Mumbai, Aug 21: An Australian film critic described it as a "Bollywood goes bogan car crash" but when UnIndian opened on screens across India this week it was generally to positive reviews.
‘The breezy love story is realistic and so is the spontaneous humour’ wrote a critic in the Times of India. ‘Brett Lee, the former cricketer-turned-actor, is surprisingly a natural on camera.’
Even a review in the Hindustan Times, which bagged the film’s plot as being ‘lazily drafted, clichéd and poppadum-thin, with one dimensional and stereotypical characters’, praised Mr Lee’s acting abilities.
‘On the performance front, fast bowler Brett Lee is a pleasant surprise,’ the review said. ‘He portrays Will with the natural flair of an actor. He endears you by being transparent with his emotions.’
The film, an Australian Indian co-production, is a romantic comedy set in Sydney in which Mr Lee plays Will Henderson, who teaches Aussie English to migrants.
He falls in love with single mum Meera, played by Indian actor, Tannishtha Chatterjee. Meera’s parents are looking for a good match for their daughter and have their eyes on an Australian-Indian cardiologist.
The film that audiences are watching in India is slightly different from the one released in Australia last year. India’s censorship board insisted the sex scene be toned down and shortened. UnIndian’s director Anupam Sharma was not happy with the decision and reminded journalists that India gave the world the Karma Sutra.
Mr Lee avoided being drawn into the censorship debate during an interview to promote the film, although he did admit to feeling nervous about doing the sex scene. His co-star’s acting experience, he said, helped him deal with his nerves.
“There was this nervous energy, but we got through it. She kept stirring me and going ‘15 minutes ‘til the big scene.’”
Mr Lee was one of the fastest bowlers in the history of cricket, which made him hugely popular in cricket-mad India, and since his retirement he has used his fame to build a successful career on the subcontinent – in advertising and as a commentator.
‘UnIndian’ is part of the scripted plot for his post-cricket career, which includes endorsements for sports centres, motor oils and water purifiers.
And while Mr Lee is keen to endorse products and appear in the media to promote his film, he has so far not responded to any questions about an Indian company called Pearls. Mr Lee was paid almost $300,000 to promote Pearls as its ‘brand ambassador’.
Pearls, it turned out, was operating a Ponzi scam, which had tens of thousands of agents across India selling land packages for land that didn’t exist. Many of those who invested lived in slums or were poor villagers.
The scam ran for many years and Indian police believe that as many as 50 million small-time investors may have been ripped off to the tune of $10 billion.
Money was siphoned off by the Indian directors who are now in jail awaiting trial, and was used to buy real estate in India, and abroad, including the purchase of the Sheraton Mirage hotel on the Gold Coast and other luxury properties.
There is no suggestion that Mr Lee was involved in or knew that Pearls was running a Ponzi scheme, but the Indian investors strongly believe he should return the money he made.
Indian authorities have recently joined an action in the Federal Court in Brisbane to recover more than $130m dollars they say was siphoned off by Pearls and invested in real estate in Australia.
Harish Bijoor, who is a brand consultant in India, said he believes Mr Lee should be talking publicly about his association with Pearls.
“I would have advised Brett Lee to actually get out there and say ‘Hey guys, I didn’t know. Hey guys, I’m sorry. Hey guys, let me do something back for you’,” Mr Bijoor said.
While Indian police have charged the directors with fraud, a committee headed by the former Chief Justice of India, RM Lodha, has been formed to try to recover the billions of dollars stolen.
Australian authorities have promised Indian authorities that they will help them recover the money that ended up in Australia.
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