Lovely. A meeting is fixed "on the church steps" between a young Indian girl and a Pakistani schoolfellow. The girl's brothers try to prevent the meeting, locking her up indoors and menacing her admirer. She puts to good use the family stock - they are in the sari fabric business - and a length of radiant gold silk provides her means of escape and her disguise - the sight of it billowing out above the mundane street scene makes the heart soar. In spite of the obstructions, they manage to keep the tryst on the steps of Christ Church Spitalfields. The title comes from the incongruity of her garb when meeting her date - gold sari + stylish trainers. It is a charming film on many fronts: the universality of young love, the Romeo and Juliet theme - young love across the barriers and, for all lovers of contemporary London, the shots of Spitalfields - for centuries the hub of multi-cultural London.
4 Reviews
Entertaining short that takes Bollywood into a UK situation
bob the moo8 August 2002
Geena's friends arrange for her to meet the cute (but white) Jason outside the church at four o'clock. However his brother resents him seeing an Indian while her brothers lock her in the top room in the sari shop. But, in true Bollywood tradition, love will find a way!
I was put off from seeing this because the review I had read sounded a little pretentious (see below!). However the short itself isn't pretentious and is quite good despite some weaknesses. The story of love denied is a familiar one in Bollywood and this takes that story and gives it Bollywood songs and choreographed dance moves the twist being they're in the grey streets of London.
Some of the songs don't work but the brother's confronting Jason is worth seeing. The use of the sari is good and is very well handled in the two different shots where we see it flowing in all it's beauty. The story itself is enjoyable, mainly because of the Bollywood hybrid that it is.
Kalidas' Geena is the heart of the film and she is bubbly, believable and likeable from the very first scene. However Wilkin doesn't really have a character to speak of it was clear that the makers of this were more interested in it from an Asian point of view than a white.
Overall it was quite amusing and had some well made scenes. The weaknesses of the characters are minor due to the short running time.
I was put off from seeing this because the review I had read sounded a little pretentious (see below!). However the short itself isn't pretentious and is quite good despite some weaknesses. The story of love denied is a familiar one in Bollywood and this takes that story and gives it Bollywood songs and choreographed dance moves the twist being they're in the grey streets of London.
Some of the songs don't work but the brother's confronting Jason is worth seeing. The use of the sari is good and is very well handled in the two different shots where we see it flowing in all it's beauty. The story itself is enjoyable, mainly because of the Bollywood hybrid that it is.
Kalidas' Geena is the heart of the film and she is bubbly, believable and likeable from the very first scene. However Wilkin doesn't really have a character to speak of it was clear that the makers of this were more interested in it from an Asian point of view than a white.
Overall it was quite amusing and had some well made scenes. The weaknesses of the characters are minor due to the short running time.
ahem...
sun_on_daisies4 July 2003
'An exotic take on a Bollywood musical' said the TV listings. I could never agree with this. Bollywood films are a constant presence within my household, and I'm sorry to say that I find most of them rather boring, with the same storyline regurgitated time and time again. Boy meets girl, boy likes girl (and vice versa), parents or other family members agree and all ends happily with them together in the end. This film is no different to a hundred other Bollywood movies, apart from the fact that it is even more ridiculous being moved from its traditional setting to London. Sudden dancing and stupid songs (I speak primarily of the brothers' confrontation) have no place in an English film. The acting was not even wooden - it was nonexistent. I thought the use of the sari was inventive, but overall it was a thoroughly ridiculous and boring film, the story being made worse by being taken out of its natural element.
Take my advice and don't watch it - just see a Bollywood movie instead.
Take my advice and don't watch it - just see a Bollywood movie instead.
Need a laugh?
caseythejerkman14 February 2004
Rainy Saturdays can be Hell sometimes. You find yourself turning to the Sundance Channel out of curiosity. A channel you would otherwise avoid for fear of catching a glimpse of a documentary about some hillbilly bassist from the Allman Brothers. Dear God, no. But the incessant cold rain makes such things an option. Little did I know that I would find a little gem called Sari & Trainers playing on some short film compilation. Gem is too strong a word, you say? You're right. Uninteresting and terribly predictable from the start. Until the cardboard Brit gets nailed by an SUV. Okay, so it's obvious he wasn't injured whatsoever. A disappointment to say the least. However, it is at that moment that a group of thuggish brothers breaks out into a poorly rehearsed song and dance number worthy of 98 Degrees. I haven't laughed out loud so quickly at a movie in a while. I was totally unprepared for that. I was waiting for Chris Pontius to run by in a Party Boy thong, but it didn't happen. Okay, okay. The Indian sister also was doing some song and dance crap earlier, too, but that was in now way any kind of preparation for that mess. Hey, the whole short was pretty... well, short... so, it was no big loss to watch the whole thing. At least it might encourage you to submit your own terrible work to Sundance. And the main girl's pretty cute.
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