PREVIEW: It's a Wonderful Afterlife

In typical GC vein, It's a Wonderful Afterlife is a comic fairy tale look at the life and times of a Punjabi mother-daughter duo in West London.

The mother (played by Shabana Azmi) is perpetually worried about getting her rather healthy daughter married into a 'good' family. Her pressing worry sparks off a series of amusing encounters with prospective suitors.

In comes Detective DR Murthy who is newly appointed in the neighborhood to investigate a series of serio-comic murders. How the mother goes about fixing her daughter with this quintessential tall, dark and handsome man forms the crux of the story.

Billed as a A Big Fat Greek Wedding-meets-Shaun of the Dead, the narrative of the feature is sprinkled with a generous dose of the idiosyncrasies of a loud North-Indian family in the heart of the stiff British upper-lip city.

To be shot entirely in London, IAWA is a typical Gurinder Chadha film that promises to be a laugh riot all the way with well-known names from the Indian, Western and British-Asian milieu.

In its truest sense, IAWA is the first cross-over film to come out of an Indian production house and directed by a formidable name on the British-Asian filmmaking circuit (known for successful works as Bhaji on the Beach, Bride & Prejudice, Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging and Bend It Like Beckham).

Gurinder is known to create films that not only strike a chord with the burgeoning diaspora and native Indians but also with audiences from diverse cultural backgrounds.