing it first.)Brie Larson and Scott Bakula play a father-daughter scientist group, who have just finished making a new GMO-rice and Donald Sutherland, who is the CEO, sees a business possibility to sell this new rice to farmers, so he sends her to India. While trying to teach the farmers about the new rice, she meets with Rajit, played by Utkarsh Ambudkar and a seed of has been laid.That's the basic plot, but the way it's directed and written is another story. The film is a musical that borrows A LOT from Bollywood-films made in India. It's a very cliché-filled film (fish out of water-situation, love triangle, misunderstandings, evil CEO), but it's never boring, despite it being about selling rice. The writer- director Danny Baron is a first timer, and it shows in all- around cheapness and almost made-to-TV/direct to DVD-feel, but he shows talent and love to the musical genre, and Bollywood in general, in some amazing cinematography and good acting from all of the cast. The scenes and chemistry between Larson and Ambudkar is very sweet.The film is very self-aware (I mean, the company is called Mogil and Sutherland's character is named Gurgon!) The musical numbers are fun at the moment, but they don't really make an impression, but I doubt they weren't even meant to be timeless. The singing is all-around good from Larson and Ambushkar and even Donald Sutherland and Tyne Daly share a villain song together (with Daly having more solos with better range while Sutherland "groons" the lyrics)For the issues, you have to understand what the film is trying to "mimic" by having seem or heard of Bollywood cinema and how they're made. The film can also feel a bit too "happy" and "stakeless" and some of the clichés and dialogue may feel stupid and a bit ridiculous, but if you view it as a self-aware absurd romantic musical comedy (which it is) that was made for something like ABC Family or Disney Channel, you might enjoy it, if you're in the right mood.