[MISS LOVELY
screens Friday August 15th at 9:40 pm and Saturday August 16th at
9:15 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]
Review
by Bob Ignizio
With a plot like an Indian Jim Thompson
novel, MISS LOVELY is an
moody noir tale set in the world of the Indian exploitation film
industry of the mid nineteen eighties. Sibling filmmakers Sonu
(Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and Vicky Duggal (Anil George) have a volatile
relationship as it is. The underworld figures who distribute their
films are making a tidy profit of which the Duggal's see only a small
percentage. The brothers attempt to sell directly to theaters
themselves, but the mobsters find out. Luckily for the Duggals they
get off easy with a warning and a beat down, but they're also under
pressure to deliver more product soon, and can't afford to screw up
again. Meanwhile, Sonu longs to make a classy romance film, and when
he spies the lovely and seemingly innocent Pinky (Niharika Singh)
he's not only certain he's found his leading lady, he's utterly,
obsessively smitten. But when Vicky sees his brother with Pinky and
confronts her, it soon becomes clear that the girl isn't quite what
she seems.
