The pangs of passage

In its obsessive preoccupation with the boy-meets-girl-and-they-run-around-trees syndrome, Bollywood has bypassed a vital aspect of the human experience: the growing up years. Teenage angst and the pangs of passage from innocence to adulthood is a subject that holds tremendous potential but has rarely (if ever) found expression on Hindi screen.

Director Metin Huseyin's Anita & Me, based on Meera Syal's novel of the same name, adds another dimension to the anguish of the in-between years -- of being torn between two cultures and the acute awareness of being an outsider in a racially prejudiced society. 

The 'me' of Anita & Me is Meena (Chandeep Uppal), at the threshold of her teens and the daughter of the only Punjabi family living in the mining village of Tollington in the early 1970s. Meena (like every teenager on planet Earth) wants to defy her parents (Sanjeev Bhaskar and Ayesha Dharker) in every possible way, more so because of their insistence on maintaining a traditional Indian lifestyle and a brood of imposing relatives and friends, in a manner she cannot quite appreciate or relate to.

The other area of contention between parents and their daughter is the fact that they want her to study hard to get admitted to a good grammar school and pursue a 'meaningful' education, while Meena wants to become a writer. Her ultimate ambition is to get published in Jackie magazine. She even spins a pretty yarn about a Yeti who lives in The Big House, which is strictly off-limits for the village kids.

At this point in her otherwise dull life comes Anita Rutter (Anna Brewster), who moves into the house next door with her slightly dysfunctional family. Anita, who heads a gang of three called The Wenches is everything Meena aspires to be -- blonde, bold and rebellious.   

Anita reluctantly takes Meena on as her protégée and introduces her to the world of boys and cosmetics and the younger girl gradually starts adopting the devil-may-care attitude of her spiritual guru.

Anita & Me has a liberal splash of humour, mostly derived from Meena's irreverent view of her Indian relatives and the obvious differences between their defiantly Indian lifestyle juxtaposed against the authentic British cockiness of the other boys and girls in the community.

Meera Syal's screenplay is fluent and the transition from book to screen doesn't look tedious. The film's background score has a fascinating blend of the Beatles and other contemporary British sounds and popular Hindi film music. 

Anita & Me is peopled by a bunch of colourful characters. There is the lively village priest (Mark Williams), the stern local shopkeeper (Lynn Redgrave), Meena's blabbermouth aunt (Meera Syal in a wonderful cameo), Anita's battered mother (Kathy Burke) and a long-haired rocker (Max Beesley) who lives down the road.

There is also the ever-youthful Zohra Sehgal who puts in a special appearance as Meena's grandmother. Sanjeev Bhaskar and Ayesha Dharker are remarkably subtle in their portrayal of Meena's immigrant parents.

Anna Brewster's Anita is a brash teenager who may be good enough to become a role model for a confused girl, but doesn't seem to have much of a future, given her unfortunate circumstances. Brewster carries her flippant attitude through to the end of the film and leaves you with the impression that Anita is headed for self-destruction.

Chandeep Uppal is excellent in the lead role. This untrained actress from Birmingham articulates Meena's emotional dilemmas with amazing confidence and portrays her transition from being utterly naïve to learning a few hard lessons about life very smoothly.

Anita & Me makes interesting viewing, the only hindrance being the thick Midlands accent, which may not be easy for Indian ears.