It's a Wonderful Afterlife

Plot synopsis:
Mrs Sethi (Shabana Azmi) is a widow living in Southall who wants to marry off her only daughter, for she is alone and unhappy. Her daughter, Roopi, (Goldy Notay) is a little plump and opinionated. Mrs Sethi finds that all her matchmaking efforts are rudely rejected. She avenges this behaviour toward her daughter by murdering the failed dates using her culinary skills. A police hunt begins for a serial murderer using a killer curry.
Mrs Sethi does not feel guilty until the spirits of her victims come back to haunt her. They are unable to reincarnate until their murderer dies. Mrs Sethi must kill herself to free the spirits, but vows to get her daughter married first.
The spirits realise that helping Roopi find a suitable husband before the police catch Mrs Sethi is in their best interests, and everyone begins to work together. Meanwhile, Roopi catches the eye of the young Sergeant investigating the case.

Tags: paranormal, murder

Review:
I don't believe this film was meant to be a serious comment on the British Asian way of life, just a wry look at the lengths this mother would go to in order to secure a husband for her daughter.
The characters were engaging, making me want to know what was going to happen to them all, and I never yawned once, which is a good barometer of an entertaining film in my opinion.
Some scenes had me wanting to jump up and join in, while another was an obvious homage to a 70's horror movie, but with an amusing twist.
The director gets the whole Indians abroad thing to absolute perfection.
Let me start with the end, which is the end credits Stayin Alive with Punjabi Remixed and the bloopers in the movie that are running with it.
I really like Gurinder Chaddha movies since Bend It like Beckham, the whole Punjabi touch to the movie that she gets, the wedding season and the all the food that comes with it which is like what Punjabis die for (or work for).
In this movie, you had all the elements put in place, you have good music, wedding, punjabi style the whole NRI culture based out of London.
The other added elements that make it a dark comedy, but surely not scary.Overall with all the elements are placed the only thing is it NOT a typical romance film with some really funny moments..
I cannot believe that I have just come back from watching this film at the cinema, and the best thing about going was watching the film trailers before the actual film started.
This is categorised as a "comedy horror"....it wasn't funny, and it would not scare my 5 year old nephew.
The film concept did not work and it felt like a lot of the attempted jokes were too forced.
The director attempted to make a film that would appeal to everyone but ended up as a huge disaster and did not have the fundamentals of being a good film.
The director has made other hit films such as Bend It Like Beckham and Bride and Predajice and they were much more entertaining to watch.
No Afterlife Only Current Life Which Ain't Wonderful But Funny.
Granted the expectations were high because of Shabana Azmi but then again, what can one expect from Gurinder Chaddha.
That said, 'It's a Wonderful Afterlife' isn't that bad.
I prefer it over the boring 'Bride and Brejudice'.The minus points are that Chaddha relies on too many Indian British clichés which have been done to death in many other films.
Sally Hawkins is a scene stealer.Overall, I didn't mind 'It's a Wonderful Afterlife' for a one-time-watch.
It made me laugh even though it could have easily been a much better movie..
In terms of horror, comedy, crime thriller, love story, family relationships and everything else thrown into the film I found most aspects were topped by other films.
While I understand the Indian masala films usually involve having everything including the kitchen sink thrown into the plot, which will have enough room for the story to combine romance, mystery, drama, comedy, song and dance all together for possibly something for everyone to enjoy, It's a Wonderful Afterlife somehow had all these ingredients coming together, but felt a little too contrived at mixing everything up and gelling them all nicely, especially since it had a trailer that's not quite accurate, and it seemed more like a typical 3 hour film rather than its 100 minute duration.Gurinder Chadha's more famous for her directorial breakthrough Bend It Like Beckham, which arguably introduced Kieira Knightley to the world, and here she combines an ensemble with the likes of Jimi Mistry, Sally Hawkins and the Indian actors Sanjeev Bhaskar, Shaheen Khan, Adlyn Ross and Ash Varrez in a film that started like an investigative drama with a potential serial killer on the loose in the Southall district of London, the policeman D S Murthy (Sendhil Ramamurthy) who had been transferred in for investigative work in his own community to sniff out details of the suspects, Roopi (Goldy Notay) and her mother Mrs Sethi (Shabana Azmi) who is desperate for the former to get married with much of her rejection based on her plumpish looks, Roopi's best friend Linda (Hawkins) who finds her inner Indian self and is somewhat of a self-taught spiritual guru, and the list goes on.At best, the plot and its subplots were extremely scattered, and somehow it seemed that Chadha didn't manage to find common ground for all of them to coexist, with each plot line threatening to upstage and distract one from others.
The cat is let out of the bag early, and it's somehow not so much of a mystery other than a zany comedy to have these friendly ghouls make jokes at every opportunity.The romantic leads of Sendhil Ramamurthy and Goldy Notay also lacked believable chemistry though the rushed romance didn't help their cause since the detective also had to juggle an ulterior motive, while that between Jimy Mistry and Sally Hawkins went down the road to explore how some people groove to the beat of other cultures since they're not at home with their own.
Sally Hawkins though had a single major scene which mimicked a horror film where a woman scorned unleashes hell on earth during her own party, probably a comedic highlight of the film that defied all logic and pushed the film toward absurdity.I had enjoyed Gurinder Chadha's works such as Bride and Prejudice, and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, but somehow this entry into her filmography seemed like a step back.
Let's how she finds her groove back pretty soon with a stronger and more coherent story rather than leaving things scattered around..
Obviously fun to make, with familiar faces and heart-warming family drama, along the lines of "OMG what is Mum doing now?", as she tries to solve her daughter's seemingly non-existent marriage prospects.
Along the way, the audience bops along to Indian remixes of popular western disco and pop, and wonders how an unlikely murderer will meet their fate.
The dialog is natural, with gags, but the film's undeniable humour comes from the same loving, awkward moments that drive it's story.
I can't see anyone walking out of this movie, unless they don't wish to be entertained.It's a Wonderful Afterlife (2010) is not a work-of-art, not a beautifully made film.
It is a funny murder-love-story with falling down moments, with familiar actors having a blast making ridiculous comedy.
If you want a horror show, or a logical plot, then it may let you down.
Let face it Gurinder Chadha struck bingo with "Bend it like Beckham" and it was nothing but sheer luck.
When you watch "It's A Wonderful Afterlife" you can be certain to demand refund for your ticket.
Its an insult to my favourite feel-good Christmas movie "It's A Wonder Life" (can I demand a change of title as well?).
Its heights of brain-storming gone amok!Shabana Azmi:: Its sad to see a powerhouse of talent being wasted.Sendhil Ramamurthy, Sanjiv Bhaskar & Zoe Wanamaker were just OK.The cinematic liberties under the garb of Bollywood type of cinema should be completely stopped..
Sorry to see Shabana Azmi in this awful movie..
First of all let's talk about the inspiration angle behind the title of the movie, "Its A Wonderful Afterlife".
Gurinder Chadha undoubtedly thought of this name to take advantage of the huge popularity of an Old English Classic called "Its A Wonderful Life" featuring James Stewart.
The Black & White gem released in 1946 is considered to be one of Top 100 movies of All Time directed by the renowned director, Frank Capra.Incidentally the story of this Capra gem also revolves around a person who becomes a spirit after his death and then meets an angel, who shows him how people loved him while he was living and now how they all are missing him after his death.Taking hints from the title and the film, it seems Gurinder got an idea to write a script, revolving around some spirits and a concerned mother worried about the marriage of her overage obese daughter.
As a mandatory clause, the mother had to be from a punjabi family in order to incorporate all the other essential north Indian elements into the screenplay, as required to justify the famous Gurinder Chaddha trademark.
Now till here, everything seems nice and cool since the main theme of the movie sounds interesting having much scope of including all those emotions, comedy and drama, mixed with bhangra beats playing at the background.
But after watching the whole movie, you are just left with only one expression on the face, which goes like "What is this?".
Is this really a Gurinder Chaddha movie, who gave us "Bhaji On the Beach"and "Bend It Like Beckham"?
or She has just made this project to show some losses in her current balance sheet.Strictly speaking, after her below average "Bride & Prejudice" which was a big disaster, this is another completely unexpected, silly and awful dud delivered by the director, who once had a good name in both parts of the world due to her highly entertaining and successful films.
The movie is a big letdown, right from the word go, when you are made to witness some highly absurd sequences displaying few serial murders happening in England.
The murders are illogically related with eating Indian food and the manner in which the people die is definitely not hilarious from any angle.
So we have 5 highly annoying ghosts walking with Shabana Azmi throughout the movie, which never seem to be comical in any way.
Now talking about my first hand experience in the theater, quite understandably, most of the fellow audiences were not able to suffer it anymore and they walked out of the hall even before the interval saying nasty things about the movie.
This particular part was undeniably one of the most disastrous and weirdest thought put in by a director ever.So, as all the expectations from the movie were being shattered badly left and right, I was just sitting on my seat in a lazy posture, thinking about, why Shabana Azmi had to be there in this terrible project and what she may have imagined while signing the movie, after reading the final draft of the script.Returning to the review, due to my dreadful experience with the film, I frankly don't wish to write anything more about its direction, performances, script, music or cinematography.
But I really want to request Shabana Azmi, to please don't waste your precious efforts and valuable time in such intolerable projects.
The movie simply doesn't deserve to be there in your resume at all as it's a big black spot on the name of another masterpiece with a similar title.May be it's a clear example of a creative block being faced by the director and may she return back with a bang soon.
But as far as her "It's a Wonderful AfterLife" is concerned, it's one of the worst movies I have ever seen..
After a string of good films, especially the delightful "Bend it Like Beckham", Chadha seems to have lost her footing.
My favourite parts of the movie were the outdoor scenes in London's Southall community.
The acting is decent but the plot, even by screwball comedy standards, is completely unbelievable.
I get that Chadha is satirizing the extent to which Indian mothers will go to marry off their offspring.
Makes much of the film nauseating to watch.
Chadha also says the "Carrie" scene was her favourite.
Gurinder Chadha brings on her masala mix with the punningly titled Its a wonderful afterlife.People in Southall are getting murdered rather gruesomely.
They called the murderer's daughter fat, too big to get married.
Goldy Notay is the slightly on the heavy side jilted fiancée with a good heart but causing her mum (Shabana Azmi) to be stressed as she feels Goldy is being left on the shelf.Sally Hawkins plays Goldy's best friend who has acquiesced new age Indian beliefs after trip to India.
Sendhil Ramamurthy is an old pal of Goldy who is also the police officer investigating the murders and has a thing for Goldy.After a crafty title you feel the film will be a riff on the more famous James Stewart film but its a soppy love story which takes bits from other movies.
Some of the characters were not believable, why was Mark Addy's Detective Inspector hell bent on framing Goldy up for the murders when DNA evidence ruled her out?There are a lot of fat jokes, many of them predictable and unfunny and overall although the film is amiable enough with a nice use of Black's hit song 'Its's a wonderful life' used in a sequence, I felt the film was undercooked both as a romance and a masala comedy..
Good, Ghostly Fun. The premise may sound a little 'Serial Mom', with an over-protective mother ensuring that anyone who dares to slight her precious offspring doesn't live to regret it, but there the similarity ends.
I only intended to watch a small part of this film to chill out before going to bed, but it kept me entertained until the end.
Unlikely to become a well-loved classic like its (almost) namesake, but good, ghostly fun..
movies like this ever get made.
I watched this one chilly winter's afternoon while nursing a heavy cold, hoping for a mildly diverting way to pass an hour or so when even the thought of getting up off the settee was an effort.
Feeling better now but still struggling to believe how this wreck of a movie ever got a green light.It was fascinating in a perverse way: Just how much lumpy dialogue, heavily telegraphed and unfunny jokes, inane and unconvincing plot twists, pointless steals and clichéd direction can be packed into one movie?
It might be a Wonderful Afterlife but it was even better when the movie ended.
Sure the movie started off all good and well but when the spirits appeared, there were one or two funny scenes but it started becoming boring after a while and before you knew it, it started to drag on for too long.
The acting wasn't good either as the actors could have done a little better in playing as their characters, although the actors who played the spirits were amusing from time to time.
The writing is hit-and-miss because even though there were some okay scenes in the movie, sometimes it could drag on for too long.
The directing isn't really bad and the script wasn't either but the movie just felt too rushed and unnecessary.
There were quite a few scenes you could have taken out and you wouldn't have missed anything from the story.It was good for the first half an hour however, slowly but surely, it started to become tedious and boring.
The acting wasn't bad but I have seen miles better from some of the cast such as Sendhil Ramamurthy, who plays Mohinder in Heroes.
However, Sally Hawkins was great as Linda and she really lit up the movie.
The movie's humour felt like it was trying to force itself to be funny too many times and, I admit, there were times when I laughed a little at the movie but there were some scenes that felt way too forced when it came to the humour department.
There was one scene that just felt totally thrown in and random, I can't say much without spoiling the movie but you'll know what I mean if you decide to watch the movie, the scene involves Sally Hawkins.
I was also disappointed with the fact that Preeya Kalidas, better known as Amira in Eastenders, was only in the movie for ten seconds.
Overall, if you want a movie that's hysterical, don't choose this one but if you want a comedy that is mildly entertaining, doesn't take itself seriously and will kill time, then this is perfect.Read more reviews at: www.dudedazzmoviereviews.wordpress.com.
Messy and funny goodness.
I was really excited about going to see It's A Wonderful Afterlife because Gurinder Chadha is the director and she has directed two of my favourite films - Angues, Thongs and Perfect Snogging and also Bride and Prejudice.
I had also seen plenty of the film on TV and it looked like a fun film - I was right!
The film is set in London but is all about Indians.
Basically, an old woman called Mrs Sethi (Shabana Azmi) wants to commit suicide because she is a widow but she won't do it until her daughter Roopi (Goldy Notay) is married.
The murder brings the police in to things and the officer assigned to the case is called Murthy (Sendhil Ramamurthy).
Also involved is Linda, renamed Galani (Sally Hawkins), who wears Indian clothes, has an Indian fiancée (Jimi Mistry) and insists that she is psychic.It is a set-up for lots of funny things to happen.
There are quite a lot of fat jokes which get old after a while and also a lot of slapstick that sometimes is really hilarious and sometimes isn't.
There are also lots of people slipping over on curry which is so silly it's really quite funny.
The script overall is really funny and original.
There is a happy ending with a wedding as in a lot of Gurinder Chadha's films but the way it gets to the end is really original.
All of the cast are really good as well and deliver their lines perfectly, especially Shabana Azmi who is really super.
The film also looks really good but the cheap gore and exploding curry looks a bit out of place.In many ways this is a typical romance film with some really funny moments.
However, there are plenty of unique ideas in here and some great humorous moments that will make it worth seeing, especially if you like the director's other films.4/5