A tango with Mango Souffle

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">Will the audience step out and head for the theatre? This is a question which might or might not be plaguing the mind of playwright and first-time feature film director Mahesh Dattani as his film Mango Souffle readies for release today. <br /><br />But one thing is for sure. The audience will have something ‘different’ to watch out for when Mango Souffle hits the silver screen.After all, the publicity stills clearly announce that Mango Souffle is a not-so-straight movie.<br /><br />Produced by Sanjeev Shah and directed by Dattani, Mango Souffle is set in Bangalore and delves into the ‘metrosexual’ aspect of the city — not Bangalore per se, but any metro in general. <br /><br />What’s more, the film explores the themes of sexual identities, family honour and societal obligations. ‘‘The film is just like the making of mango souffle — you either get it right or it is flavourless,’’ says Shah.<br /><br />Mango Souffle follows the story of a designer who invites friends over to his farmhouse and what happens thereafter. The movie stars Atul Kulkarni, who has had two very recent releases in Dum and Satta; Rinke Khanna, who is quietly resurfacing again; and Naseeruddin Shah’s daughter Heeba Shah, for whom the film is her debut. Heeba essays the character of Deepali, a woman who has seen the world but still retains her sense of humour. <br /><br />Incidentally, Mango Souffle has already done the rounds of film festivals, including the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, the Bangkok Film Festival and the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.<br /><br />‘‘We are all waiting to see how the film does and how the audience reacts to it, says Tushar Dhingra, head of programming for PVR Cinemas, ‘‘On the face of it, Mango Souffle appears to be an interesting film. But how long it will continue to run depends entirely on the audience.’’ <br /><br />To be or not to be. That is the question. Some things never change — no matter how different a film is.<br /><br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">pankaj.kapoor2000@indiatimes.com</span></div> </div>