There is a saying in India-when a girl marries she becomes a bride, a bride becomes a mother, a mother becomes a mother-in-law and a mother-in-law becomes a nuisance. The hate-hate relationship between a woman and her daughter-in-law is home-truth on which the film industry has seldom failed to capitalise. Westerners do not understand why or how the two cows always lock horns but the urge to portray the drawing room and kitchen fights in every movie is contagious. Jitendra Pal and his charming wife Promila have intricately woven comedy and frustration in 'Gupta Vs Gordon,' an English film shot entirely in the sylvan surroundings of Hawk's Bay. This is a movie that has every appeal that you can think of-emotional, humorous and even tragic. In less than two hours, you go through the world of Shanti (deftly played by Kokila Krishna) whose disapproval of everything western transcends to her daughter-in-law Jackie (a startling performance by Kate Conaglen). As the two measure noses, a number of others parade through the frames-Zena (Emma Brown), Lisa (Kristy Whitchelo), Tuku (Andrew Burch), Barry (Michael Rewiri), Kishori (Chintamani Rath), Chetan (Monish Anand), Arti (Kanwal Singh), Rohan (Ajay Shri), Bruce (John Clark) and Singh (Jit). There is of course Promila who appears as a waitress and street walker and Tinker (Zara), the dog. Jit and Promila (the orthopedic and ophthalmologic surgeon couple) have given vent to their proclivities to the celluloid with a passion for human vicissitudes. It would be presumptuous and unfair to narrate the story in three lines-for, 'Gupta Vs Gordon' should be viewed in its entirety. You would have to face questions such as 'Do they teach Kama Sutra in Indian colleges?' or watch the seductive advances of Lisa towards Chetan (little did she know that the tiger was waiting!), wonder if every other snorting kiwi is a beneficiary of the government welfare machinery and go through dejavu with Mr Singh, complete with his persistent accent and noisy sip of tea. Jit and Lucy White who have written the story and scripted it, do not give Shanti away until the last scene, so why should I! If you had not spared a good thought for the cantankerous mother-in-law, you will not forgive yourself in the end. Jackie could not. According to the credits, Anand-Milind composed the music and had used the voices of Udit Narayan and Sadhna Sargam. I missed them.