Talk about three of a kind. Divya, a youthful grandmother, is a schizophrenic whose illness has long been covered up by her family.
Her daughter, Linny, and her 16-year-old granddaughter, Jia, are merely neurotic — but you know what they say about madness being inherited.
The three are thrown together in Divya’s suburban Jersey home when her second husband (Linny’s stepdad) dies.
Linny, portrayed by the always reliable Pooja Kumar, left home for New York when Jia (Madelaine Massey) was born out of wedlock.
Linny doesn’t like returning to her mom’s suburban enclave of conservative Indian-Americans, but she’s biding her time there as legal matters surrounding her inheritance are sorted out. (She’s broke.)
Divya (Madhur Jaffrey) flips out without warning. Sometimes she spends the night in her car parked in her driveway. Another time, she breaks down in public and lands in a mental ward.
Linny, meanwhile, is being chased by a doctor who has been after her since high school, and Jia finds herself attracted to the Indian-American boy next door.
Under writer-helmer Rehana Mirza, the acting and direction are workmanlike, but the plot is full of hackneyed characters and contrived events better suited to TV than the big screen.
The film’s high point lasts less than a minute: When a well-meaning neighbor warns Linny to make sure Jia stays a virgin until she’s married, Linny replies: “Don’t worry, I Saran-Wrap that s – – t.”
Sadly, the rest of “Hiding Divya” pales in comparison to that inspired moment.