Academy Award winner Brie Larson’s next film has her saving an Indian village. Oh, and she also goes all “India is an exciting journey,” and then a goat pulls at her suitcase. If it had any more annoying stereotypes, Ekta Kapoor would claim the film as her own. The trailer of ‘Basmati Blues’ was released recently, and it is the most embarrassing thing on the Internet right now (yes, including “Dhinchak Pooja”).
‘Basmati Blues’, directed by Dan Baron, features Brie as a scientist who goes to India to sell a genetically-engineered rice, as part of an American corporation. She later finds out that the rice is messed up, and ends up saving the farming village from exploitation. Such white saviour complex, much wow. There is a sequence where Brie literally rides a horse to stop a train full of rice sacks. If this isn’t the most literal manifestation of a “Firangi-Dame” in shining armour, we don’t know what is.
The movie also has the most inane stereotypes you’ve ever seen in any Hollywood-needs-exotic-India movie. Really spicy food, washing clothes by a river, over-crowded trains, cows, goats… yeah, that’s pretty much it. Oh, and somebody washed Brie’s feet with water. So Messed Up.
Don Sutherland plays the CEO of the American corporation that sent Brie to India. “The train of progress will not stop,” he says as he rides a train through the village. You could almost hear “teen guna lagaan” echoing in the background. If this was any other random indie film by a first-time director, ‘Basmati Blues’ could have skipped out of attention. But the fact that it stars the face of showbiz feminism, and the future Captain Marvel Brie Larson, makes the film a lot more difficult to process.
Brie has not been promoting it on any of her social media handles. The Oscar winner is one of the most successful actors in Hollywood, and she has maintained that she makes movies, “as a form of activism.” But people like us, is having a very hard time digesting this “glorious” shit.
Tags: Basmati Blues Brie Larson
