Angst a family tradition in 'Walkaway'

Assimilation isn't easy - parents meddle in your love life and you must forgive if you want to move on.

Be you first-generation Jewish-, Italian- or, as here, Indian-American, some things are universal and even well-worn - including family-tradition angst. The trick to keeping it fresh is in the specifics of the particular culture, which help make this modest romantic drama more interesting than its schematic plot and characters.

Shot primarily in English in New York City, and minus the song-and-dance confections of Bollywood movie musicals, "Walkaway" offers no new insights into the push-pull between needing to please both your parents and your significant other, and proves that mama's-boy syndrome knows no bounds. But filmmaker Shailja Gupta, herself an Indian-American New Yorker, has a sure hand and eye, if not the best ear for dialogue.

In a Manhattan of fab apartments, single guys Darius (Manu Narayan) and Vinay (Manish Dayal) hook up with fashion student Sia (Pallavi Sharda) and party girl Anu (Ami Sheth), while unhappily married Soham (Sanjiv Jhaveri) and his wife, Nidhi (Deepti Gupta), remain emotionally sundered by a past family tragedy.

Thematically positioned between these new and teetering relationships is Shridhar (Samrat Chakrabarti), a polished Brahmin engaged to gorgeous Frenchwoman Genevieve (the understatedly intense Carrie Anne James). His growing demands for ultraorthodox wedding rituals lead to the movie's best scene, which shows just how strong the film could have been.

Slighter than it intends to be, "Walkaway," nonetheless, showcases a director deserving of bigger projects.

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