Bombay Talkie 1970 (Shashi Kapoor, Jennifer Kendal, Zia Moheyddin)

[Darshana]

This Merchant-Ivory movie set in Bollywood of the late 1960s usually gets lukewarm reviews, but it's been a favorite of mine since its release in 1970.

One reason for its lack of success may be that its ideal audience is the non-Indian English speaker in love with Bollywood.

I've seen this movie many times, and no matter how close together my viewings of it, I never really remember the story, beyond its being about a romance between a bored, infantile British-American woman novelist visiting the Bombay film world, played by Jennifer Kendal, and a charismatic, beautiful, amoral Hindi film star, played by real-life film star Shashi Kapoor - who is Jennifer Kendal's real-life husband.  Shashi is married to Aparna Sen, and a film writer, played by Zia Moheyddin, is also in love with Kendal.

The story doesn't have much to do with the greatness of the movie for me, and in fact it almost interrupts it.  What is great about the movie is its documentary-level - and luxuriant - presentation of Bombay/Bollywood of that time period.    I am going to sidestep the story and list a few of the scenes that I love to see over and over.

A mood is established with the first shots - photographed by Subrata Mitra, Satyajit's Ray's cinematorgapher for the Apu trilogy - rooftops, pavements, just after sunrise in Bombay, with the fresh-washed air of early morning and this music.

The Petula Clark-ish song recalls the breezy mood of sexual freedom in London at about this time and, playing while crew guys carry giant film posters through the streets (with the credits on them, Bollywood poster style), puts us right in the confluence of cultural ways and images that is Bombay 1969.

Jennifer - as Lucia Lane, the writer - is introduced to Bollywood by Ismail Merchant himself, as his guest at a rehearsal of a number from The Fate Machine: Shashi Kapoor and Helen dance on the keys of a giant typewriter

- the director explains to Lucia that we dance on the keys and write "the story of our fate."



After the premiere of Shashi's movie, there is a party in a smoothly sophisticated nightclub (I think of a wonderful article I've read about design in The Jewel Thief, and "the fetishization of the west"), where a woman sings  this Shankar-Jaikiahan song, "Hari Om Tatsat"    [note: to play song, you must go to #3129 on the page]    in English about a "wise man" with a Hari Om refrain - it is a knockout of decadence to me:
 


Shashi takes Jennifer to visit a movie star whose sell-by date has passed, played by Nadira, best known to me as the vamp Maya of Shree 420.  She surrounds herself with a cadre of young men (would-be heroes? chorus boys? - can't tell), who clown around and sing in classical style, tapping on Nadira's willing body as well as drums.  The movie also takes us to film shoots (too little of this for me!) and to a playback recording session, with about 100 violins and a lovely singer named DattaRam.

And at one point, in a weak effort to escape complications, Jennifer goes for a stay at an ashram, which includes guruji's showing home movies of his visits with Los Angeles benefactors to the devotees.

A clue to the relative lack of staying power of the story may be indicated in the interview with the filmmakers that is included on the dvd - a many-years-later interview.  I thought I heard a conflict, particularly between Ismail Merchant, the producer and a native of Bombay, and Ruth Prawar Jhabvala, the writer and a Polish Jewish woman who was married to an Indian and lived in India for many years: Ismail's love for the Hindi language popular movie is unabashed; Jhabvala seems to want to hold the whole thing away from herself on a stick.  She says they "wanted to make the story kitschy" like a Bollywood movie - but in fact, it is not - it isn't over the top (for one thing, it has only one plot!!) , but it is in the end too talky - in the "story" parts of the movie - to succeed as a regular American-European movie.

Also, unfortunately, I don't think Jennifer Kendal had quite what it would take to be the object of desire to provide the motor power for a destructive love triangle.  She is good at the petulant, infantile aspect of her character - every reaction is driven by hunger - but there's something about her slightly pinched, colonial way of speaking English that limits my ability to perceive her as sexually interesting.

And: the dvd includes an all-time dvd best extra, which is a half-hour documentary about Helen, produced in 1973, at which time she had been in 500 movies.  Great movie clips - none identified, but they include Chin Chin Chu and a dance-off between Helen and Vijayathimala, probably from the movie Prince, as well as quite a bit of Helen herself talking about her own life in English.

Final note: I've read that there is a new dvd of this ins a boxed set - make sure the one you rent or buy has the Helen thing on it if you want to see it.  And : in the Helen documentary, there are several minutes more of the famous typewriter dance.







 

[crazyone]

Darshana, have you seen Guddi?  That also provides a view into the Indian film industry, though the point of view is not one that thinks of it as 'kitschy'--but this is exactly what makes it interesting, because it gives it you insight into how young Indian girls might view Bollywood films at that time.  It's Jaya Bhaduri's first role in Hindi films. 

[Darshana]

Haven't seen it - Guggi -, but I will - i moved it to the top of my Netflix queue.

I like this sub-category very much at this point, movies about Bollywood.  Maybe I'll start a thread soon about it.  So far I have seen: Rangeela, Mast, Bombay Talkie, Bollywood Calling, Kagaaz Ke Phool, those are the one I can think of. 

[crazyone]

Haven't seen it - Guggi -, but I will - i moved it to the top of my Netflix queue.

I like this sub-category very much at this point, movies about Bollywood. Maybe I'll start a thread soon about it. So far I have seen: Rangeela, Mast, Bombay Talkie, Bollywood Calling, Kagaaz Ke Phool, those are the one I can think of.

Guddi.  The movies has LOTS of cameos from popular stars of the time. 

[Darshana]

!! I had it right in my head but not on the page - thanks!! What does the title mean?

[crazyone]

!! I had it right in my head but not on the page - thanks!! What does the title mean?

It's the nickname of the main character, Kusum, who is the little girl of the family and is hence called 'Guddi' which translates rougly to 'little doll' or something like that.

[gabahd]

I am also very fond of Bombay Talkie. Movies like this (along with Siddhartha) are why I have huge respect for Shashi Kapoor. I was nice reading your views! I wish I could find a cheap DVD of this movie, but they sell it on th e maintream market at 30someting...

[Darshana]

I am also very fond of Bombay Talkie. Movies like this (along with Siddhartha) are why I have huge respect for Shashi Kapoor. I was nice reading your views! I wish I could find a cheap DVD of this movie, but they sell it on th e maintream market at 30someting...

I am glad to find somebody else who likes this one.  I think I bought it at the full price too - I'd rented it on Netflix and discovered the Helen documentary, which to me is priceless. 

30 what?  I don't think I know what country you are in - but at least I hope it's dollars and not pounds. (Whic is double dollars to us here.)  (In US)

This one I'd feel fine about buying on e-Bay, because I don't think it counts as a Bollywood movie and I don't think it would be pirated, it's not that sellable. 

[gabahd]

Well it was an exageration! They would sell it around 25$ Canadian... (in Canada...lol)

[carla]

I watched Bombay Talkie last night.

I struggle a bit with the sort of film in which nearly every character is a pathetic, hateful person, and Bombay Talkie suffered from this affliction.  Shashi's character, Vikram, was a spoiled child accustomed to having whatever he wanted whenever he wanted it.  Jennifer's character, Lucia, was an insufferable twit.  These aspects made the film tough to watch.   

Vikram, at least, undergoes some small amount of development, coming to realize (too late? not that it matters, given his tragic end) that he's made a poor choice with Lucia.  But Lucia is just hopeless and pathetic.  Her manipulation of Hari in the next-to-final scene is the icing on the cake - "If you really loved me you would ..."  - gah, if I wasn't sure from the previous 90 minutes that I despised her, that would have sealed the deal for me.  I wish he would have stabbed her.

But poor Hari, who (along with Aparna Sen's sad, suppressed Mala) was the only sympathetic character in the film, is manipulated and goaded and victimized by his inexplicable love for Lucia, and what's interesting about him is that he seems to know she's not worthy of his love, and he despises himself for loving her all the same.  He grabbed me by the heart; I felt so deeply for him, and even though his final violent outburst was broadly telegraphed (please, Vikram buying him the knife at the jewelry store?  hardly subtle), it was still hearbreakingly tragic. 

On to Aparna Sen, whose character I would have liked to see more of.  It was compelling that the people around her treated her as if she were stupid, called her stupid, when she clearly was not stupid at all.  There is a lot to be said about why women sometimes feel duty-bound to maintain a strong public face around philandering, selfish husbands, and this film only scratched the surface of that, because it wasn't about her.  And again, too bad, because she was much more interesting than the two petulant brats that the film actually was about. 

Finally, what irked me most about the film was that it seemed to treat India (and Indian films) with a certain condescension that I found offensive and inappropriate.  The best example, I think, is the ashram sequence.  I thought this was promising in the beginning - Lucia is clearly uncomfortable there, and I loved the scene where all the disciples are following the swami through the arcade and she ducks into the interior room to adjust her sari - so clearly uncomfortable and out-of-place.  But instead of showing her growing discomfort there as an aspect of her own character, it's shown as the ashram just being this crazy freaky place that no sane person could be expected to tolerate.  What finally breaks her is having to feed the swami, and having him call her "ma" because she gave him milk.  It's presented with a condescending wink and nod - not "Look at Lucia, too inflexible to adapt to a different culture," but "look at this adorable weird little Indian spirituality, too primitive for a civilized person like Lucia."  The whole film rather had this tone to me. 

Over all, not a favorite.  It had some potential but it kept going in the wrong direction - the things I liked or thought were promising were not explored enough, while the things that irritated me (Lucia, mainly) got way too much time and attention.

Oh, but I loved the "Fate Machine" - the giant typewriter upon which Vikram and Helen's number is shot.  It made me feel like I was watching the wrong Hindi films, as I have never seen a set like that! 

[Darshana]

I also think all the characters were meant to be hateful, and that is probably why I usually forget most of the story between viewings.  I would propose that Hari, the writer, is also meant to be self-involved, even though of the threesome he is the most humane and least narcissistic - when he meets Lucia and develops an infatuation for her, all he wants to do is read her his poems -- on the one hand, one understands, on the other hand, that is boorish behavior.  He also puts Vikram down in front of Lucia when they meet - Vikram knows the name of the movie made from her book, but didn't know it was a book - Hari is contemptuous of him - this isn't a totally nice person.

The ashram - I see your point, that the story seemed to switch horses, from showing us Lucia's inability to relate to something either different from herself (the Indianness of the ashram) or something bigger than her own concerns (a guru's teachings) - but I am sorry to say I loved the satire of the guru with a big earnest firengi following.  From my point of view - the movie was made in the late 60s, when a lot of people -- relatively speaking - from America and Europe went to India [probably the first time there was such a mass western interest in Indian spiritual tradition], and part of the response of India was represented by a number of mega-famous teachers who amassed a kind of uncritical following they'd never have found in India, and who did all kinds of wack things. 

So I did like his showing home movies of rich Californian devotees. 

At the same time, I felt as you do about Ruth Jhabwala's dismissiveness of all guru following, rather than of the following of silly gurus.
She dismissed that, and she dismissed Bollywood, and she lost me - I'd liked her writing from the 60s a lot until I saw her on the dvd.

It is a mean-spirited movie, I guess.  Aparna Sen isn't really immune to the meannes either - remember her sitting there in her bed hugging the big weird pink long-haired stuffed animal that looks like an octopus without legs?  But she's the one i like the best.

[carla]

Darshana, I appreciated, after I wrote my comments and then went back and read yours, that you see this film from quite a different perspective than I do.  I didn't particularly see it as a window into any particular aspect of Bombay society - not because it isn't one, but because it just didn't strike me that way.  Your own experiences shape the way you see the film, I guess, and it touches buttons for you that just don't exist for me.

I don't think it's a bad film - I actually think it's quite a good one, for the kind of film it is, that is to say, a film about vapid, narcissistic people.  My mother hated it because she can't stand watching a film in which none of the main characters has a sympathetic feature.  I didn't hate it because I found at least the side characters interesting (despite their flaws, some of which you identified). 

I didn't noticed the guru's devotees being a particularly ferengi group - I thought they were mostly native, and indeed, I thought Lucia had asked Hari to ask Mala who her guru was, so he must have had at least some desi following.  I think you are probably right that it was meant to be a satire of a particular kind of guru, rather than Indian spirituality generally, but the touch wasn't that subtle, I guess. 

As a final comment, I note that I had the same reaction to the Helen: Queen of the Nautch Girls short as I did to the film - it was obnoxious and condescending toward Indian film.  I loved the Helen clips (especially the Vyjayantimala dance-off, vah vah!) but I wished I could have turned off the voice-over.  As an example, I wanted to throw things when the voice over said "Most of [the output of the Bombay film industry] is mindless escapist drivel" - as if most of Hollywood's output were not!  We all - all of us here at BW? - hate it when people dismiss Hindi films based upon exposure to one or two bad ones.  It's that much worse when someone with a voice of authority, supposedly providing us with documentary information about them - does the same thing. 

[Darshana]

I totally agree with you about that voice over in Helen Queen of the Nautch Girls.  I have notes from it in my folder for use in writing or talking about how Bollywood is regarded.  A thing I was thinking about just today is this -- I know that most people who hate Bollywood have never seen even one movie, let alone one they've researched (i.e., they haven't inquired and gotten a list of the most respected ones).

But I think they do respect Helen, and I loved seeing her and the film clips.  And I am always so happy to see and hear someone I admire from the Indian film world talk in English so I can experience her directly.

Until very recently, it is extremely unlikely that any non-Indian non-Hindi speaker ever saw any of those movies, because where and how could they even do so?  They were not shown in regular theatres, they were not shown with subtitles in Indian theatres, and there were no videos or dvds.  So the "opinions" of then are even more based on nada. 

I think Ismail Merchant and James Ivory made that documentary.  Ismail knew the movies, he was Indian, but Ivory is American. 

Re" Bombay Talkie" - yes, I love it as documentation of a time and place.  I love the 1960s Britishness inegrated with Bombay life.  I love that breezy little song playing over the opening credits, with a fresh day starting and people carrying film posters through the real streets of the city. 

[filmifan]

this movie was painful to watch due to my hatred of the characters. it pretty much overshadows the things i enjoyed.

Bombay Talkie starts off well with the wonderful opening credits using the old BW painted poster format. i'm always saddened by that being a dying artform. there's the filmi music and the hustle and bustle of Mumbai's streets, including a particular intersection that's been used in countless films. we then meet the main characters on a movie set where so many of the tropes of BW are introduced - the giant elaborate sets, Helen, the dashing lead hero, the undervalued writer...

then there's Usha Iyer (Uthup) - Miss Ek Do Cha Cha Cha herself - as a cabaret singer.

but then, except for a few flashes of commentary - like Vikram losing his hero status along with his hair - the film stops being a window into BW and turns into a tired love triangle between 3 of the biggest a-holes i've ever seen. if the triangle itself is supposed to be a satirical spin of another BW convention, it didn't work for me. i'd prefer watching J-e-M's or JBJ's version of that.

one satirical part that did work for me was the ashram. the writer of the film seems to have a particular disdain for both the (often wealthy and/or shallow) Westerners that have come to India for some sort of spiritual awakening, as well as the gurus that capitalize on them. and considering how the recommendation for this particular guru came from Mala, i thought it rather funny. Mala finally saw a way in which to punish Lucia for the affair.

i found Lucia's character to be the most abhorant - maybe because i'm also a white Western female - because of her refusal to take responsibility for her actions, her stereotypical views on India, her apparent difficulty in keeping her knickers on. my eyes almost rolled out of my head when she taunted Vikram to go back to his 'nice, dumb, plump little wife' when Aparna Sen is 10 gajillion times hotter than Jennifer Kendal (not to knock her, but let's be real here). i honestly wish Lucia had been the one to bite it in the end.

aside from the condescending narration of the Helen documentary, i enjoyed it. how crazy is it to be mesmerized by someone putting on their makeup? a lot of work was put into Helen's 5-minute performances, and her transformation reminded me of going to NYC when i was a teenager and getting to meet and watch some of the cast of Cats apply their makeup.

the interview with the filmmakers was odd. i sensed a lot of defensiveness from Merchant. for example, Ivory talked smack about the status of writers in BW and Merchant would interject that, despite the higher salary, it's often the same case in HW.

[Darshana]

Wes Anderson, in the linter note that came with myh copy of the soundtrack for Darjeeling Limited (he loves the Bombay Talkie music and uses some of it in Darjeeling Limited):

   Ivory's Bombay Talkie begins with possibly the best title sequence of all time, and we use the musical cue from this scene twice in our film.

[Desimusicclub]

This movie was released in India right after I was born and was the last Indian movie my parents saw before we came to America. My mom said it was released in some theater in Bombay that was popular for showing art & European films & that it was an interesting movie. It has gained notoriety over the years for the music and Shashi Kapoor & his wife's starring roles but I have yet to see it. I was jarred at hearing the music from it in 'The Darjeeling Limited' and yes - I did notice that they used it twice. I was wondering where I had heard the music and remembered that my dad had bought the soundtrack to play on reel-to-reel and had basically grown up listening to it...

[jenni]

I enjoyed this film quite a lot and after reading some of the other comments in this thread I began to try to break down why. 

First of all, I’m a big fan of a Merchant Ivory collaboration, so there’s already something about the way they tell their stories which I lke a lot.  I felt that this film was another one in a long series which comment on  manners (and their transgression)  in polite society. And a reasonably successful one.

I was curious to see Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer Kendal playing lovers, only having seen them together before in Junoon.  Thought there was some chemistry there.  Also had fun wondering whether any of the histrionics of the film had any impact on their personal relationship.

Neither did I find the characters particularly likeable, but I was interested in them.  I thought the three main characters were kind of satires of stereotypes - the wanton and amoral,  exotic (blonde), financially independent western woman,  the pampered, spoilt, rich, womanising Indian man, and the romantic, passionate, poetic, recklessly devoted Indian man.  Each flawed.    I also suspect, in a broader sense, that the character of Lucia could have represented the  seductive yet disruptive influence of the west on India, and the Indian characters, ways of either embracing, assimilating, or  rejecting it.   
   
I liked the social interactions and observations of the way that language and manners are used differently in Indian and western societies despite the common use of English.   I enjoyed the way that Lucia blundered into society without being aware of the social mores (taking Hari up to her room, drinking, smoking a cigar in public) and also her lack of cultural sensitivity  (both through ignorance sense of entitlement at different times)  and the way that the affront was portrayed. 

 And, I liked the typewriter speech about fate, and the acceptance of the inevitability of the events that were to follow (regardless of whether the characters are viewed as individuals or representations of culture). Enjoyed the slightly creepy foreshadowing by Nadira of the unsavoury events yet to come (and enjoyed her character). 
 
The film also seemed quite well rounded and structured and completed to me, despite its predictability.   In fact, the only part that seemed out of place  was the wrestling sequence, because I felt there was little wrestling really going on at all, and they all just passively played out their parts in the drama.   The only one who made any effort at all to escape/change fate was Lucia, and she was soon thrust back into the path of the oncoming traffic - so to speak. 

I also liked that Mala sent Lucia off to the dodgy guru.  And that she decided in the end to not tolerate her husband’s behaviour once he had crossed the socially unacceptable boundary of bringing his lover home.
 
Loved the cinematography, sets, and locations.  Especially the typewriter.  And Helen.  And also Lucia’s birthday outfit.  Especially the fluffy poncho top trimming.

[jenni]

Found a review of this film which I found interesting so here's a link for others who might too

http://jaiarjun.blogspot.com/2008/07/scattered-delights-in-merchant-ivorys.html

[Darshana]

That whole Jabberwock blog is a great find, thanks!!

[dustdevil]

I've been in a fever of watching Indian films in my goal to watch 200 of them by the end of the year, and I popped this one in.  Given that context I really liked this one--it was a sharp, dry palate cleanser.  I agree that none of the characters were particularly likeable, but in that respect it reminded me of a lot of US films from that period.  For some reason, the selfishness of the characters didn't bug me quite so much, I guess because they generally didn't seem to be hurting people other than themselves (with the exception of Mala.)

Aparna Sen was great--this is the first role I've seen her in, and it was fun see the resemblance to Konkona.

The best part about it was to get to hear Shashi (and all of the actors, really) speaking English-- just nice to have the opportunity to catch the nuances in the dialogue and acting again.

I think I may have to make this my desktop:

 Holy cats, Shashi and Aparna looking freaking perfect in this whole shot.  (Part of the structure of the shot is that they are never both looking at the mirror at the same time, so I had to pick a screen cap where one was looking at the mirror and the other was looking away, so I went with perfect Shashi, and a slightly pouty Aparna.) I realize that part of what makes this shot so striking is that it's in the mirror. Shashi's face is reversed, so he looks like himself, but different.
 

[Darshana]

I'm always happy when somebody comes to talk about Bombay Talkie.  Liked the comments of both Jenni and Dustdevil, and I love Dustdevil's screencap!

On a tangential note, at a film festival recently I saw Antaheen, in which Aparna Sen has a big role - Aparna now as a mature woman.  She's wonderful.

[dustdevil]

A couple of things:

I liked all of the sort of informal, hanging out scenes with the various characters, maybe because I imagine that that's probably closer to how those people (Shashi, Jennifer, Ismail Merchant) were in real life. More the way they talked, and carried themselves phsyically, and (hopefully ) not so much the egotism and nastiness. Although I suspect that must have been a little bit present, too.  For instance, loved all of the scenes with Aparna calling him "Vi" and Jennifer calling him "Vickie."   Also, the scenes where they were at the nightclub or waiting around on the film set--I imagine that those are fairly close depiction of how people spent their "down time."

It occurred to me that the character that Farhan played in LBC ("Vikram") was probably going to end up a lot like the character "Vikram" in Bombay Talkies.

For a moment, I was frustrated that the Hindi dialogue wasn't subtitled, but was pleased that I could pick up on some of the words.  Loved all of the "tikka"s and "chalo"s that were tossed in with the English dialogue.

Thanks for the recommendations on the Helen documentary. The voiceover was ridiculous, but Helen rocked.  It was worth it just to have the whole typewriter song, and I have to say I was totally impressed that they made that whole set and song just for this movie.  I loved how in the opening scene of the movie, when they are getting ready to start shooting, Helen is on her side of the typewriter, practicing her steps and getting warmed up.

Like Darshana, I think I'm going to go back to this one, primarily for the look and tone of the overall film.

[filmifan]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned elsewhere on the forum, but I came across a pre-code HW typewriter dance while looking up Busby Berkeley clips for a curious friend.

It's from the (non-Busby) film Ready, Willing and Able:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8E5qY-LSSI

[Darshana]

Great find!  all one take, too!

[Honeycomb]

Saw Bombay Talkie last night, it was part of the TCM tribute to Merchant Ivory. 

Where to start? The movie is about an odd love triangle that makes very little sense, between Lucia Lane, a British writer, Vikram, a cad filmi star, and Hari, a frustrated screenwriter/poet. Every turn of the plot defies belief and logic, and even I can't suspend my disbelief that long without cringing. 

 I think it's safe to say that Lucia Lane, played by Shashi Kapoor's real life wife, Jennifer Kendal, is one of the least likable characters ever, with absolutely no redeeming qualities - she's an annoying spoiled-brat, disrespectful, devoid of manners or consideration to others, and to top it all off, completely uninteresting.  Why on earth would this woman have not one but 2 men falling at her feet, catering to her every whim is a mystery. She's a middle-aged woman of limited appeal, with little to recommend her but her blue-eyed-blonde looks and uninhibited behavior - which brings me to the conclusion that the only reason that the men are so fascinated by her is the looming possibility of a conquest of the fair haired gori.

Shashi Kapoor is Vikram, an unscrupulous filmi star that likes to have his cake and eat it too - he has many affairs but still yearns for a son to carry on his name, and expects his long-suffering wife(the sedate, gorgeous Aparna Sen) to always be there for him despite his bad behavior.  Vikram is incredibly handsome, charming and well aware of his star status, and Lucia intrigues him at first because... Well, I have no idea why, but she does - she's blonde and seemingly glamorous, with a whiff of the swingin' London sixties, and she's different than the women around him so she presents a new opportunity for a conquest.  He gets his chance when she interrupts a Rakhi ritual in his house with a sense of entitlement and utter disrespect that was deeply disturbing to me, as a non-Indian, and then leaves in a huffy tantrum when they politely call her on it. Why anyone would defend her after this, let alone Shashi whose home was dishonored by her?  Yet he does run after her, leaving his poor wife alone and insulted. Never did I want to slap a character more..!

The sexual conquest is rather effortless, as she artlessly brings him up to her hotel room afterwards, but after their first argument - when he leaves her to return to the movie set, where people have been waiting for him for hours - she throws this unbelievable tantrum yet again, and I don't see why he would want to go back to her.  He even says to Hari - you take her, she's a stupid bitch. Hari is enraged(but why? Why is he so infatuated with her, and is so keen on defending this woman's honor?) and they start to fight - and I guess the only reason that Vikram goes back to her is because he can hold this over Hari's head, macho-man style: Look, I can have her and you can't.

From that moment on, the relationship made no sense at all. There's this tug-of-war going on between Lucia and the two men, which just drags on and on.
The only character that I could sympathize with was Mala, Vikram's wife who was the one person that had some backbone

Spoiler (hover to show)

 and finally decided to leave Vikram after he shamelessly brought his mistress to their house

.

The Guru episode was funny, obviously a statement of the time itself, when everyone followed the Beatles and went to India for some "spiritual" relief. Again, Lucia manages to belittle India by stereotyping it as a "place where people come to seek some peace and spiritual guidance".