Set in an expensive tourist lodge in the forests of central India run by former royalty, Raja Ran Bikram Singh, 'Bubbles', the film is a satiricalparody on Westerners visiting India, in search for their stereotypical notions of the country, replete with images of former Indian royalty, and relics of the British Raj. In turn the film was a commentary on social pretense and ecology. The issue was previously taken up by the Merchant-Ivory film The Guru (1969), and in time the film acquired a cult following.[6][7]
In a 2005 interview, Roy said, "The movie I had in my head and different from the one we shot. I wanted it to have a more anarchic quality, but I didn't know enough about cinema to make that come through on screen."[8]