Flavors (2003) Reviews

• Sweet & heartwarming

  raoganesh2004-11-07

  One of the better movies in the American-Indian genre.I mean its a whole lot better than the soporific and clichéd American Desi varieties where the entire film revolves around "getting in touch with ethnic roots" and "India is great" syndrome.The characters seem to be thoroughly fleshed out and identification with the issues they face comes easily( although I have never visited the USA).Great performances by Pooja,Reef,Mohit, Gauang, Gaurav...relatively unheard of names but quite believable performances.Bharati and Anjann are as ever ,superb..they looked more like the mature and aging Wagles . As an Indian living in India, I enjoyed it..the Americans would expect I guess a lot of background, far removed as they are from Indian realities and the Indian psyche. With no particular story line that has a beginning and end, this is just a movie that lightens the mood and leaves you amused all through.

• refreshing "Flavors" of life

  balusmbox2006-09-01

  OK, I was a bit unhappy seeing a few negative comments about this movie. I wanted to answer them in the small review of mine. Why is this name flavors -- Not bcos they all meet at a restaurant. But bcos this movie tries to captures different (not all) flavors of NRIs in USA. Why they have funny characters -- The characters are not intended to be funny, U laugh out loud bcos if you know indians u could relate all the characters that you saw in this movie. Its this relation that brings a smile to your face. I totally loved the movie, and its way better than all the "American-*" movies abt NRIs in India trying to "re-discover" themselves. I can watch this movie a hundred times for the "Parents" and for "sangeetha"

• Sweet, beautiful and funny

  beethoven24932004-07-21

  Flavors was beautifully filmed, light-hearted, sweet and funny. Its leisurely pace allowed me to get to know all the characters; really, getting to know them and seeing how they develop and interact over the three weeks is the entire point of the movie. I like movies like that - think "Go!", "Barcelona", "Pulp Fiction". Also I think it does a good job of being an Indian movie, introducing Americans to the Indian perspective on living in America, while still showing situations that everyone can relate to. The best thing about it was how light-hearted it was. It showed the humor in everything, brought out humor in everyday situations, smiled in bright sunshine the whole way through. I had a lot of fun and often laughed out loud.

• Sensitive & amusing - stands apart from the rest!

  nathanvp2004-09-04

  What struck me most was the care that seem to have gone into this smart little film. A bunch of us saw this film together and we had a great time grinning at each other every time something happened on the screen that we could relate to. I like the fact that makers were very sensible to the characters and even though none of the characters really had much time on screen, they made a very lasting impression. We still use some of those dialogs from the movie - very funny indeed! We also spent a good chunk of time analyzing the film as to how each of those characters knew each other and I have to say it's a very good job in tying all them lose ends. Very tight! Overall, it was a great fun film that is not just a comedy with a bunch of jokes but some very good insight, some smart screenplay and great characters. I would rate the film as one of the most entertaining... actually THE most entertaining film in this line of Indo-US films. I've seen a handful of them and none of them even attempt to do more than a straight forward film with those age old stories on identity crisis or generation gap.

• Fresh and Full Surprise

  vermadushyant2004-11-11

  It just happened one bored evening having seen all the movies in the theater. Flavours was last among the available choices, with all the credits unheard and lot of risk putting a few precious hours at stake. Cursing myself, I resigned to the fate of actually buying a ticket. The film is not brilliant, but close to heart and can be felt. They best part about it, I was not in a dream or fantasy or a rebel with a cause. I was like looking in the mirror and at times I would laugh as well. The ending was brilliant and one good watch.... The movie is not aspirational but is enjoyable and can be recommended.