Was it mere coincidence that this movie was released in the midst of the international cricket season? If it wasn’t, it was certainly good timing. Regardless, Patiala House is is the latest Bollywood offering of a story that embodies in equal parts love of cricket and love of family. But to truly appreciate the quirky storyline, one must view it through the cultural lens of the strong and strange ties of family in the Indian family schema and how powerful those ties can be even to the extent of sometimes permanently squashing every little smidgen of individuality. While this may seem terribly improbable from a Western point of view, one truly doesn’t give it a second thought while immersed in such an environment within the confines of the motherland.
And yet, when the Indian diaspora in a London suburb are confronted with the possibilities of a well-examined life, they are slow but sure to begin to poke holes through millenia of orthodox-thinking and customs. Which is what the story of Gattu and his family is all about. If you think Gattu’s love of cricket is the driving force of the story, it may be rivaled by the swell of family that surrounds him. This same family carries out so effective an intervention with Gattu that they become the proverbial wind beneath his wings. And fly he does. And very gracefully, at that. In the face of rumor and ignominy to his father (who acts like a complete cad for the better part of the story), it is Gattu who takes the higher road to bring about reconciliation.
Well, as they say, God’s in his heaven and all’s well with the world! Oh, by that way, that Sharma girl is growing on me. This is the second movie I’ve seen her in after that one called Band Baja Baarat.
