![](\"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/viewing-2007-oct-dec-Masala.jpg\" "\\"viewing")
<\/a>Masala (1991)<\/p><\/div>\n
Both<\/span> these films, made eleven years apart, are sur\u00adre\u00adal\u00adis\u00adtic come\u00addies about Indo-Cana\u00addi\u00adan fam\u00adi\u00adlies in Toron\u00adto. I first saw <\/span>Masala<\/em><\/span> with a room\u00adful of friends, some of South Asian back\u00adground, some not, but all Cana\u00addi\u00adans raised in Toron\u00adto. I think we all enjoyed it more for its \u201cToron\u00adto-ness\u201d than for any\u00adthing as dourly seri\u00adous as \u201ciden\u00adti\u00adty pol\u00adi\u00adtics\u201d. It had the feel of our city, and the same goofi\u00adness that you would see in <\/span>Strange Brew<\/em><\/span>. See\u00ading the ven\u00ader\u00ada\u00adble Saeed Jaf\u00adfrey as the God Krish\u00adna in a Leaf\u2019s goalie uni\u00adform had us rolling on the floor with laugh\u00adter. And the same actor por\u00adtrays the long-suf\u00adfer\u00ading postal clerk, to whom Lord Krish\u00adna deliv\u00aders the rarest Cana\u00addi\u00adan stamp, but who is unwill\u00ading to sell it either to sat\u00adis\u00adfy his wife\u2019s crav\u00ading for appli\u00adances, or the gov\u00adern\u00admen\u00adt\u2019s pres\u00adsure, and is the Cana\u00addi\u00adan Every\u00adman in a nutshell. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Bol\u00adly\u00adwood \/ Hol\u00adly\u00adwood <\/em><\/span>is a slick\u00ader film, with bet\u00adter pro\u00adduc\u00adtion val\u00adues, but it isn\u2019t as fun\u00adny. The char\u00adac\u00adters are less lik\u00adable and less inno\u00adcent. It\u2019s hard\u00ader to sym\u00adpa\u00adthize with the iden\u00adti\u00adty angst of peo\u00adple who live in huge sub\u00adur\u00adban man\u00adsions. What makes the film fun\u00adny is that it reg\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly breaks out into full-scale Bol\u00adly\u00adwood-style musi\u00adcal num\u00adbers. That\u2019s the big joke in the film: how the weird fan\u00adta\u00adsy world of the musi\u00adcals ground out by Mum\u00adbai\u2019s huge film indus\u00adtry fits in with the atti\u00adtudes of this finan\u00adcial\u00adly suc\u00adcess\u00adful immi\u00adgrant com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty in Cana\u00adda. The fun\u00adni\u00adest part is when a horde of non-South Asian busi\u00adness exec\u00adu\u00adtives break out into one of these absurd song-and-dance num\u00adbers.<\/span> <\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n