During a lunar eclipse, the snake goddess Devi (Prema) visits Earth and charms her way into an open-ended stay at a mansion belonging to a wealthy family, which includes the handsome young Vijay (Shiju). He falls for her, but his stern brother Ranjit is skeptical. Family intrigue soon takes a backseat to danger when the evil snake god Dantra comes to wreak havoc on Devi's human loved ones in this Bollywood fantasy.

Goddess or AKA "Devi" is a 1999 film from India, with the success of Slumdog Millionaire I expect to see a lot more Bollywood titles getting more exposure in the U.S.. Goddess has the two main elements you will find in a film from India, romance and Musical dance numbers and for the first hour you get plenty of it. This is an epic of sorts with the long run time coming in at just about three hours and in 1999 when this was released it was at the time one of India's first special effects films and had a high budget as well. For anyone not Indian or for someone that doesn't know a lot about their myths or culture and such might find this movie to be a bit of a challenge to watch because the film lacks pace some what during its long run time. I enjoyed the musical numbers but some of them seemed like they could of been left out or pace reasons as it seemed like some were not needed in certain spots but again you are dealing with a Bollywood film here so the musical numbers are a given so get use to them. It takes almost an hour for us to start seeing the snakes and very big ones at that but when the action does start I found it to be very enjoyable and the plot seems to go on forever, I mean just when you think it is over there is another plot twist tossed in. These movies for the most part seem to be something that you either like or you don't but if you have an open mind and feel like looking at some other work from India I would say this is not only a good test but a good choice as far as genre goes as the film offers up a lot to look at. In the end I felt that maybe Goddess could of used some better editing to even it out and cut back on the long run time but for the most part I was never bored enough to shut it off and found that sticking with it paid off very well in the end. I have to recommend this film to any lover of cinema or someone looking to expand their movie watching habits. If you give it a chance I think you will find a new door has opened for some exciting new cinema to look at. Released by Image Entertainment. *** 1/2 Out Of *****