BOLLYWOOD QUEEN
Year: 2002
UK: Redbus Film Distribution
Cast: Preeya Kalidas, James McAvoy, Ciaran McMenamin, Ray Panthaki, Ian McShane, Ameriit Deu, Ronny Jhutti, Karen Shenaz David, Kat Bhathena, Badi Uzzaman, Lalita Ahmed, Matt Bardock, Riz Abbasi, Andy Beckwith, Suraj Chaudry, Nicole Arumugan, Sakuntala Ramanee, Indira Joshi, Marc Zuber, Peter Quince, Jo Cameron Brown, Amit Arroz, Ameet Chana, Damian Asher, Abhin Galeya, Jesse Callay, Chandrakant Patel, Suryakant Patel, Hari Sajjan, Gavin Rees, Peter Bond, Ben Frost, Tony Kennedy, Asha Khanom, Inderjit Kalyana, Baluji Shrivastav, Alamin K J Bhuiya, Anouk Taylor, The Dhol Foundation, The Twilight Players, Sinbad Phgura, Ammo Too Sweet, Jimi The Quiff, Felix Dexter, Rashid Karapiet, Nasreen Hossain, Renu Setna
Director: Jeremy Wooding
Country: UK
UK: 90 mins
UK Certificate: PG contains mild violence and language (The company substituted a song in reel 3 after classification. It was checked by the BBFC and had no effect on the category for this work)
UK Release Date: 17 October 2003
Synopsis
Nineteen year old Geena (Preeya Kalidas) apparently has everything going for her: a Business Studies course, a weekend job with the family firm, and a trophy boyfriend. Still, she longs for life to be more like the romance and adventure of her beloved Bollywood movies.
Whether she's sitting through tedious economics lectures, attending to fussy matrons in the family's sari shop, or being chaperoned around chi-chi bars in the sports car of her family-approved boyfriend, Dilip (Ronny Jhutti), Geena's mind keeps drifting. She's entranced by the glamour of Bollywood and seduced by the sounds of R&B girl groups. Secretly, Geena has already formed a vocal trio with her two best friends, Anjali (Kat Bhathena) and Neeta (Karen Shenaz David).
Then, Geena has an unexpected encounter with Jay (James McAvoy), a new boy in town, and finds that love can be just as enthralling as the songs on the silver screen suggest. When Jay saves her from an accident outside the family factory, her hero fantasies, and the predictions of her astrologer uncle, seem to be fulfilled.
Jay has fled his drab West Country small town and followed his brother, Dean (Ciaran McMenamin), to the promise of the big city. There's little to keep him back home - just a dead-end job and a ne'er do well father who has been lost in booze since his wife's death. Dean's life - ducking and diving around the grey economy of London's rag trade - offers Jay excitement and ready cash.
Jay's encounter with Geena opens a door on a different London for him, and on a different way of life.
The pair's liaisons around London's East Side must be kept secret, however. Not only is Jay off limits as far as Geena's two over-protective brothers, Sanjay (Amerjit Deu) and Anil (Ray Panthaki), are concerned, but he works for a rival garment manufacturer. Then there is the ongoing issue of Dilip. Jay's brother Dean is likewise unimpressed with Jay's sudden passion.
When the affair between Geena and Jay is uncovered, the two find themselves in the crossfire of a vicious turf war over the lucrative but illegal trade in fake designer wear. Faced with a choice between family loyalties and their love affair, the two escape to the wild west of Jay's native Somerset.
But Geena's new found independence means she is ready to face the music back home. In time-honoured Bollywood style, its climactic scene comes at an Indian wedding, where Geena performs a song integrating R&B and traditional Indian instruments, which celebrates her newfound independence.
Can her family accept the real Geena? Or will she and Jay discover that happy endings don't always turn out like the movies?
