New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Derek Malcolm's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Avie Luthra.
Cast: Nitin Ganatra, Andrea Riseborough, Zubin Varla, Leena Dhingra, Meera Syal
Description: Self-absorbed psychiatrist Hardeep, his writer brother writer Atul and lonely, spinster sister Rashmi struggle to shake themselves out of a rut in a comedic snapshot of a contemporary family on the brink of a nervous breakdown. The three siblings are thrown together in emotional turmoil by the death of their domineering mother, forcing Atul to confront his relationship woes with sculptor Julia.
Country: UK. 2009. 90mins
Mixed-up kids: Zubin Varla, Meera Syal and Nitin Ganatra as the three dysfunctional siblings
Avie Luthra must be the only graduate of the National Film School who is also a practising psychiatrist. Perhaps this is why his first feature is so sharp about the dysfunctional Indian family at its centre.
Mad, Sad & Bad, it must be said, is not made with any great flair. But Luthra extracts good performances from his cast and his writing gives them something to do once the story gets going.
The best turn comes from Meera Syal as the daughter of the family, whose widowed mother (Leena Dhingra) despairs of her ever getting married and forces her on a series of devastating blind dates. She cleverly underplays and never for a moment hits a false note.
Mother’s two sons are a sex-mad psychiatrist (Zubin Varla) and a writer of an Asian sitcom (Nitin Ganatra) whose wife (Andrea Riseborough) is tired of his two-timing. Everybody in the film is mad, sad or bad and there is a knowing sense of reality to the portrait of an Asian family.
Luthra tries hard to work a passage through comedy towards relevance and doesn’t always succeed. But if you don’t mind the absence of cinematic style it works surprisingly well in the end.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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