It' s a Wonderful Afterlife Review

Until before a day of its release, there was much excitement and expectations about the film ' Its A Wonderful Afterlife' . May be because of the name linked to it i.e. NRI director Gurinder Chaddha who had once given us a super hit film ' Bend It Like Beckham (2002)' . Chaddha has always depicted the differences in cultures, especially between the westerns and the Indians living abroad. We have seen it in ' Bend It Like Beckham (2002)' and ' Bride & Prejudice (2004)' . Now the same is with ' Its A Wonderful Afterlife' . Unfortunately it doesn' t seem to work this time. ' Its A Wonderful Afterlife' is completely disappointing.

The movie tells the story of a mother, Mrs. Sethi (a widow, Shabana Azmi) and her daughter Roopi (Goldy Notay). Mrs. Sethi is restless because she finds difficult to get a groom for her slightly overweight daughter. When people keep rejecting her daughter, she takes the task in her hands and then begins the series of murders with the help of ' curry' . Now the spirits of the murdered come back to take revenge on Mrs. Sethi. The spirits expect her to die because then only they will get reincarnation. Sethi agrees to die but only after her daughter gets married. So the ghosts realize that finding a good husband to Roopi will only help them for their wonderful afterlife. The ghosts then join hands with Mrs. Sethi for the mission. Eventually, Roopi' s childhood friend, D S Murthy (Sendhil Ramamurthy) comes back in the town, who in turn is the eligible bachelor. Sadly, he is a detective who is on run to capture the ' curry killer' . Problems become worst when Roopi' s best friend Linda (Sally Hawkins) enters the scene and then what leads is the rest of the story of film.

Though the story looks tempting and interesting on papers, it is not well translated into the celluloid. ' Its A Wonderful Afterlife' was categorized as a black comedy, but if you watch the film, you will find it is not true. In fact, it keeps changing its track from a slapstick comedy to teary movements. Many said that ' Bride & Prejudice' is Gurinder Chaddha' s weakest film, but not at least compared to her latest venture. A bad screenplay is the biggest let down of the film. The story is not at all focused. However, there are some scenes, which Chaddha has handled uniquely like the sequences between the ghosts and Shabana.

The film is neither high on emotions nor laughter. We are not supposed to take it seriously. However, the flat dialogues and the expectations to laugh at silly sequences bog down the film. Moreover, the climax of the film too is unconvincing. However the film ranks well in acting department. Shabana Azmi is as always great. Goldy Notay is efficient and Sendhil Ramamurthy has great screen presence. Sally Hawkins is also out standing.

Conclusively, ' Its A Wonderful Afterlife' is not up to the expectations. It hardly entertains you. If you have nothing really great to do, go for it or simply stay away from it.

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