FILM: Basmati Blues Starring Brie Larson
As the February gloom continues to linger, it’s tempting to escape for a sunshine, colour and fun injection. But you don’t actually have to leave your sofa – let alone the country – for a breath of fresh air, thanks to new feel-good movie Basmati Blues starring 21 Jump Street’s Brie Larson, which is available to download from 12th February.
This Bollywood-style romp, complete with song and dance routines, features Larson as a scientist working for a global corporation working on improving rice farming. And she’s sent to India to 
convince the farmers they should use her new and genetically modified rice grain.
Once there, she gets into local village life and has two suitors vying for her affection, an ambitious spoiled brat of a bureaucrat William played by Saahil Sehgal and a student forced to drop out of uni due to lack of funds Saajit (Utkarsh Ambudkar of Pitch Perfect fame).
And things get more complicated when we learn that the rice company hasn’t actually got farmers’ best interests at heart and is planning to exploit them.
Larson is charming and sympathetic as the naïve scientist and a lot of humour comes from her cultural clangers of interaction with the locals. And Donald Sutherland (father of Kiefer and Hunger Games star) is spectacular as the nasty boss of the ‘Rice 9’ -pushing Mogil Corporation and has some great Dr Evil-style routines.
The soundtrack is supplied by global names such as Pearl Jam, Sugarland and Goldspot and the film is directed by Dan Baron.
This movie is a strange mix of Bollywood insouciance combined with some serious messages about globalisation and exploitation but in the end, this Belle was won over. Basmati Blues abounds in beautiful scenery, light-hearted jokes and catchy songs to melt even the iciest winter heart.
- Basmati Blues is available on to watch on Digital Download from 12th February
