It’s a Wonderful Afterlife | Gurinder Chadha cooks up a curry-killer romcom

Bend It Like Beckham maker Gurinder Chadha tries for another genre-blending, cross-cultural winner with It’s a Wonderful Afterlife, but her would-be spicy mix of Arsenic and Old Lace and Shaun of the Dead proves to be more of a lumpy mish-mash than a tasty masala.

A romantic comedy with a horror twist, the film finds an apparent serial killer at large among West London’s Indian community after a series of murders with curry connections – one victim force-fed vindaloo, another skewered by a chicken tikka kebab, and so on.

The culprit is quickly revealed as seemingly mild Indian mother Mrs Sethi (Bollywood legend Shabana Azmi), whose desperation to see her dumpy daughter Roopi (Goldy Notay) hitched has led her to take revenge on the meanies who previously turned Roopi down. Unfortunately, the spirits of her victims remain earthbound and won’t be reincarnated until Roopi finally gets married.

It’s a Wonderful Afterlife - Linda (Sally Hawkins) & Roopi (Goldy Notay) in the comedy from Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha

Chadha’s recipe for the film appears to be: throw everything to hand into the pot. The ingredients she’s gathered include kooky comic supporting characters, notably Mrs Sethi’s Jewish neighbour Mrs Goldstein (Zoë Wanamaker channelling Maureen Lipman’s Beattie) and Sally Hawkins’ dippy hippy chick, who’s come back from India believing she’s psychic. Then there’s the crime angle: a desultory investigation by antediluvian copper Mark Addy; and romance in the form of Addy’s chiselled young colleague Murthy (HeroesSendhil Ramamurthy), who turns out to be Roopi's love interest.

Chadha also tries to stir in essence of Ealing (the film is shot at Ealing Studios and set in the area), together with big chunks of other films: a dollop or two of Blithe Spirit (the ghosts unwillingly hanging around and Hawkins as a latter-day Madame Arcati), a pinch of An American Werewolf in London (said ghosts looking steadily worse for wear as the action wears on), and a soupçon of Carrie (a re-staging of the prom scene). Shame, then, that the result is a bit of a hash.

On general release from 21 April.

Jason Best

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.