| Immigrants from India to the United States, according to census statistics, have the highest incomes of all ethnic groups, including Caucasians. But economic success does not mean that they are without cultural, family, and personal problems. Leela, directed by Somnath Sen, focuses on why the conflicts arise and how they are handled within Indian culture. Although the film’s title directs our attention to Leela (played by Dimple Kapadia), a visiting professor at a university in Southern California (much of the filming is on the USC campus), the center of attention is instead Krishna (played by Amol Mhatre), an eighteen-year-old sophomore at the university who enrolls in her class on world cultural studies, and his mother Chaitali (played by Deepti Naval), another university professor. Krishna, who prefers to be called Kris, is a handsome, lightskinned Indian American who is popular with his classmates. He lives with his mother Chaitali because his parents are divorced. His father Jai (played by Gulshan Grover) married a Caucasian woman, but his mother did not remarry. Leela and Chaitali, as academic colleagues, become good friends. Against his assimilationist impulses, Kris is taking lessons to learn how to play Indian string instruments from his father, and he complains that Jai otherwise takes little interest in him. Meanwhile, Kris’s mother is having a secret affair with another university professor; the two are intimate on days when Kris is with Jai. Kris’s classmates dare him to have sex with Leela, and the two see a lot of each other; Kris learns about his roots, while Leela begins to understand American culture. Then the equilibrium of Kris’s life comes crashing down when he catches his mother at home with the professor, so he moves out to live with his father whom he later persuades to fund the cost of an apartment on his own. He also frequents Leela at home, where one day he strips to a condom in her bathroom and then comes out naked, hoping for sex with her to increase his popularity with his classmates, all to no avail. For Kris, the hypocrisy of a disciplinarian mother having an affair behind his back was the last straw, but he also has to endure her false accusation that he has been shacking up with a “whore.” Chaitali, having driven the second man in her life away, then tries to light fires under everyone to rectify the situation, but she only succeeds in bringing about a breakup with the professor, the third man in her life to leave her. And she spreads hatred not only toward Leela, whom she believes has betrayed her, but also toward her former husband’s current wife. Carrying on as if she were in India, Chaitali cannot help but make the situation worse for everyone, while the men in her life try to reach out to one another, especially to Kris. Meanwhile, Leela places a call to her husband Nashaad (played by Vinod Khanna), a renowned singer-poet, only to find a woman answer the telephone. Inferring that her husband is engaging in yet another affair, she realizes that her marriage with a womanizer has stifled her, and she gets so emotional that she cries on Kris’s shoulder, and the two have sex. Soon, Nashaad arrives from India to save the day, explaining in person that the woman who answered the telephone was merely his niece, and he declares to all that Leela has been the light of his life ever since they were married. Kris then withdraws his personal interest in Leela, who explains that she wants to be her own person, not a prize for a pursuer. A party in Nashaad’s honor fortunately provides one of several opportunities in the film to enjoy Indian music. When Leela realizes that Kris’s mother is still in turmoil, she realizes that she alone has the duty to do what she can to comfort her. Indeed, the film tells us that Indian culture stresses tact, respect, and concern for others, even in America, and the situation happily calms down due to the application of Buddhist principles. But Leela is also a plea for Indian women to seek happiness on their own terms rather than living in the shadows of their husbands. MH |