Beeba Boys

Directed by Deepa Mehta

Canada, 2015 (fiction, 103 minutes, colour, English / Punjabi)

Image: © Mongrel Media

Film Description:
"Jeet Johar (Randeep Hooda) is a devoted family man and observant member of the Jat Sikh community. He is also a merciless gangster who fronts a pack of nattily dressed young toughs known as the Beeba Boys. Competing with other local Asian gangs for supremacy in the Vancouver drugs-and-arms-trafficking racket, Jeet leads his boys into battle to fight for their piece of this lucrative pie and for the respect they believe they deserve. Yet Jeet also finds time to mentor a volatile new gang member (Ali Momen) and seduce a beautiful woman ([...] Sarah Allen) serving on the jury at the neophyte's murder trial. [Deepa] Mehta shows us all the dark allure of the gangs' high-tension, male-centric world, one that beckons with the promise of glamour and fast money but demands a sacrifice all out of proportion to its rewards. Provocative and exciting [...] Beeba Boys offers a dynamic tale of violence, racism, discrimination, and marginalization, and at its core is a powerful story about family that is sure to resonate with any audience."
-- Toronto International Film Festival (source)

Film Credits (partial):
Written by:	Deepa Mehta
Produced by:	David Hamilton, Hussain Amarshi, Anthony Hixon
Principal Cast:	Randeep Hooda, Ali Momen, Sarah Allen, Waris Ahluwalia, Gulshan Grover, Balinder Johal, Gia Sandhu, Ali Kazmi, Steve Dhillon, Jag Bal, Gabe Grey, Dileep Rao, Kulbushan Kharbanda, Monika Deol, Paul Gross
Cinematography:	Karim Hussain
Film Editing:	Colin Monie
Music:	Biggi Hilmars, Manjeet Ral & Kader Kesek (AsianOrange), Mychael Danna, Sunny Brown, DJ Baba Kahn
Production Company:	Hamilton-Mehta Productions

(sources)

Award won by Beeba Boys

Canadian Screen Award: Best Costume Design -- awarded to Joanne Hansen

Notes about Beeba Boys

Shown at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015.

(sources)

Quotes by the Director

"On some level I felt that these characters [in Beeba Boys] are from a comic book. That's the life they lead. They might not be aware of it, but it's so of the moment. It's about style, it's about money, it's about respect and then they're dead. So everything becomes an exaggeration. That was what fascinated me."
-- Deepa Mehta (source)

"Thematically, Beeba Boys shares the concerns of all my other films—gender, identity, immigration. It's the story, Indian gangsters in the West—in this case Vancouver—that is different."
-- Deepa Mehta (source)

Quotes about Beeba Boys

"Deepa Mehta's Beeba Boys deserves recognition for being the first hyperviolent, Tarantino-inspired comedy to take place entirely within the Canadian Sikh criminal underworld. But as intriguing as it is to see the respected arthouse auteur cut loose with this deliriously unserious, highly stylized gangland blowout, the tone never quite gels, leaving the film an eye-catching but weightless mishmash of hit-and-miss one-liners and bloody yet non-visceral firefights."
-- Andrew Barker (source)

"[In Beeba Boys, Deepa] Mehta pulls off a few cinematic flourishes—stylish surfaces, some great Bhangra club music, Paul Gross sporting the world's worst man-bun—but she is fatally unsure of her tone. Torn between condemning the characters' brutality and extolling their Punjabi cultural pride, her storyline remains confused and tentative."
-- Alison Gillmor (source)

"Alternately horrifying and humorous, Beeba Boys is more a sequence of vignettes rather than a single dramatic tale. It's a TV series waiting to happen. But it is rich in characters, including Waris Ahluwalia's joke-telling Manny, Ali Momen's manoeuvering Nep, Sarah Allen's lovestruck Katya and Paul Gross's sinister Jamie."
-- Peter Howell (source)

Bibliography for Beeba Boys

Articles from Newspapers, Magazines, or News Websites

Bailey, Ian. "Beeba Boys: A gangster movie with a B.C. twist; Beeba Boys puts the focus on Indo-Canadian gangs, but former gang members and police say the film strays far from reality." Globe and Mail, September 25, 2015.
Barker, Andrew. "'Beeba Boys'; Deepa Mehta's Canadian Sikh gangster comedy is a unique change of pace, but misfires at too many crucial moments." Review of Beeba Boys. Variety, September 14, 2015.
Dore, Shalini. "Toronto: Deepa Mehta's 'Beeba Boys' explores grimy side of immigrant experience." Interview with Deepa Mehta. Variety, September 13, 2015.
Gillmor, Alison. "Indo-Canadian gangster flick has lots of style, no substance." Review of Beeba Boys. Winnipeg Free Press, October 16, 2015.
Howell, Peter. "5 questions for Beeba Boys director Deepa Mehta." Interview with Deepa Mehta. Toronto Star, October 16, 2015.
Howell, Peter. "Beeba Boys swaggering with style—and blood: review." Review of Beeba Boys. Toronto Star, October 16, 2015.
Knight, Chris. "And now for something completely different; Beeba Boys is as strong as it is weak, but unlike anything you've ever seen." Review of Beeba Boys. Calgary Herald, October 16, 2015.
Marchand, François. "Gangland Style; Beeba boys takes the heat to the streets of Vancouver." Interview with Deepa Mehta. Vancouver Sun, September 25, 2015.
Porter, Ryan. "Dressed to kill; Waris Ahluwalia plays a vicious gangster in Beeba Boys and brings his signature flair and style to the festival." Interview with Waris Ahluwalia. Toronto Star, September 13, 2015.
Slotek, Jim. "Deepa Mehta goes gangster; Canadian director looks at immigrant experience from the criminal side in new drama Beeba Boys." Interview with Deepa Mehta. Edmonton Sun, October 15, 2015.
Szklarski, Cassandra. "Director Deepa Mehta tackles gangster film with Beeba Boys." Hamilton Spectator, October 7, 2015.
Taylor, Kate. "Beeba Boys: Deepa Mehta drags down film glamorizing Sikh organized crime; Beeba Boys is hampered by Deepa Mehta's ham-fisted direction and painful dialogue, as well as actors who are unsure in the roles." Review of Beeba Boys. Globe and Mail, October 16, 2015.
Volmers, Eric. "Mehta delves into a theme of violence; Filmmaker also explores identity and racism." Interview with Deepa Mehta. Calgary Herald, January 30, 2016.
Wheeler, Brad. "Beeba Boys: Sikh mob film director Deepa Mehta is a 'gangster'; Mehta's Beeba Boys is an unhesitant first step into gangland fare, part of an oeuvre built on marginalized groups and the search for voice and identity." Globe and Mail, October 15, 2015.