INCENSE AND SENSIBILITY

An ambitious politician is forced to examine his past when trauma sends him to a scrupulously honest yoga instructor for help.

Indian American gubernatorial candidate Yash Raje is in the throes of a closely contested campaign in California when a rally is derailed by bigotry and violence. Yash escapes relatively unscathed, but when he learns that Abdul, his bodyguard and friend, continues to battle for his life in the hospital, he is too numb and shaken to resume work. Since he clearly needs help, his family recommends yoga therapist and stress management coach India Dashwood. But meeting each other is bound to be painful for India and Yash: After a night of deeply personal and intense exchanges a decade ago, their fledgling relationship ended abruptly. Although India has a lot on her plate, her natural generosity and Yash's obvious plight mean that she cannot turn him away. As India gently prods him into reconciling with a traumatic past, Yash begins to see his present with sharp clarity. But he must make some hard decisions before he can create the future he has envisioned. The third installment in Dev's series of modern-day Jane Austen adaptations revolving around the Rajes, an aristocratic Indian family, is a riff on Sense and Sensibility. Yash and India are consistently endearing in their commitment to creating an egalitarian and empathetic world: India is steadily compassionate but refuses to be a pushover while Yash's burning ambition has not charred his emotional core. Dev demonstrates a sharp understanding of privilege as she tackles the issues of racism and social justice. But this acuity renders her erasure of caste politics, especially as she references Hindu mythology, especially stark.

Warmth and humor leaven an emotionally intense romance.