Stars:
Om Puri,
Aasif Mandvi,
James Fox,
Ayesha Dharker,
Jimi Mistry,
Sanjeev Bhaskar,
Zohra Segal,
Sakina Jaffrey
Director:
Ismail Merchant
Summary: Ganesh, a young man living in a community of Indian exiles in Trinidad, has ideas of becoming a successful writer. Ganesh is persuaded to marry a local woman who is used to living in luxury, unfortunately he cannot afford to finance the lifestyle that she is used to. Together they dream up an idea to make more money, Ganesh becomes a 'Mystic Masseur' and claims to be able to cure the sick...
THE MYSTIC MASSEUR is a delightfully warm, funny drama about Ganesh (Assif Mandvi), an ethnic Indian living in Trinidad. While working as a teacher in Port of Spain, Ganesh learns of his father's death. After returning home to his country village for the funeral, he decides to stay and write books. His chronically hiccupping auntie (Zohra Segal) encourages him. Ramlogan (the great Om Puri), an old family friend, pushes the bookish Ganesh to pursue his beautiful young daughter, Leela (Ayesha Dharker of Santosh Sivan's THE TERRORIST). Ramlogan is delighted when Ganesh and Leela get married but later Leela grows frustrated with Ganesh's total immersion in his writing work. When his first book fails to sell, Ganesh returns to healing, and soon becomes a local legend, THE MYSTIC MASSEUR. Ismail Merchant (producer of the Merchant-Ivory films) directed the film, and effortlessly captures the simple beauty of his locations. The veteran cast is superb, bringing the perfect light touch to the material. Mandvi is particularly good in portraying Ganesh's believable transformation from bookworm to celebrity. THE MYSTIC MASSEUR is an adaptation of Sir V. S. Naipaul's first novel. Naipaul won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001.