Director: Jag Mundra, 12A, 110mins, English language with some Punjabi dialogue

Stars: Aishwarya Rai, Naveen Andrews, Miranda Richardson, Robbie Coltrane

“Aishwarya Rai - is there a wishier, washier, wimpier actor anywhere in the universe?” the Guardian critic asked of Bollywood’s numero uno female star in his review of her last English language release. Will the gorgeous Rai gain acting respectability with her latest attempt at crossover cinema?

Rai plays the real-life Kiranjit Ahluwalia, a British Punjabi housewife who was sentenced in 1989 to life imprisonment for the murder of her husband, Deepak (Naveen Andrews). ‘R v Ahluwalia’ (1992) became a landmark case in English criminal law as it recognised ‘battered wife syndrome’ could constitute a valid provocation defence to a charge of murder. Previously, victims of abuse could not plead self defence successfully as the law would treat their actions as premeditated.

During their ten year marriage, the devilish Deepak subjected his wife to numerous beatings, violent rape, and had affairs with other women. The tyrant also dictated, inter alia, how Kiranjit should dress, and forbade her from drinking black coffee. On 9 May 1989, Kiranjit had reached breaking point: she poured petrol and set alight her sleeping husband, who later died in hospital.

When Kiranjit is arrested, she faces an unsympathetic cop (Steve ‘Phil Mitchell’ McFadden) who describes her action as the result of “having a dodgy curry or something”, a mother in law who refuses to have anything to do with her and a legal system which offered her no respite. She is convicted of murder. Ironically, it is in prison that she is liberated: she improves her English language skills, learns to assert herself and with the help of the Southall Black Sisters, a support group, she lodges an appeal of her conviction.

Jag Mundra, a Calcutta born American director, more known for his soft-core erotic thrillers (‘Sexual Malice’, ‘Night Eyes’), latest is a socially relevant film which has a quality TV drama stamp. At times, it has an unsatisfying soapy feel as it is awash with the usual suspects: Robbie Coltrane’s liberal QC, Miranda Richardson’s middle class good girl gone bad, Nandita Das’s no-nonsense feminist campaigner, butch prisoners with names like ‘Lulla’ and ‘Gladys’, etc.

Ultimately, it’s aura of familiarity works as despite its flaws, the film burns with an angry humanity. Mundra thankfully gets Rai to drop her annoying Bollywood mannerisms and surrounds her with sturdy, mainly British, supporting actors. The result is that the actress finally delivers a performance which is not only moving but worthy of the fiery material. The key to the picture is its resonant message: everyone should see it to be reminded that domestic violence will never be acceptable, and that the law will now not tolerate it.

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