Todd says that halfway through the movie. By the end of the movie, I believed it too.<br /><br />Ayesha Dharker gives a charismatic and spellbinding performer as Asha who believes inside that she is special but needs just a jolt of external validation to really take things to the next level.<br /><br />One reviewer called this a ripoff of local hero. Ripoff is the wrong word. It does bring the Ugly American fish-out-of-water aspect to the table and also revels in the manner in which the locals are able to accept what is useful about the foreigner and let the rest slide. Many stories are variation on a prior story's theme. As has been said, there are no more original stories, just original variations. This is certainly one of the latter. But, only because it is Ayesha Darkher who transforms things. Just when the Ugly American thing is getting tired and the Colors sequence fails to imbue Josh Hamilton with the transforming chemistry that his character is supposed to feel, Asha steps to the fore and the entire movie turns magical.