There have been a number of movies, TV shows, and novels about Indian culture in the UK.  They show the tension between the generations, and the ways in which the younger people start to become lost in the new culture.  Compulsion is a 90 minute TV drama about Anjika, a young Indian woman who has just graduated from Cambridge University.  She is back living at home, and they want to arrange a marriage with a successful young Indian businessman from a wealthy family.  Anjika does not want the marriage: she already has an English boyfriend she is happy with.  He does not understand the pressure on her to be a good daughter, and he is mystified when she agrees to go on a date with the man her parents have selected.  So Anjika is torn between different groups and there’s no one she can turn to.  Except there is one person: the family chauffeur, Don Flowers, who happens to lust after her.  Since Don is in his fifties and works for her father, she is repulsed by him.  Yet when she desperately needs help, she does take him up on his offer of help, and everything goes downhill from there. 

While the cross-cultural parts of the story are quite interesting, this dark thriller has clunky dialog and mediocre acting.  The plot is full of predictable elements and melodramatic twists.  Parminder Nagra is good in the role of Anjika, but that’s not enough to rescue the drama.  Still, the story moves quickly and it is entertaining.  Even if it pales in comparison to some other portrayals of UK Indian life, it is unusual in showing the life of wealthy Indian families. 

© 2011 Christian Perring        

Christian Perring, Professor of Philosophy, Dowling College, New York