The spirit of Cary Grant lives on with that subcontinental ‘Touch’

Ian Iqbal Rashid’s “Touch of Pink” is yet another comedy dealing with young people of Indian or Pakistani descent caught up in a cultural clash with their conservative immigrant parents. Two things set this amusing film apart: First, its hero is gay; second, he has the ghost of Cary Grant, no less, watching over him. The latter is an inspired touch, especially since Kyle MacLachlan accurately and affectionately captures Grant’s personality rather than impersonating him.

Alim (Jimi Mistry), whose belief that Grant is his personal angel grows out of his love of old movies, is a handsome film-studio still photographer who shares a London row house with his companion, Giles (Kristen Holden-Ried), an economist. They live a near-idyllic existence -- until Alim’s mother, Nuru (Suleka Mathew), announces that she’s arriving for a visit from Toronto. Alim and Nuru are not close, and reflexively Alim insists on passing Giles off as his roommate rather than his partner, to which Giles reluctantly agrees.

“Touch of Pink” marks the feature debut of Rashid, a London-based TV director. It takes a while for him to find the right pace and rhythm, but the overall result is diverting yet provocative, and Rashid is as strong a director of actors as he is a writer capable of creating complex, multifaceted characters.

Alim is a bit of a square who in his eagerness always to come across as a polished English gentleman listens all too carefully to the advice Cary dishes out. For the Cary Grant of “Touch of Pink” is the screen Cary Grant, not the “real” Cary Grant. This screen Cary Grant has no conception of the cultural issues Alim must deal with, even going so far as to observe airily that his widowed mother does not deserve to be told that he is gay because she in effect abandoned him while she took off for Canada. In short, Alim needs to stop emulating the screen image of his movie idol and start thinking for himself. (Off screen, Grant could be great company, a surprisingly open man capable of genuine concern for the happiness and well being of others.)

Nuru is a beautiful, chic woman who comes across as bossy, tactless and racist. Where Alim sees his mother as a hopelessly narrow-minded Muslim, Giles sees in her an intelligent woman capable of enlightenment -- if approached with care. Rashid, who views Nuru with a mixture of anger and compassion, has come up with plenty of plot machinations through which the gifted Mathew can develop Nuru’s character, really the film’s linchpin figure.

“Touch of Pink” is lively and often comical, with Rashid poking affectionate fun at his exuberantly nouveau riche -- and sometimes hypocritical -- Toronto relatives. By the time the film is over it has also become a deft comment on how potent the movies are in shaping our values and expectations. “Touch of Pink” pays homage to classic screwball comedy yet never confuses it with real life.

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‘Touch of Pink’

MPAA rating: Rated R for sexual content and brief language

Times guidelines: Little sexuality, but complex adult themes and situations

Jimi Mistry...Alim

Kyle MacLachlan...Spirit of

Cary Grant

Kristen Holden-Ried ...Giles

Suleka Mathew ...Nuru

A Sony Pictures Classics release. Writer-director Ian Iqbal Rashid. Producers Julia Sereny, Jennifer Kawaja, Martin Pope. Executive producer Charlotte Mickie. Cinematographer David A. Makin. Editor Susan Maggi. Music Andrew Lockington. Costumes Joyce Schure. Production designer Gavin Mitchell. Running time 1 hour, 37 minutes.

At selected theaters.