Heaven on Earth (2008)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Just perfect...

Good movie but grossly overrated

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

I have borrowed all lines from other reviews to make a summary of my own: A vibrant and lovely girl, Preity Zinta as Chand flies to Canada to marry a man she has never met. Ironically enough, Chand's new family in the First World lives a poor, miserable lifestyle. Soon Chand becomes a brutally battered and abused wife who bears the brunt of her husband, Rocky's frustration. An intelligent audience doesn't need to see all out, emotional, crying scene to justify actions. A man sitting in a car, lost in though, is more than enough. Rocky isn't shown as a monster, he is shown as a very flawed man who doesn't understand how to deal with his problems, taking his anger out on those weaker than him.Chand is who she is. A girl in a new land. A girl with expectations. Trapped within a system of willing accomplices. She suffers, she aches, she misses her mother, her country, she is desperate thinking that she will have to live the rest of her life with a bunch of monsters, yet she never really loses her sense of life. She does not blame anyone, she does not hate anyone, she seeks solace using her imagination. She creates a world that is better, and lives it. She creates a "Heaven on Earth".It may be slow paced but it’s still engaging and compact. This is a film that confronts so many issues in a very muted and delicate manner. No, I am not talking about domestic abuse. This is an explosive issue, and is dealt with as such. There are issues of expectations…of survival…of denial, of how young ones react - the subtle explorations of the human mind and nature - these are the ones to watch out for.We, as the viewers of this small snapshot in a girl's life, are forced to consider the definitions of mental health. Who is insane? The one that hallucinates? The one that is violent? The one that manipulates? The one that witnesses? All silently-screaming puppets on a string being maneuvered into a life of domesticated dereliction by forces that we could designate as fate or just cruel blows of workaday drudgery…Deepa Mehta stays away from the stereotypical 'Don't-hit-me' pitiable victim and also 'I'll-hit-you-back' kind of liberating experience approach. Mehta doesn't play out any moments of redemption or payback. She simply offers us survival, intelligently integrating magical realism in a rather artistic way. Every time Chand is maltreated by her husband, she starts whispering beautiful, beautiful poetry. When she's alone, she imagines a better life, she imagines she is a beloved woman and wife. All the sequences involving the snake may be confusing and unclear, but what I find great about these essentially surreal incidents is that every viewer is free to interpret them just the way he/she wants to.

The movie is OK to watch. Its true and happening in Canada and other foreign countries. But my comments is not purely about film its about real life scenario too. Most of the film like this are based on pro-women pathetic life in their national and foreign land. Besides this so far , no movies on Indian man who is married to foreign born arrogant wife. Theirs are lot of men who staying foreign from India with their selfish and arrogant wife. Who made their life miserable and down them to too much extent to become a wife follower.I suggest being all time pro women in movie, there must be movies on man living abroad with "Who care, Nobody cares" personalities nature persons.

Videsh reminds you of the Aishwarya Rai starrer Provoked. Videsh too talks about domestic violence overseas.Videsh impresses in parts but not as a whole. My rating for Videsh - Heaven on Earth is one star out of ten.The film is about a Punjabi woman, who is beaten up by her husband time and again. Videsh, then, changes tracks and turns out to be different. A form-changing snake takes the woman's husband's form and spends time with her.Though the film is quite convincing initially, the arrival of the form-changing snake robs the film of its realism. Also, Deepa Mehta has not clarified why the husband is violent towards his wife.It's hardly perfect, but watch it nevertheless for Preity Zinta's earnest performance; that is unquestionably this film's biggest strength.

I don't agree with the earlier review about this being a terrible film. The story is interesting and you are curious throughout where the storyline is gonna go. However, the best thing about this film is the acting---wonderful WONDERFUL acting by ~PREITY ZINTA~. Well done Preity! Vishal is also good. And also the high ratings are not given by the Indian audience in fact it is given by non-Indian viewers. The movie still hasn't released in India...just so you know. If you are in the mood for something ~REALISTIC~, go out and watch this mind-blowing movie.I absolutely loved this movie and I am sure you will love it too is you liked movies such as Monsoon Wedding ,Provoked, etc.