Story - Videsh

Videsh revolves around Chand (Preity Zinta ), a young woman who leaves her home and loving family behind in India to build a new life in Canada. She moves to Brampton, Ontario and marries Rocky, a man she has never met.

Rocky is overwhelmed by all the pressures that rest on his shoulders: dealing with his controlling mother and confused father and supporting his sister, her husband and two children who are all crowded into a small house in the suburbs. To make matters worse, he is solely responsible for putting up the money that will allow his extended family to immigrate to Canada. And all of this on a cab drivers salary.

Educated and bright, Chand feels trapped in a world she cannot connect with. Estranged and mistreated by her new family, she feels homesick and misses her family in India but cannot reach out to them. Chand enters this life to find that the family is expecting her to become a slave to their needs and her new husband's life pressures wear down his basic decency to the point where Chand becomes the brunt of all of his frustrations.

While working in a factory cleaning and pressing hotel napkins, she meets ROSA who sees past the make-up that covers her badly bruised face. Streetwise yet mystical, Rosa gives Chand a magical root that is supposed to bring out the love of the recipient.

Chand administers the potion but finds the results of the ministration confusing. Lacking any of the support systems of her family and desperate for somewhere to turn Chand begins to fantasize another version of her life which interlaces an ancient Indian fable about a King Cobra.

Videsh will put you to sleep

Videsh is the story of Chand (Preity), a small town Punjabi girl who moves to Canada after her marriage to Rocky (Vansh). But her dreams of a blissful married life are shattered on her wedding night itself. She has to adjust in a small apartment where her cabbie driver hubby stays along with his parents, sister, her jobless hubby and two kids. Her insecure mother-in-law even disrupts her honeymoon by arriving at her hotel room. When she detests, Rocky raises his hand on her. Disheartened Chand seeks solace in reciting her mom's narrated folklore of the holy snake "Sheshnaag" which has the ability to help a distressed woman. Gradually, Rocky and his mom's insulting behaviour increases with Rocky often brutally beating up Chand. But then one night, her "snake god" comes to life and enters her life in the form of her husband Rocky. The confusion it all leads to forms the rest of the film.

Adapted from Girish Karnad's famous play Naga Mandala, the basic plot is extremely interesting but Deepa Mehta has made a complete mess of it. So slow paced is the narrative that it will have you constantly yawning and looking at your watch in the hope that the torture ends soon. A lot of time is wasted in establishing Chand's unhappy married life. Then post the interval when the Sheshnaag twist finally takes place, everything proceeds in a hurry. Even the climax appears rushed.

What keeps you from walking out of the film mid-way is Preity Zinta's outstanding performance. Most often shown sans any make-up, Preity has delivered her career best performance in Videsh. Sometimes without any dialogues, just through eyes she expresses so much pain that you can't help but start feeling extreme pity for her character. Debutante Vansh Bharadwaj is extremely natural and appears mean to the core. Most of the remaining cast are unknown actors and each one of them right from the old actress playing Preity's mother in law to the small kids in the house have delivered a very good natural performance.

The film in its original English version - Heaven on Earth may have received a few film festival awards but now in its Hindi dubbed version as Videsh, it is certainly not a film which will entertain you. Its tortoise pace and some absurdities thrown in at regular intervals will definitely put you off to sleep.