Masala

REVIEW
Krishna's ingenious feature debut is this wildly entertaining brew which examines the difficulties of assimilation for Indian immigrants in North America. Krishna himself stars as a thuggish young hunk who dabbles in drugs and petty crime. When his entire family is killed in a plane crash, he moves to Toronto to live with his ruthlessly greedy uncle (Jaffrey). He strikes up a relationship with the daughter of a financially strapped postman (Jaffrey in a multiple role), whose mother has candid conversations with her favorite deity Krishna (Jaffrey again) through her VCR. The film is a tasty mélange of spicy subplots, twists and characters. Colorful and wild, Masala presents a wholly original take on the struggles of Indian immigrants to retain their cultural identity.