Heaven on Earth is another excellent film by director Deepa Mehta, whose previous work, Water was also very good. This time, she tackles the subject of arranged marriages.Vibrant travels from Punjab, India to Ontario, Canada, to meet her prospective husband, Rocky. At first she loves the Great North, with its snow and natural beauty. The optimism is short lived, however, as the reality of a household consisting of Rocky's interfering mother, disinterested father, and a sister married to a man without a job, bring many problems. The tension is palpable, as the financial burdens fall on Vibrant's husband.The suffering bride works at a laundry cleaning factory, and is befriended by Rosa, a co- worker who gives her a magic root to place in her husband's drink to make him fall in love with her. Of course, the magic potion does not work, despite Vibrant's best efforts. The home situation worsens, and the young bride must make some difficult choices. Although not as good as Water, Chopra is a natural storyteller with a keen eye, and she makes Heaven on Earth a realistic and all to human drama.

Great Acting by Zinta!? You have to be kidding. Terrible movie,terrible acting all around. What do you expect when you get actors who have never worked in film? For instance, the lead guy has never worked in film prior the Heaven on Earth! The direction was also so flimsy with nothing to write home about. Deepa Mehta style.All her movies have the same rhythm lacking in depth. Besides,this movie really lacked reality,one could tell from the acting alone. What was the point of shooting it in Toronto when no locales were really highlighted except the snow? Perhaps government incentives, but this movie really is an Indian movie and should not be termed as Canadian. It was horrible.

It's hard to describe Heaven on Earth in one word or one sentence, and it's even more complicated to explain what it is about in one sentence. It has many aspects of our modern life which are touched so realistically and brilliantly by Deepa Mehta that few words could not describe them well enough. People mistakenly think the film is about domestic abuse, but it's far from being just about that. It is about immigration, the hardship of people who immigrate from one country to another, from one culture to another, from a difficult world to a world that is even worse. It is about isolation, loneliness and the pain of being far from your family. It is about the terrible consequences of arranged marriages. And of course, domestic violence, which is the main aspect that carries the narrative forward.All these elements are thrown upon the main protagonist of this picture, Chand. A vibrant and lovely girl, she flies to Canada to marry a man she has never met. Ironaically enough, while people expect to see a brighter, better life for a person who immigrates from India to Canada, we discover that Chand's new family lives a poor, miserable lifestyle. The members of the family include seven people, all of whom live in a two-bedroom house. The striking portrayal of life of immigrants in the suburbs of Toronto is realistic and precise. Soon Chand becomes a brutally battered and abused wife who bears the brunt of her husband, Rocky's frustration. These scenes are just terrible to watch. Rocky is cruel and carefree when he beats her, and Chand is full of pain and fear. It's very easy to hate Rocky, but the fact is that he is also a victim of the circumstances, of all the responsibility thrown at him.Preity Zinta's Chand is a wonderful and very well-written character. While it represents all the women-immigrants, all the abused women who are aware of domestic violence being a common part of their culture, it's great to see that in such a world there can be a woman who is so optimistic and positive. She suffers, she aches, she misses her mother, her country, she is desperate of 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 turns her difficulties into strengths, she turns her fears into valours by using her imagination. She creates a world that is better, and lives it. She creates a "Heaven on Earth".Deepa Mehta intelligently displays magical realism in a rather extremist way. Every time Chand is maltreated by her husband, she starts reciting in a whisper beautiful poetic monologues, which efficiently illustrate her loneliness and yearning to see her mother and get back home. When she's alone, she imagines a better life where she is a beloved woman and wife, escaping the cruel reality but little knowing that it's surreal. I must note the scenes which turned black and white deliberately, which are symbolic of the film's meaning. All the sequences involving the snake may be confusing and unclear, but what I find great about them is that every viewer is free to interpret them just the way they want to. Here "the power of the imagination" (which could be an equally suitable title for the film) gets a double-meaning. The audience is given an opportunity to experience the same kind of confusion that Chand herself goes through.Preity Zinta, in one of the finest performances of her career, is nothing short of spectacular as the struggling Chand. Heartfelt, nuanced, haunting and heartbreaking, this portrayal does not have a single false note. This role is contrary to Zinta's own image of a strong woman of substance, as well as most of her on-screen roles. And she pulls it so convincingly that it's almost impossible to believe it is the same woman who played so many happy-go-lucky characters in previous years. She displays helplessness, fear, despair, and at the same time a certain hope for a better day, with amazing subtlety, depth and pathos. Much of it is internal actually, and all you need to know is in her eyes. Just note the scene when she is looking through the bus window. There's so much pain in her eyes. It's just one bit of a really great performance. All the other cast members do a fine job and provide great support.Overall, Heaven on Earth is an extraordinary, deep and intelligent piece, with a view on the social values of today's world. Mehta's presentation of the issue is correct, it's not one-sided and not biased. There are no bad or good people in this film. The characters in this film are all victims of the society. I loved this concept, I appreciated the well-written dialogues, the realistic and unexpected proceedings. The film is brilliantly directed and edited. It is definitely not for everyone, it is not particularly entertaining and many may consider it slow and tedious. It is only for those who can go through a difficult sight, flow with the story, and understand its meaning. I tried to do it, and I personally consider it a great social film with a very meaningful message, as well as a wonderful glimpse into a person's mind, who can be full of optimism and positivity despite the sad reality.

Heaven on Earth is both excruciating and incredibly beautiful. It's this juxtaposition, along with the magical realism, that pulls us in, chains us to our seats, keeps our eyes and ears open, and exposes our hearts to the intensity of the situation. It opens us to Chand's vulnerability and strength, and commands us to be vulnerable and strong in turn.The story is told elsewhere, so I won't talk about it here. Preity's performance is amazing, and she deserves any award she gets for this. And everyone else in the cast is also terrific. Like all Mehta's film's, it's literate, beautifully shot and edited, and takes on an issue no one really wants to talk about, let alone see up on a big screen.While it might not be for everyone, Heaven on Earth is for those with the heart and strength to bare the onslaught of Chand's suffering and her escapes into imagination. The film has stayed with me since I saw it about a month ago. I hope it always does.