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Review of Chutney Popcorn
by Helen Madison, March 17, 2005


Warning: spoilers

Before taking the helm of the upcoming Heather Graham movie Cake,
which is currently filming, openly gay director Nisha Ganatra co-
wrote, directed, and starred in Chutney Popcorn (1999), a dramatic
comedy centering on a young Punjabi-American lesbian struggling with
cultural, racial and relationship issues.

The leading lesbian, Reena (played by Ganatra) is introduced as a
woman who is somewhat irresponsible and out-of-place in her Indian
cultural surrounding. We first see her on her motorcycle, with her
girlfriend Lisa (Jill Hennessy, of Crossing Jordan fame) strapped to
the back seat, trying to make a colorful sari work with her black
leather gear.

Arriving late to her sister Sarita's (Sakina Jaffrey) wedding
ceremony, Reena is greeted by her mother, Meena (Maddhur Jaffrey,
Sakina's real-life mother) with disapproving eyes, both because of
her tardiness and because she brought Lisa. The symbolism of the
music, scenery and reaction of each character in the first few scenes
lays the groundwork for the conflicts and unspoken anguish between
the characters that drives the plot throughout the movie.

The cultural and generational clash between Reena and her mother is
fairly formulaic: a traditional mother raised in a male-dominated
culture wants her daughter to marry a man and have children. The
Americanized daughter cannot live out her mother's wishes because (1)
she is a lesbian and (2) she cannot completely relate to her Indian
heritage. This is complicated by the fact that Meena herself doesn't
completely adhere to tradition. She raised Reena and Sarita as a
single parent, allows Reena's older sister to marry a white man, and
tells Reena that a dominant male figure is not necessary in a woman's
life to achieve stability and happiness.

Interestingly, although the two primary relationships are interracial-
-Sarita with her white husband Mitch (Nick Chinlund) and Reena with
her white girlfriend, Lisa--the issue of race is barely addressed in
the film. The only time it comes up in the film is in an argument
between Sarita and Mitch regarding the gender of an Indian God,
during which Sarita comments: "I don't need my lesbian sister to tell
me how to be a woman and I don't need you [Mitch] to tell me how to
be Indian." The lack of exploration of race issues can be perceived
as both progressive, for the depiction of an interracial relationship
on-screen without race being the forefront issue, or false, for
ignoring the issue or pretending it's not one at all.

Relationship conflict is at the heart of this movie. Lisa is
portrayed as a girl who has issues with commitment, as indicated by
her inability to unpack her boxes after moving in with Reena, and her
issues with the permanency of tattoos. Reena displays no commitment
issues with Lisa, but her resistance to responsibility implies that
she does in some ways have her own commitment issues.

The storyline unfolds with Reena learning to be responsible by
unexpectedly offering to be a surrogate mother for her sister, who is
physically unable to have a baby. Lisa initially runs from Reena as
the baby, and its implication of permanence, is introduced into their
relationship, but comes around in the end. Chutney Popcorn's two
lesbian mommies theme is a bit tired today in light of the mass
proliferation of that image on television in the last few years, but
it was still somewhat novel in 1999.

The more interesting storyline is Sarita's, as she struggles with
crushed ideals, personal hypocrisy and sense of helplessness due to
her inability to have children. Her sister's offer to carry her child
challenges Sarita's assumptions about lesbians, and her opinion of
her sister. Sarita's evolution as she comes to terms with these
changes, and the crumbling of many of her preconceived ideas, holds
this script together and rewards the audience with positive closure
and hope.

Overall, the lesbian relationship is not three-dimensional enough,
but the film does deliver a "happy ending" for a lesbian relationship-
-the kind of ending often lacking in films with lesbian characters.
Although full of campy jokes and stereotypes, with occasionally
choppy acting and low-budget film quality, Chutney Popcorn is an
entertaining, introspective, feel-good lesbian flick, and a solid
first film for Nisha Ganatra.

Get Chutney Popcorn on DVD

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