India Sweets and Spices Review
For a “small” movie, India Sweets and Spices has it all: great costumes, hilarious dialog, family upheaval, class warfare, romance, political drama, and at the heart of it, a coming-of-age story (or two). The most important thing that India Sweets and Spices has going for it is its spirited heroine, Alia Kapur (Sophia Ali). Alia is sarcastic, beautiful, righteous, and full of one-liners. But more importantly- she is ready to take on the patriarchy (and the ‘aunties’). This isn’t the easiest way to advance in her community that success and not necessarily strength.
Alia is home from college on her summer break. She is ready to relax until she meets a cute boy, Varun Dutta (Rish Shah). Alia invites Varun and his family to one of her family’s many parties. There, Varun’s mother (Deepti Gupta) and Alia’s mom (Manisha Koirala) reunite. This sets off many explosions, large and small in the community. The fallout affects everyone from Alia’s mother and father (Adil Hussain) to Alia’s friends (Anita Kalathara and Ved Sapru) to the aunties and uncles.
Movie Myla HIGHLY recommends India Sweets and Spices, especially if you enjoy movies like Crazy Rich Asians, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and Big Night.
Those movies celebrate family, culture, and food as well!
Though the movie has some adult-related content (adultery, politics, sexism, etc.) your kids (middle school and up) will enjoy India Sweets and Spices.
Who doesn’t enjoy a snarky, fearless college kid taking on her parents and the world around her? I hope they make a sequel to this movie. I want to see where Alia lands. I bet she goes far.
Yes, this movie is sweet and spicy. It’s in the title, for goodness sake. Devour it.
Now playing in select theaters:
Studio 28
Barrywoods 24
Independence Commons 20
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