Chicken Tikka Masala (2005)

Jimi is surprised when his family announce an arranged wedding to Simran. Especially as he is gay and has a boyfriend, Jack. The easy way out? No... he decides to arrange something a little unorthodox instead

Director:

Harmage Singh Kalirai

Writer:

Roopesh Parekh (screenwriter)

Stars:

Chris Bisson, Saeed Jaffrey, Sally Bankes

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chris Bisson	...	Jimi Chopra
Saeed Jaffrey	...	C. P. Chopra
Sally Bankes	...	Vanessa
Peter Ash	...	Jack
Zohra Segal	...	Grandmother (as Zohra Sehgal)
Shobu Kapoor	...	Minaxi Patel
Jinder Mahal	...	Simran
Jamila Massey	...	Asha Chopra
Sushil Chudasama	...	Ravi
Katy Clayton	...	Hanah
Louisa Eyo	...	Marlene
Harish Patel	...	Harish Patel
Dalu Solanki	...	Priest
Rony Ghosh	...	Mr. Shah
Vijayanti Uma Chauhan	...	Auntie

Storyline

Jimi, a doctor in Lancashire and the only son of loving Indian immigrants, is spineless. When his parents and grandmother arrange his marriage to a young woman from their home village, he hasn't the courage to tell them that he's already in love, with Jack, a man they think is his best friend. To queer the wedding, Jack's niece Hannah tells the bride-to-be that she's Jimi's daughter. Jimi's family swallows hard and decides to make the best of it by marrying Jimi to Hannah's mother, the blowzy, hard-drinking, foul-mouthed Vanessa. Jimi begs Vanessa to go through with it, so he can be with Jack. Is another resolution possible?

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Plot Keywords:

gay | gay interest | closeted homosexual | gay asian | asian | 

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Taglines:

A big gay comedy about a big fat wedding

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 April 2005 (UK)

Filming Locations:

Preston, Lancashire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

£1,200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Seven Spice Productions Limited

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

References My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)

User Reviews

Better than one would expect...

...but not spectacular. If the whole gay and South Asian thing is what you're looking for, "Touch of Pink" is probably slightly better, in terms of its camp value at least. "Chicken Tikka Masala" could have done with better editing, fewer irrelevant camera shots, and some dialogue tightening; for the hour-and-some of actual plot time, the characters don't get a fair chance to grow, develop, or even have any sort of discernible impact on the audience. Kill two minutes of the excessive wedding scene (any of them) and use it to make us care about the people we're watching! While the characters are mildly likable, someone should have told the writers that if you're going to make a movie about gay people, seeing the homosexual subjects actually interact wouldn't be a bad idea.

The movie dialogue can be a bit stilted, and moments in the movie are occasionally a little preachy. On the other hand, the movie's a good way to kill some time on a lazy afternoon, if all you're looking for is eye/brain candy and nothing requiring serious thought or intellectual stimulation.