Patiala House

Three former England cricket captains cameo as themselves in this Bollywood take on ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ with songs. Cricket is substituted for the beautiful game but the unimaginative ‘follow your dreams’ storyline remains the same. Will Southall London lad Gattu (Akshay Kumar) become the British Kapil Dev and bowl for the England team despite the disapproval of his patriarchal Punjabi dad (Rishi Kapoor)? Forget about the cricket: this purports to explore British Asian identity, racism and multiculturalism. Since this is a mainstream Hindi movie, do not expect an in-depth exploration of these issues. That said, the father-son conflict rings true and culture clashes are played with knowing and sometimes unintentional humour. A worthy attempt to push the Bolly boundary.