Second Generation

Imagine King Lear updated to contemporary London--with an expatriate Indian who runs a curry factory in the doomed monarch role--and you have Second Generation, a strange BBC-aired offering that strays from its literary roots by serving as a showcase for Parminder Nagra, the Bend it Like Beckham star who plays the Cordelia role here. As the outcast from the curry clan, Nagra moves outside her community, becoming engaged to a white writer. Yet, when a family crisis arises, her nasty sisters lure her back home and into the arms of her ex-beau, a club owner. It is fortunate that Nagra is a charismatic and attractive performer, because aside from her star power Second Generation is strictly second rate, with trite and utterly predictable writing, flat direction, and an ensemble cast who overplay their roles with too much enthusiasm (particularly Bollywood veteran Om Puri as the patriarch). Ultimately, the film boils down to a scenario that has been done to death in a variety of cultures: can the hip young offspring of rigid old world parents manage to keep some kind of grasp on traditions while finding their own style in a modern world? Of course they can! DVD extras include an isolated music track, production notes, a bio of composer Nitin Sawhney, cultural notes, and cast profiles. Not a necessary purchase. (P. Hall)