Jadoo, Amit Gupta (U.K., 2013)

As Amit Gupta’s Jadoo begins, Shalini, played by the sweet-looking Amara Karan, has just been proposed to by Mark (Tom Mison). But Mark, an anglo, has not yet met his father-in-law, Raja (Harish Patel), and he may have difficulty fitting into Shalini’s family. Making matters worse, when Shalini returns to Leicester to visit her father, she realizes she may never get the perfect marriage ceremony. It has been two decades since her father and Uncle Jagi—rival restaurateurs squabbling over rights to their mother’s special recipes—have spoken to one another. Will Shalini’s wedding feast be enough to bring them together again, or will she have to resort to other resources to resolve the family feud? Prompting laughter, tears, and the desire to devour everything on the screen, Gupta pens a heartwarming story about family and community. More than My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Jadoo delves not into the implications of interracial marriage, but into the dilemmas of misunderstood intentions that exist for every individual and family, regardless of religion or ethnicity.

—Natalie Wong

• Written by Gupta. Photographed by Roger Pratt. With Amara Karan, Harish Patel, Kulvinder Ghir, Tom Mison. (84 mins, Color, DCP)