The film ‘Karma Aur Holi’, directed by Manish Gupta, is aimed as a film on inter-relationship complexities and dark personal secrets. Karma aur Holi is entirely shot in New York, and other parts of the USA.
It deals with relationships of many dimensions, their conflicts and then the resolutions on the auspicious day of Holi, which heralds the coming of spring in India. Holi is an Indian festival of colors that signifies a new beginning. It is a film about human relationships.
Karma aur Holi is a contemporary story which revolves around the Indian families living in the USA. It is about those Indians having migrated to America and how they adapt to the difference in culture and their willingness to give up their inherent cultural inhibitions.
Meera and Dev (Sushmita Sen and Randeep Hooda), a couple, living in New York, realize after a few years of marriage and togetherness, that they seem to have lost the magic in their relationship. Its only loneliness and confusion around them.
Dev and Meera plan a get-together with a few close friends and relatives at their house on the eve of the Holi festival.
Among the invitees are Javed (Armin Amero), a cocky, flamboyant New York based struggling filmmaker and a friend of Dev and Meera; Javed had come with his girl friend Jenny (Naomi Campbell), who is an aspiring actor who has concealed her immense love for Javed.
Meera’s elder sister Vani (Rati Agnihotri) is there with her son Vikram (Chandan Sethi), a 17-year-old teenager, who is unlike his peers, thanks to his over-protective mother. Vani’s husband Shekhar (Suresh Oberoi) has almost no ambitions, and consequently isn’t successful in his profession nor his family life.
Then there is Sujata (Suchitra Krishnamoorthi), who is wedded to an American born Indian doctor Nimish ) Shauvik Kundagrami) who believes excessively, in his gender superiority. Sujata’s younger sister Preeti (Deepal Shaw) is a complete party animal, a rich spoilt New Age girl.
Megan (Drena De Niro), a Tarot card reader and a friend and well wisher of Dev and Meera appears uncomfortable.
Meera and Dev (Sushmita Sen and Randeep Hooda), a couple, living in New York, realize after a few years of marriage and togetherness, that they seem to have lost the magic in their relationship. Its only loneliness and confusion around them.
Dev and Meera plan a get-together with a few close friends and relatives at their house on the eve of the Holi festival.
Among the invitees are Javed (Armin Amero), a cocky, flamboyant New York based struggling filmmaker and a friend of Dev and Meera; Javed had come with his girl friend Jenny (Naomi Campbell), who is an aspiring actor who has concealed her immense love for Javed.
It’s a relaxed evening. As time passes by, the guests get involved in each other’s lives and things take a dramatic turn when an unexpected, unmentionable incident occurs.
Thus, what begins as an evening of revelry takes a serious turn as the guests get drunk and indulge in an impromptu exercise of making honest confessions before the celebrations. Each one almost confesses their inner most secrets that have never been revealed. The results are catastrophic as this seemingly harmless game gets out of hand.
As skeletons tumble out of each closet in Karma aur Holi, we realize that none of the characters is what he or she appears at first glance.
It is a simple, straightforward script on the matters of heart and mind. At times the film is too slow in places. While Sushmita Sen and Randeep Hooda do try earnestly to perform their parts it’s the seasoned performers like Rati Agnihotri and Suresh Oberoi who are wasted in this film with nothing substantial in their roles. Naomi Campbell ‘tries’ to emote, yet is unimpressive.
Castof Karma aur Holi:
Meera – Sushmita Sen
Dev – Randeep Hooda
Vani – Rati Agnihotri
Shekhar – Suresh Oberoi
Vikram – Chandan Sethi
Sujata – Suchitra Krishnamoorthi
Nimesh – Shauvik Kundagrami
Preeti – Deepal Shaw
Jennifer – Naomi Campbell
Vicky – Vikram Chatwal
Rich Smooth – Sticky Fingas
Megan – Drena De Niro
Christopher
Debbie Mazor
Guler Kassan – Kulraaj Anand
Maya Lilly
Vincent Curatola
Kumar Pallana
Credits & Crew of Karma aur Holi:
Banner: Saregama, Rapture Productions
Director: Manish Gupta
Producer: Prashant Shah, Drena De Niro, David Roma
Written by: Manish Gupta, Marcus J. Guillory
Music Directors: Vishal Bharadwaj, Shekhar Ravjiani, Raju Singh
Associate Producer – Shem Blum,
Executive Producer – Nayan Chandan, Blaney Lamont Davis
Cinematographer – Lisa Leone
Film Editor – Chandan Arora
Costumes Design – Lysa Cooper
Production Manager – Ken Greenblatt
Assistant Directors – Alex Orr, Amisha Upadhyaya, Jacob Weber
Sound Designer – Javed Khan
Script Supervisor – Sabrina Chemloul
Production Assistants – Marc Graiser, Crystal Lentz
Choreographer – Pooja Narang
Karma aur Holi, movie review