'It's A Wonderful...' comedy about ghosts and marriage

New Delhi, May 3 (IANS) After dealing with marriage issues in "Bend It Like Beckham" and "Bride and Prejudice", Britain-based Indian filmmaker Gurinder Chadha returns with another outing on the same titled "It's A Wonderful Afterlife", which releases Friday.

Produced by Sharan Kapoor, it stars Shabana Azmi, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Goldy Notay, Sally Hawkins, Jimi Mistry, Zoe Wanamaker and Mark Addy.

"It's A Wonderful Afterlife" is a romantic comedy about a mother (Shabana) who goes to extreme lengths to get her daughter married.

Set in Southall, London, the film revolves around Mrs. Sethi (Shabana), a widow who is worried about her daughter Roopi who is alone and unhappy because she is plump and opinionated.

Mrs. Sethi's matchmaking efforts to find a suitor for Roopi are rudely rejected. She avenges this by killing off the guys using her culinary skills. Eventually a police hunt begins for a serial murderer using a killer curry.

Mrs. Sethi doesn't feel guilty until the spirits of her victims come back to haunt her. They are unable to be reincarnated until their murderer dies. So she must kill herself to free the spirits, but vows to get her daughter married off before this.

The spirits realise that helping Roopi find a suitable husband before the police catches Mrs. Sethi is in their best interests and everyone begins to work together.

What follows next is rib-tickling humour.

With the presence of ghosts throughout the film in a more comical than scary fashion, the movie is also a tribute to the classic "Ealing Comedies" of London.

"...as Indians, we live and breathe marriage. As soon as a girl is born, it's all about the wedding. And it hasn't changed, it's still the same, certainly here in England... And what I try and do is make light of it, to poke fun at it," Chadha was quoted as saying.

"It's A Wonderful Afterlife" opened in Britain April 21 and critics panned the film as "the worst British film of the year". Considering Chadha's popularity in India, it is to be seen if the movie brings her some sigh of relief.

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It's a Wonderful Afterlife