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 .. Read more
| Starring | Om Puri, Aasif Mandvi, James Fox, Ayesha Dharker |
|---|---|
| Director | Ismail Merchant |
| Genres | Drama |
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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.
| Starring | Om Puri, Aasif Mandvi, James Fox, Ayesha Dharker, Jimi Mistry, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Zohra Segal, Sakina Jaffrey |
|---|---|
| Director | Ismail Merchant |
| Studio | PATHE DISTRIBUTION |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 58 mins |
| Certificate |  |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | Production year: 2001 To Rent: DVD: 30 Jun 2003 |
Set midway through the 20th century within Trinidad's significant Indian population this is the first film adapted from... read more on Time Out
- 3
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Gentle and well crafted
From the Merchant Ivory team (minus Ivory) comes this gentle adaption
of the novel by VS Naipul. At the time of its release it was inevitably
<... read more »
[Highly rated reviewer]
- 0
- 0
don't bother
tediously slow and long. The accents are a tad dodgy too.
- 1
- 0
Wonderful atmospheric adaptation
'The Mystic Masseur' is a wonderful novel. The first I ever read of this author. Rarely does a film adaptation pay full respect to a novel, but this one... read more »
- 0
- 0
Just a tad different
I wasn't quite sure what I expected but this was a gentle, tongue in cheek look at the rise of an Indian in Trinidad with little talent but a lot of self-... read more »
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