Powerful message

Trade Offs Reviewed by SATEESH MAHARAJ
Sunday, July 18th 2004


Okay, so I'm talking to the Indian women out there; the ones who never question their husband's commands and have always followed some unwritten law.

When was the last time you did something for you?

When was the last time you fulfilled some dream without having to get authorisation from "The Boss".

How many trade offs have you made to make your in-laws and significant other happy?

These are the questions faced by our protagonist, Sapna (Deypika Singh) when she and her newly wed husband Manu (Rahul Malhotra), leave their homeland for a better life in America.

Manu tells Sapna he'll make her every dream come true. The sky won't be the limit, he forsees. Minutes after landing a job his office partner Sam (Asit Goel), mocks his naive way of thinking.

Sam introduces him to the world of day trading. It isn't long after that Manu has become addicted to the world of online trading without buying a single stock.

Manu goes to a loan shark to borrow a couple thousand dollars. The money is lent with stipulations of the life ending kind.

Sapna starts to feel neglected. It's sad to think that this is commonplace in society. Here you have a sexy, horny woman willing to do anything to make her husband happy, yet her beloved gets more satisfaction from fondling his keyboard.

What a mis-allocation of resources.

Sapna goes to a beauty salon and uses her last $20 to buy something. The guy at the counter jacks up the price, embarrassing Sapna in the process. From his nearby vantage point, Sunny

(Anup Sugunan) sees an opportunity. He pays for the item and tells Sapna she can repay him by having coffee with him.

Well, coffee leads to many future meetings and soon Sapna finds the attention she's missing at home.

Manu strikes it big time. He gets a corvette, buys expensive lamps for his wife, soon he's able to join the Rich Indian club whose male members all have wives switched to the subservient setting.

Sapna notices that Sunny-who always seems to be chatting up some young woman-is dropping some heavy lyrics on a girl with short hair. She has her flowing tresses severed, much to Sunny's drooling delight.

Neha (Rita rani), Sapna's older sister, stops by one day and they have a long talk. Much to Sapna's surprise, Neha isn't as happy as her smile leads people to believe. Neha married Ratan (Premal Kazi) because he was a wealthy American-based businessman. Love had nothing to do with it. In fact, Neha reveals that she has constant mental sexual trysts with Filmi hunk Akshay Kumar.

Jeez, enough salivating, child.

The police are building a case against the lender who financially supported Manu. They pay Manu a visit and ask him to help them in their effort. After seeing Sam sporting the "buss up shot" look (courtesy some bill collectors) Manu fights Sapna for the keys to the car. The poor man is forced to sell his wheels to pay off the debt. An emotionally battered Sapna runs to Sunny.

She tells him she's married. The news momentarily stuns him but soon he's back to his lustful self. He tries to get her to leave Manu.

Sapna returns home and writes a "Dear John" letter. She tosses her first attempt towards the trash bin but it misses. The second draft is left on the table.

At the train station Sapna meets Sunny. They get to talking about their new life together when she gets dizzy and nauseous. She is taken to a doctor. Guess Sapna is carrying something other than luggage.

Sunny tells her he doesn't want the responsibility of a child. He tells her to abort it. Sapna lets him know his place and walks out. She goes home and destroys the letter she made out to Manu. Too late, Manu found the crumpled letter. He tells Sapna to beg for his forgiveness. Thoroughly fed up of domineering Indian men who can't see past their own needs, Sapna leaves Manu to go by Neha.

A later scene shows that Manu intentionally drove Sapna away whilst he gave himself up to the police. Illegal trading, nah.

Two years later Neha has written a book about her sister's adventure. Sapna is at home in her craft store. Sam became a business scholar, the loan shark was sent to jail and Manu-after serving some time-has a new life with a special someone.

We all make trade-offs for a better life. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.

Great movie. Just over an hour but powerful in its message. You won't see this one in cinemas so order the DVD on-line.