It's a Wonderful Afterlife
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''It's a Wonderful Afterlife'' is a 2010 British comedy film directed by Gurinder Chadha. The screenplay centres on an Indian mother whose obsession with marrying off her daughter leads her into the realm of serial murder. It was filmed primarily in English, with some
Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
and
Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...
dialogue. The title is a reference to Chadha's personal attachment to Frank Capra's film '' It's a Wonderful Life''. Chadha also co-produced the film, and co-wrote the screenplay with her husband and producing partner,
Paul Mayeda Berges Paul Mayeda Berges (born September 11, 1968) is an American screenwriter and director, notably as co-writer of 2002's ''Bend It Like Beckham''. Of Japanese and Basque ancestry,Goldy Notay Goldy Notay is a British-Canadian film, television and stage actress. She played 'Roopi' as the lead role in the Gurinder Chadha film ''It's A Wonderful Afterlife''. She has appeared as Shireen in the Mike Bartlett drama '' The Town'' and Amar ...
, joining Shabana Azmi, Shaheen Khan,
Sendhil Ramamurthy Sendhil Amithab Ramamurthy (born May 17, 1974) is an American actor. A native of San Antonio, Texas, Ramamurthy is best known for his roles as geneticist Mohinder Suresh in the NBC sci-fi drama ''Heroes'', Gabriel "Gabe" Lowan in ''Beauty and t ...
and Sally Hawkins in the cast.


Plot

Mrs Sethi ( Shabana Azmi) is a widow living in Southall who wants to marry off her only daughter, for she is alone and unhappy. Her daughter, Roopi, (
Goldy Notay Goldy Notay is a British-Canadian film, television and stage actress. She played 'Roopi' as the lead role in the Gurinder Chadha film ''It's A Wonderful Afterlife''. She has appeared as Shireen in the Mike Bartlett drama '' The Town'' and Amar ...
) is a little plump and opinionated. Mrs Sethi finds that all her matchmaking efforts are rudely rejected. She avenges this behaviour toward her daughter by murdering the failed dates using her culinary skills. A police hunt begins for a serial murderer using a killer
curry A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included. There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in tradit ...
. Mrs Sethi does not feel guilty until the spirits of her victims come back to haunt her. They are unable to
reincarnate Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death. Resurrection is a ...
until their murderer dies. Mrs Sethi must kill herself to free the spirits, but vows to get her daughter married first. The spirits realise that helping Roopi find a suitable husband before the police catch Mrs Sethi is in their best interests, and everyone begins to work together. Meanwhile, Roopi catches the eye of the young Sergeant investigating the case.


Cast

* Shabana Azmi as Mrs Sethi *
Goldy Notay Goldy Notay is a British-Canadian film, television and stage actress. She played 'Roopi' as the lead role in the Gurinder Chadha film ''It's A Wonderful Afterlife''. She has appeared as Shireen in the Mike Bartlett drama '' The Town'' and Amar ...
as Roopi *
Sendhil Ramamurthy Sendhil Amithab Ramamurthy (born May 17, 1974) is an American actor. A native of San Antonio, Texas, Ramamurthy is best known for his roles as geneticist Mohinder Suresh in the NBC sci-fi drama ''Heroes'', Gabriel "Gabe" Lowan in ''Beauty and t ...
as Raj (D.S. Murthy) * Sally Hawkins as Linda/Gitali *
Zoë Wanamaker Zoë Wanamaker (born 13 May 1949) is a British-American actress who has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. A nine-time Olivier Award nominee, she won for '' Once in a Lifetime'' (1979) and '' Electra ...
as Mrs Goldsmith *
Sanjeev Bhaskar Sanjeev Bhaskar (born 31 October 1963) is a British actor, comedian and television presenter. He is best known for his work in the BBC Two sketch comedy series '' Goodness Gracious Me'' and as the star of the sitcom '' The Kumars at No. 42''. ...
as The Curry Man * Catherine Balavage as Waitress * Shaheen Khan as Manjeet Kahl/The Kebab Woman * Adlyn Ross as Mrs Chakra/The Rolling Pin Woman * Ash Varrez as Mr Chakra/The Naan Man * Mark Addy as D.I. Smythe *
Preeya Kalidas Preeya Kalidas (born 21 June 1980) is a British singer and actress. She played Amira Masood in the soap opera ''EastEnders'', from 2009 to 2012. She released the single "Shimmy" in July 2010, taken from her proposed debut album ''(I'm Over It) ...
as Karishma * Jimi Mistry as Dev * Ray Panthaki as Jazz * Don Warrington as Chief Superintendent


Production

The film is a comedy which uses
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
and Ealing-style humour. Depicting life amongst the Asian community in Britain, it is set in the west London suburb of Southall.


Development

Chadha conceived the film while watching 'The 100 Greatest Family Films' on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
when narrator
Bob Hoskins Robert William Hoskins (26 October 1942 – 29 April 2014) was an English actor. His work included lead roles in films and television series such as '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Long Good Friday'' (1980), ''Mona Lisa'' (1986), ''Who ...
introduced a wedding scene from her earlier film '' Bend It Like Beckham'' at position 71. “It was the Indian wedding scene and the party, which was inter-cut with the football,” says Chadha, “and immediately I remembered how much fun we'd had shooting that scene. The wedding is so integral to our culture that I suddenly thought ‘How can I do another wedding scene without repeating myself?’ So I thought maybe I could do it with a horror spin, where everything goes awry. Much like the prom scene at the end of ''
Carrie Carrie may refer to: People * Carrie (name), a female given name and occasionally a surname Places in the United States * Carrie, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Carrie, Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carrie Glacier, Olympic Nati ...
''.” Working with long-time collaborator and screenwriter Berges, Chadha spent two and half years writing the script. “I started seeing this crazy film, set in
Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...
, in the world of ''Bend It Like Beckham'' and yet in a completely different genre,” continues Chadha. “We worked on the script, came up with the idea of the mum, the plump daughter and these spirits that return.” Starting with the working title ''My Bloody Wedding'', Chadha and Berges created the character of Roopi, a young British Indian woman, and Mrs Sethi, her meddling mother. “Really it's an Ealing comedy about an Indian mum who lives with her daughter. The daughter is a little bit overweight, not exactly beautiful and has a broken engagement behind her,” explained Chadha. “People in the community have been really mean about this girl and the mother has had enough. So she devises all kinds of ways of killing people off, using Indian cooking methods. And of course, being Indian, we believe in reincarnation. The people she kills come back as spirits and these spirits can't work out why they've not been reincarnated.”
Goldy Notay Goldy Notay is a British-Canadian film, television and stage actress. She played 'Roopi' as the lead role in the Gurinder Chadha film ''It's A Wonderful Afterlife''. She has appeared as Shireen in the Mike Bartlett drama '' The Town'' and Amar ...
gained weight to play the role of Roopi, which she then promptly had to shed for her part in '' Sex and the City 2''.


Funding

''It's a Wonderful Afterlife'' was co-produced by the AIM-listed The Indian Film Company (TIFC) and Bend It Films in association with
Viacom 18 Motion Pictures Viacom18 Studios (Also known as Paramount 18 Studios), a subsidiary of Viacom18 (a Paramount Networks EMEAA and Network18 joint venture) based in Mumbai, is one of the first studio model based motion picture & content production business in Ind ...
.
HanWay Films HanWay Films is an independent British international sales, distribution and marketing company specializing in theatrical feature films. History In 1999, Jeremy Thomas founded international sales company HanWay Films with his colleagues Peter Wats ...
is handling worldwide sales and distribution, and pitched the film as ''
My Big Fat Greek Wedding ''My Big Fat Greek Wedding'' is a 2002 romantic comedy film directed by Joel Zwick and written by Nia Vardalos, who also stars in the film as Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos, a middle class Greek American woman who falls in love with White Anglo-Saxo ...
'' meets '' Shaun of the Dead''.
Icon Film Distribution Icon Productions is a production company founded in August 1989 by actor/director Mel Gibson and Australian producing partner Bruce Davey, which, unlike most other independent production companies, funds most of its development and production cos ...
is the UK distributor.


Filming

Principal photography began in London on 28 March 2009. Most of the filming took place in Southall in London and at
Ealing Studios Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever s ...
. Chadha and Berges took inspiration for the horror elements from
Ridley Scott Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...
's sci-fi classic ''
Aliens Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrate ...
'', Brian De Palma’s adaptation of
Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...
's ''
Carrie Carrie may refer to: People * Carrie (name), a female given name and occasionally a surname Places in the United States * Carrie, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Carrie, Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carrie Glacier, Olympic Nati ...
'', and
John Landis John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American comedy and fantasy filmmaker and actor. He is best known for the comedy films that he has directed – such as ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), ''Animal House, National Lampoon's Animal ...
’ 1981 horror classic '' An American Werewolf in London''. Several scenes required
SFX SFX may refer to: Entertainment * Special effects (usually visual), illusions used in film, television, and entertainment * Sound effects, sounds that are artificially created or enhanced * SFX (magazine), ''SFX'' (magazine), a British magazine c ...
to create the effect of ghosts and
supernatural phenomena Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
.


Music and sound

The soundtrack features a mix of licensed tracks, remixed tracks and original compositions, including mainstream music such as
disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
and hip-hop with the Desi dhol and Bhangra. It includes songs by popular British-Asian and Bhangra artists such as Panjabi MC and
Taz Taz or TAZ may refer to: Geography *Taz (river), a river in western Siberia, Russia *Taz Estuary, the estuary of the river Taz in Russia People * Taz people, an ethnic group in Russia ** Taz language, a form of Northeastern Mandarin spoken by ...
of
Stereo Nation Tarsame Singh Saini (23 May 1967 – 29 April 2022), also known as Taz Stereo Nation and previously Johnny Zee, was a British singer, composer and actor of Indian descent. He was the lead singer of the pop band Stereo Nation which was formed in ...
. It has 14 tracks in total, including Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Neeraj Shridhar of
Bombay Vikings Bombay Vikings are a pop group that combine Indian pop and classical music, formed in 1994 in Stockholm, Sweden. The band was started by Neeraj Shridhar, Oscar Söderberg, and Mats Nordenborg, and became popular with remixes of old Bollywood hit ...
, a makeover of a disco track by the
Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...
, "
Stayin Alive "Stayin' Alive" is a song written and performed by the Bee Gees from the ''Saturday Night Fever'' motion picture soundtrack. The song was released in 1977 as the second single from the '' Saturday Night Fever'' soundtrack. The band co-produc ...
", re-composed by noted British-Asian DJ and music producer
Bally Sagoo Baljit Singh "Bally" Sagoo ( Punjabi: ਬਲਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਸੱਗੂ, born 19 May 1964) is a British-Indian record producer and DJ. Born in Delhi, India, Sagoo was raised in Birmingham, England. He entered the recording and enterta ...
. Bally developed the track "Staying Alive Desified" by fusing traditional Bhangra beats with a performance from the Bee Gees tribute band Stayin' Alive UK. In a nod to the film's title, " Wonderful Life" by the British band
Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
features in its original form on the soundtrack. Promotional music videos feat. Stereo nation are choreographed by
Rohit Chawla Rohit (Devanagri: रोहित), ) is a given name, typically male, used among Indian people. It is also used in some parts of Nepal. It is mostly used by Jains, Hindus, and Sikhs. The word "rohit" signifies the color red. It is derived from ...
.


Reception

The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews, with ''
The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...
'' calling it an "exceptionally lazy effort, which, like the similarly weak '' Bride and Prejudice'', is more of a pun in search of a story than an actual fully-fledged idea". ''
The Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'' suggested, "The gags are brash, the plot is messy and there's an element of mild horror (culminating in a send-up of ''
Carrie Carrie may refer to: People * Carrie (name), a female given name and occasionally a surname Places in the United States * Carrie, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Carrie, Virginia, an unincorporated community * Carrie Glacier, Olympic Nati ...
'') that feels totally random." It was described as "the worst British film of the year" by The Express. Noyon Jyoti Parasara of AOL India stated "Every filmmaker has their bad days. And after watching ‘It's a Wonderful Afterlife’ I am confident that Gurinder Chadha is in one of hers."


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:It's A Wonderful Afterlife 2010 films 2010 comedy films British comedy films British Indian films Films directed by Gurinder Chadha Films set in London British independent films Films with screenplays by Paul Mayeda Berges Films with screenplays by Gurinder Chadha 2010s English-language films 2010s British films