Heaven On Earth

(Canada | 2008 | 106 mins | 35mm)

35mm

San Francisco Premiere

Exec. Producers: Ravi Chopra, Silva Masmajian, Sanjay Bhutiani
Exec. Producer/Writer: Deepa Mehta
Exec. Producer/Producer: David Hamilton
Cinematographer: Giles Nuttgens
Editor: Colin Monie
Sound: Sylvain Arseneault
Music: Mychael Danna
Cast: Preity Zinta, Vansh Bhardwaj, Yanna McIntosh, Geetika Sharma

Deepa Mehta's eighth feature bursts open with a kaleidoscope of colors and laughter as the lovely Chand (Preity Zinta) is feted before leaving Punjab to be married in Toronto. When she steps off the plane, however, the world which meets her–cold, gray and distanced–is nothing that she imagined, and one that will threaten to tear her apart just as it sparks her imagination. Building off her career-long exploration of gender and patriarchy (WATER, SFIAAFF '06), Mehta locates the dangerous undercurrents of emotion that coarse through immigrant life and the line where fantasy and reality unite.

Chand is married to Rocky (Vansh Bhardwaj), a quiet, intense man, and soon discovers the dysfunctional forces that are slowly breaking him apart: an overbearing mother and the pressure to provide for an extended family. Their relationship is loveless, and turns violent, with bruises soon covering her face. When she is given a potion to ignite love in his heart, strange things begin to happen, and the film shifts towards an allegorical direction. Instead of transforming Rocky, the potion conjures a King Cobra that burrows in their backyard, tormenting the family and appearing in her dreams (or are they waking hours?) as the caring, loving husband she desires.

HEAVEN ON EARTH finds power in the complex, psychological terrain of Chand's mind, and in the great resilience and strength that she draws from. A striking new direction for Mehta, the film takes great risk in its use of color, fantasy and allegory, all uniting to create a work both fearless and haunting.

-- Chi-hui Yang

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Sponsored by

Co-presenters

3rd I South Asian Independent Film
RAMS
South Asian Sisters
Indian Community Center
South Asian Heart Center