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Mad, Sad & Bad (2009)
Director: Avie Luthra
Movie review
From Time Out London
Young, Indian writer-director Avie Luthra delivers a jaundiced, sporadically funny and sharp-mouthed comedy-drama in 'Mad, Sad & Bad'. Bracketed by the funeral of a conventional if dangerously Bacardi-addicted Indian mother (Leena Dhingra), it examines in flashback the lives of her offspring: unmarriable Rashmi (Meera Syal), ‘sex addict’ psychologist Hardeep (Zubin Varla) and sitcom writer Atul (Nitin Ganatra). The movie shows initial promise, not least in the way Luthra’s stiff, almost philosophical script attempts to adjust its attitudes towards cultural assimilation and dysfunctional familial relations to reflect those of its conflicted thirtysomething, British-born protagonists. But his touch deserts him elsewhere, and a disconcerting fluctuation in tone – from sorrowful satire to cheesy sitcom – proves the film’s fatal flaw.Author: Wally Hammond
Time Out London Issue 2032, 29 July -4 August, 2009
Cast & crew
Director: Avie Luthra
Cast: Meera Syal, Nitin Ganatra, Zubin Varla full cast
Duration: 90 mins
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