Sleeping Around

I don't think it's that far fetched, to be honest with you. Indian culture has transformed and currently is more westernized than you might think. Granted not in the villages, but in bigger cities, girls do have boyfriends and though it might not have been the case a few years, its not as uncommon nowadays for girls to sleep with their boyfriends. A few liberties were of course taken in the film, to move the movie along I assume, but if you were to go to India now and visit some of the more urban cities, you might see a huge different in today's culture. Though the definition of a tradition Indian girl remains the same, the MODERN Indian girl can be very different.

As for the fact that Asha slept with Todd while being engaged to someone else, how many Indian movies have you seen where the engaged girl falls in love with someone who is not her fiance? It's story repeated in so many movies, you should frankly be used to it by now. Yes, Bollywood doesn't go as far as having the characters sleep together, but this is not a Bollywood movie. As for why she did it, I can understand her reasoning. She was promised to the man at age 4, hardly an age you consent marriage at. It wasn't a choice she was given. This was. So yes, it may be controversial, but she admits that she's not in love with him. And who knows, perhaps the connection Todd and Asha had might have been deeper than the one her and her fiance shared. Being promised to someone, and falling in love with them are two wholly separate things. Hell, some people are married for years and never truly fall in love- they adapt. If you knew that for the next 50 odd years, all you had to look forward to was a person you had to adapt to, but not love, can you blame her wanting a few days of self indulgence?

I agree.
They may have been attracted to each other, but I doubt (typically anyway) a girl like Asha would have leaped into bed with a man she barely knows out of the workplace. Just leaving it at a kiss would have probably been more realistic.
It was weird because just seconds earlier in the scene she was appalled at the very idea of sharing a bedroom with Todd because of "what her parents might think" so clearly her parents opinions mattered to her. As traditional Indian parents, I doubt they would approve of premarital sex. So, even out of the cultural context, from the story's perspective it didn't quite add up.

I, too, have seen a number of Indian movies in which one of the characters falls for someone other than their betrothed. As well, I feel it is important to point out this would not be a "simple thing" in Western culture. It would not be considered a crime, but nor would it be considered something to gloss over. Promising to marry someone and be with them forever is a serious matter in any monogamously-based culture. But the movie does not indicate that Asha is in fact a virgin. She does not behave like one at any point in the story, in fact, it seems like she knows just what to do to have this sort of relationship, as though she's done it before.

However, stories like this are fantasies, though somewhat based on real life, and most people do not take them as serious documentaries on cultural tradition.

I agree with you about Indian values being different than what is portrayed in this movie. This kind of debate where poor values in a movie are compared to the West only serves to down grade the West, too. In my life time of considerable years I have never know a woman in the West who was this loose who would be respected. But, I did like the movie very much.

well thats what they tried to portray in the movie..do you have any idea how badly brown ppl in india wants to have sex with white ppl?thats what she wanted to do as well and she did it

"In Western culture it would seem as a simple thing, but in Eastern culture, that is a HUGE crime."

Actually, I would think it would be the opposite. In Western culture, people mostly marry someone they choose, and are in love with. So there would be more of a commitment before the marriage, therefore, quite scandalous to sleep with someone else while you're engaged. But if you've been engaged since you were a child to someone that you didn't choose and don't even know anything about, you'd hardly think of it as cheating. Yes, you'd want to honor your family by staying chaste, but it doesn't seem so far fetched that these women would want to have some fun before being stuck with a stranger for the rest of their lives.

I do agree that this movie stereotypes the culture a bit too much. And they could have handled this romance better, making it more gradual, maybe even ending with him deciding to stay, or her deciding to leave with him.

What I thought was more weird was that she seemed in her late 20's and not married despite having been engaged since she was 4. What is the age of marriage for people who are engaged in childhood? I find it hard to believe that it's 27-28. All the Indian movies I have seen with arranged marriages are usually around 20-22. Or I guess maybe she was supposed to be that young, even if she didn't look it.

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You did just fine, Clarence. Now go git yo'self some hot cornbread!

Yes, I also thought it was absurd that she would so casually spend the night with Todd. And she didn't seem surprised by her actions, leading me to believe it wasn't her first time.