Like the filmmaker's Oscar-nominated Water, the ironically titled movie fearlessly questions cultural norms and family values. It is set within an immigrant community, but the message is universal.
Bollywood star Preity Zinta is Chand, a refined East Indian woman who comes to Canada for an arranged marriage. She seeks freedom and love but discovers that both may be out of reach.
The film begins in India, where Chand (Preity Zinta) is briefly shown to be enjoying her life at home with her parents before being flown to Toronto to marry into a family of strangers. She is understandably timid upon meeting her husband Rocky (Vansh Bhardwaj), and very little is revealed about either of the characters before their marriage ceremony takes place.
However Rocky's powerful temper becomes clear very quickly, as he begins hitting Chand whenever she displeases him. While not that graphic, the scenes of domestic violence are quite unsettling, primarily because Bhardwaj is almost expressionless in his performance - you can never be sure when he is going to strike.
When Chand questions Rocky's behaviour and balks at his mother's constant interference, Rocky responds with his fists. In his view, women are meant to silently obey or face physical wrath.
"Don't cry, child," Rocky's mother tells Chand. "This is normal in married life."
Preity Zinta plays this confusion well - too well, actually; she is so bewildered in the second half of the film that it's impossible to pinpoint when her character goes from timid to headstrong. One moment Chand can't look anyone in the eye, the next she's forcing a climactic confrontation with Rocky and his family. How did this happen?
Strangely little time is given to clarify this uncertainty before the abrupt ending - one wonders whether a scene or two is missing. Mehta definitely wants to teach viewers something beyond the perils of arranged marriages, but her blurring of reality and fantasy makes for a film that’s more perplexing than intriguing.
Heaven on Earth leaves us to make our own judgments, even as it raises our vision skywards to ponder unfathomable mysteries.
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