A woman comes to terms with her sexuality while trying to save the family business in this flavorful romantic comedy. Nina Shah (Shelley Conn) is the daughter of an Indian expatriate family who settled in Glasgow and run an Indian restaurant, the New Taj Mahal. While Nina was always close to her father, when he insisted she wed a man she didn't love as part of an arranged marriage, she left Glasgow and began a new life in London. However, word of her father's passing brings her back to Glasgow
to look after her mother and help run the New Taj. Nina learns that the restaurant is deep in debt and needs a sharp increase in business if it's to stay open; shortly before his death, her father arranged for the New Taj to take part in a televised cooking competition to find the best Indian food in Glasgow, and so Nina and the restaurant's head chef, Lisa (Laura Fraser), are on the spot to come up with something special. As Nina and Lisa spend many hours in the kitchen together, they begin to develop a personal relationship as spicy as anything on the menu. While Nina tries to decide how to explain her new romance to her family, she finds emotional support from her very out-of-the-closet friend, Bobbi (Ronny Jhutti), and her younger sister, who has developed a passion for Scottish folk dancing. But Nina's effort to save the New Taj may become a grudge match when she learns that her biggest competition comes from a new eatery run by Sanjay (Raji James), the man Nina refused to marry. Nina's Heavenly Delights also stars Art Malik as Sanjay's father. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
This combination of melodrama, comedy, music and romance eventually falls under the weight of its endlessly stereotypical characters, dialogue and situations.
A cloying blend of Bollywood sentiment and Amélie whimsy, Nina's Heavenly Delights is a lesbian-foodie fairy tale that keeps its appetites well under control.
Making her feature debut after several documentaries, Parmar displays rookie jitters with excessive cutting and camera moves whose restlessness occasionally recalls Mumbai soap operas.
It's ironic how a film whose outcome depends on the difference between technical perfection and perceived, artistic greatness, would itself prove a slave to shallow screenplay mechanics deprived of nuance.
You know a cross-cultural, gender-bending dramedy has issues, when its most memorable moment is a blasphemous, bouncy Bollywood musical finale featuring a female impersonator.
Parmar scores pleasant performances across the board...Yet the story is bland, like it's been over-workshopped in a screenwriting class, too polite and too smooth around the edges.
The novelty value of an east meets west cultural dynamic isn't enough to disguise how late Nina's Heavenly Delights is to the celluloid coming out party.
I really loved Pratibha Parmar's work on "Nina's Heavenly Delights" and that's the reason I am so pissed off that there is rarely a chance for the character of a dyke to be realistically portrayed - or at least, believably enough for the gay audience to give it a pass. Laura Fraser is cute, but why on earth can't we
see a real dyke playing a dyke on screen? Are they so hard to find? That's alI I have to say on this. "Politiki Kouzina" for lesbians!
Great movie!! Excellent story plot. This movie follows the life of Nina who has a special interest and talent in cuisine that was taught alongside her father. She comes home for her father's funeral and soon embarks upon new changes in life, especially discovering love. Great cast- Raji James, Shelley Conn, Laura
Fraser, and Francisco Bosch. Fantastic music!! Definitely worthy.
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