The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is kind of in the same vein as the rash of ensemble romantic comedies centered around a holiday or those directed by Woody Allen. Each of the actors here get a bit of storyline, some better than others, although none of them are very strongly developed. But they all have something to do with the problems of getting older. The framing story is that a young Indian man (Dev Patel of Slumdog Millionaire) manages his family's crumbling hotel, and has decided to "outsource old age" by catering to seniors in their golden years. Based on a book.

I Hate Valentine's Day!: Sita Sings the Blues

The director Nina Paley made this film as a sort of coping mechanism/response for her failed relationship. She compares it to that of the folktale of the Ramayan, whose wife Sita was abandoned by him and had to prove her purity time and again.

It's an animated film, and the story begins in modern day America, where a man gets an offer of a job in India, segueing to the folktale. Sita's blue-skinned husband Rama (aka Vishnu), instead of becoming king, is banished to the forest. He goes to fight off creatures that put her life in danger, and Sita waits patiently. After she becomes pregnant (supposedly while he is away), he leaves her. Some Indian voices discuss the folk tale, as if they are recalling all the versions they were told as children.

Every now again Sita will break out in a bluesy jazz song that reflects her sadness and predicament, while characters play out the lyrics of the song in a sort of animated music video. Different styles of animation portray Sita and Rama, some less polished and more obviously handdrawn, others that are more CGI and repetitive, some that are in papercuts.

Rocket Singh:Salesman of the Year

Rocket Singh is an Indian comedy but also has some drama elements. I was pleasantly surprised how relevant it is in today's economy, and had assumed it would be a very broad comedy or Bollywood style film with lots of singing and dancing.

Hapreet Singh, a young Sikh, has just graduated from business school. But where his fellow classmates are getting high paying but soulless jobs, Hapreet just wants any kind of job, and ends up working as a sales intern at a small computer sales firm. But the business is very cutthroat and Hapreet is discouraged that the little guys--himself, the receptionist, the IT tech, and the office boy (actually he is a middle aged man) are constantly tread upon. He finally makes a sale--of two computers--but instead of billing it to the office, he surreptitiously creates a new firm, Rocket Sales Corporation, whose mantra is service over profit. With all the other "little guys," he promises 24 hour tech service, even on weekends and holidays, slashes prices, doesn't cheat his customers or gives bribes, and the new firm's buzz gets around his day job, stealing business from his old boss, a man who thinks money can buy anything.

CIFF 2011: Azhagarsamy's Horse

I haven't watched a lot of true Indian movies, and many of the ones floating around are of the Bollywood musical type, or action movies with not much plot--basically, I find them of poor quality. Every now and again there is a crossover hit like Monsoon Wedding or Slumdog Millionaire (is that "Indian" if directed by a Brit?) and of course there are the old classics like the Apu trilogy by Satyajit Ray. Newer films such as The Darjeeling Limited or Bride & Prejudice are trying to inject Indian flavor into a western storyline. Indian actors are appearing in more mainstream fare, but none has really hit it big yet, at least not that I can see.
Azhagarsamy's Horse doesn't fit any of those categories other than "true Indian movie." It is a story of a rural town whose religious icon of a horse goes missing, believed to be the steed of their god Azhagarsamy, just as they are preparing for a festival to pray for rain to return to their area. When a real horse shows up the village elders believe it is the horse incarnate, and chain it up to save it for the festival. But then its real owner, also named Azhagarsamy (played by a comic actor named Appukutty), comes to claim it. This young man is bullied and disgraced, and it is apparent he and the horse belong to each other, though he has no choice but to succumb to the mob and wait until the festival is over to reclaim his horse. As the townsfolk continue to argue about the ownership of the horse, and accuse each other of theft, we learn why the Azhagarsamy needs the horse so badly.