Monsoon Wedding Reviews

• ALL IN THE FAMILY

  
  By A1L43KWWR05PCS on 2002-11-04
  This is another outstanding film by director Mira Nair, who has previously directed such wonderful films as Academy Award nominee "Salaam Bombay", the lush and erotic "Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love", and "Mississippi Masala". This is a director whose very touch turns all her films to gold. She is truly an artist, and her films are palpable with feeling and emotion that move the storyline.

  Though a low budget film, it features high budget, quality acting, as well as an absorbing story and world class direction. It focuses on the arranged marriage of a young, upper class, Punjabi woman in Delhi, India, which is a mecca for Punjabis. It offers a birdseye view at a family in transition, one that is ringing in new values, while maintianing the old ones. Moreover, as in all families, there are many joyous moments, as well as troubling ones.

  While the focus is on the wedding celebration and all the preparation and rituals surrounding it, there are five subplots in the film, all of which are interesting, but it is the acting by the ensemble cast that makes the film so memorable. Naseeruddin Shah gives an award calibre performance as Lalit Verma, the financially strapped patriarch who wants all to go right with the wedding, but who, at the eleventh hour, is forced to confront a secret tragedy from the past and make a decision that shows his sensitivity and love for his family. His is truly a magnificent performance.

  Shefali Shetty, with her large, expressive eyes, is superb as Ria Verma, Lalit's dead brother's daughter, who is forced to reveal a terrible secret from her past in order to prevent a tragedy from taking place in the present. She gives a performance so soulful that the viewer cannot fail to be moved. Aditi, the daughter who is to be married, is a walking paradox, agreeing to an arranged marriage, while simultaneously having an affair with a married man. The role is beautifully played by relative newcomer, Vasundhara Das, who in real life is an Indian pop star. Her prospective bridegroom, Hemant Rai, is played with modern sensiblility, by the very attractive Parvin Dabas, a real life, male fashion model, in his first silver screen role.
  
  Vijay Raaz, in a breakout performance as P. K. Dubey, the wedding events coordinator, adds a deft comedic touch. It is his poignant wooing of the Verma family's maid, Alice, that nearly steals the show. Look for the nightime marigold scene in which Dubey puts Shakespeare's Romeo to shame. Tilotama Shome, in her first silver screen role, brings a subtle, sensual shyness to the part of Alice that is touching. Theirs is an interesting coupling, as P. K. Dubey personifies the new India, with his cell phone, his entreperneurial flair, and his email address, while Alice, the shy servant girl who is always dressed in a sari, seems to symbolize a more traditional India.

  The film is a polyglot of languages, with English, Hindi, and Punjabi spoken at different times by various family members. I confess that I found it a little confusing to have the subtitles crop up, on and off, and I also found the English spoken a little difficult to understand, at times. So, thanks to DVD technology, I was able to watch the film with English subtitles on the entire time, so as not to miss a thing. The cinematography is beautiful in this film, with lush, vibrant colors throughout. The occasional use of handheld cameras throughout the film gives it the feel of a docudrama, at times, which is very effective, as the film is a voyeuristic look into a family. Moreover, this filming technique adds to the cacaphony of feeling and emotion that abounds in this film.

  The DVD offers a limited number of features, the most interesting one being the director's commentary, which is an insightful look into the making of the film, as well as the backround and reasons for each scene. It is clear that for the director, who is herself Punjabi, this film was a labor of love. Bravo!
  
  

• a cornucopia of treasures

  
  By A19ZXK9HHVRV1X on 2002-05-25
  ***1/2 Mira Nair's "Monsoon Wedding" may not be as broadly comic as that other well-attended wedding in town (that Big Fat Greek one), but it is every bit as universal in its observations and appeal.

  Nair makes sure that the India we see in this film is no technological or cultural backwater. It is, instead, a modern, vibrant land filled with cell phones and golf carts, disco music and high minded TV talk shows. In much the same way, the people we meet in this large extended family struggle with the vicissitudes of life common to us all. There are good, well-meaning parents wanting to do what's right for their children, but not always knowing how to cope with the uncertainties of a modern world. Lalit Verma, for instance, is a father greatly concerned that his two sons are fast becoming directionless nudniks, even though both seem to us to be just average boys trying to grasp onto and express their own individuality.

  Aditi, his daughter, has decided to acquiesce to a marriage arranged by her parents when she realizes that she has no future with a married boyfriend who apparently has no intention of ever divorcing his current wife. It is in this area that "Greek Wedding" and "Monsoon Wedding" part company. In the former film, an arranged marriage is something to be frowned upon and avoided at any and all costs. In the latter film, the arranged marriage actually serves as an anchor holding the family in place in a time of rough seas and uncertainty. Aditi, after some intense soul-searching, comes to realize that marriage to a stranger she can learn to care for over time is preferable to life as perpetual mistress to a man who seems little concerned for her future and happiness. The difference in attitude between the two films arises, I imagine, from the fact that one is American in origin and the other Indian.

  "Monsoon Wedding" is replete with beautifully observed moments that go right to the core of the audience's emotions. The scene in which Aditi's fiancé forgives her for the affair she has willingly revealed to him is one of the most genuinely moving and romantic moments I have seen in a film in a very long time. Equally impressive are the sequences later in the film when Aditi's cousin, Ria, finds the courage to expose a close friend of the family who, unbeknownst to anyone else, happens to be a pedophile. This revelation uncovers an unexpected strength not only in Ria herself, but in Lalit as well, as he is forced to cope with the ramifications of a family in major crisis and to take a personally painful but undeniably necessary course of action to preserve the sanctity of that family.

  Hopefully, none of this will make the viewer think that "Monsoon Wedding" is heavy-handed or gloomy in either tone or outlook. Far from it. It is, in fact, a beautifully acted movie filled with humor, warmth, compassion and life. Nair punctuates this vibrancy by showing us characters dancing from one end of the film to the other. Be they eastern traditional or westernized disco in character, the dances capture the feel of uninhibited happiness that takes over this close-knit family in a time of celebration. And their celebration is ours.
  
  

• colorful, joyous Indian film

  
  By A152C8GYY25HAH on 2002-10-06
  Occasionally, we Americans are treated to a delightful foreign film. I suspect that lots of these are made every year, but the powers that be long ago decided that we have neither the patience nor the inclination to watch them. One that did get through was the joyous Indian treat, "Monsoon Wedding".

  A family in Delhi is overjoyed after one of its daughters accepts an arranged marriage with a successful Indian engineer who lives in Houston, TX. The girl's reason for accepting isn't out of respect for tradition. She's simply given up hope that her married lover will ever divorce his wife. When the prespective groom arrives, he turns out to be a really nice guy, and the bride-to-be agonizes over whether or not to be honest about her past. Meanwhile, the man hired to build the wedding tents finds himself head over heels in love with the family's shy young maid.

  There are lots of laughs in "Monsoon Wedding", as well as many witty and insightful observations about middle-class Indian society. While there is a fascination in seeing some of the more exotic aspects of life in India, the most satisfying aspect of the film is its way of showing how universal the joys of love and of family are.

  Typical of cosmopolitan families outside of the USA, the characters often switch from one language to another while speaking. In this case, they speak Hindu, Punjabi and English. I know some moviegoers can't stand subtitles, but, to me, the use of multiple languages simply adds to this film's charms.
  
  

• Colorful and cultural, and taboos to boot

  
  By A37PV5GMP2ILJC on 2004-09-14
  This movie is an enjoyable introduction to Bollywood Indian movies without being one itself. It's much shorter than a Bollywood epic, and there are no choreographed music videos included as part of the story, even though there's a lot of singing and dancing.
  
  This is in fact two love stories, the more touching one involving the domestic helper Alice, and the wedding planner P. K. Dubey. Back at the main story line, Lalit Verma, convincingly played by Naseeruddin Shah, has arranged a marriage for his daughter Aditi. It's a gala affair, with everything supposed to be perfect, but is in fact way over his financial capabilities.
  
  Aditi however, has been seeing a married man, but unable to ascertain whether he will ever divorce his wife, she agrees to the arranged wedding. As the wedding date approaches, she again reaches out to her boyfriend, and it works out not to have been such a good idea after all.
  
  Unable to live with her guilty conscience, she confesses all to her intended husband, whose initial reaction is understandable, but then he proves himself to be a real nice guy by forgiving her. (Reality check: This is an arranged marriage. He's never met the bride before. Doesn't know diddly squat about her. Did he forgive her because he fell in love with her at first sight?)Anyhoo, it's a romantic movie, so let's agree that he's a handsome, understanding, caring, unattached, straight, really sweet guy with a heart of gold. (Can we clone him?)
  
  As the family gathers for the big day, cousin Ria observes some untoward behaviour patterns that she recognises, and puts the damper on an uncle's fun. Lalit Verma is now faced with a huge problem, and is forced to make an important family decision, which he does superbly.
  
  As the festivities are in full swing in the pouring rain, we get a sneak peek at the guy chosen for Ria, and he's certainly breathtaking. Good luck Ria! (Monsoon Wedding 2 perhaps?)
  
  Colorful and cultural, the movie has its share of stereotyped Bollywood characters, but smoothly blends traditional values with modern settings. It also touches on a lot of difficult subjects, and accomplishes this without affecting the overall lightness of the movie.
  
  One I wouldn't mind seeing again.
  
  Amanda Richards, September 14, 2004
  
  

• I laughed, I cried....it was better than Cats!

  
  By on 2002-04-28
  This movie is a little bit of everything: a great family drama, a musical, a romantic comedy...I LOVED it!

  The movie is set in New Delhi and takes the audience for a wild ride covering the last 4-5 days leading up to a big wedding between the daughter of an upper-middle-class Punjabi family and a "NRI" (non-resident Indian) who's an engineer living in Houston. They're meeting for the first time in the days before the wedding, which is only one of the movie's engaging storylines. My favorite was the romance between the goofy wedding planner and the family maid (culminating in one of the most romantic, make-you-weep moments I have seen in any movie). The movie also includes the requisite creepy uncle, who drives a disturbing storyline that helps take the saccharine edge off the movie.

  Director Mira Nair does a fabulous job introducing her characters -- they are so finely crafted that dialogue is totally unnecessary in a number of key scenes. The actors were wonderfully adept at communicating with little more than their eyes and hands.

  The music is GREAT and makes you want to get up and dance along with the characters (whose exuberance in the wedding scenes was such a joy to watch). The cinematography is lush and gorgeous -- I attended a wedding in India several years ago and this movie really took me back to the riot of color at Indian weddings. I also loved the authentic feel of the movie -- especially where the characters move seamlessly between three languages, sometimes in a single sentence.

  More than anything, the movie is a lot of fun -- any large gathering of family members is likely to generate laughable moments, and Nair mines the heck out of this one. I can't wait for this to come out on DVD so I can watch it again and again!
  
  

• You are all invited to a wedding....
  By A1OBJ2263JCK5 on 2003-09-09
  Film Director, Mira Nair ("Salaam Bombay!","Mississippi Masala") has done it again by bringing us this very entertaining comedy/drama about family, titled "Monsoon Wedding".In this almost Altmanesque, movie we follow four days leading up to to an Indian families'wedding. There are multiple storylines, which unfold as we watch various members, friends, acquaintances and employees of the Verma family get ready for the impending nupitals of their eldest daughter.This includes the Bride, who is trying to convince herself that an arranged marriage is the path to take, while still being in love with a married man.A story line revolving around a female cousin (Shefali Shetty) who holds a dark family secret and finally decides she must take a stand before it is to late.Then there is the touching and almost magical romance between the wedding planner (Vijay Raaz) and the families' maid (Tilotama Shome).This is all presided over by the families' totally stressed out, patriarch (Naseerudin Shah), who seems to be at wit's end trying to keep everything from imploding.This father may be brusque, short tempered, and screaming a lot, but by the end of the film he proves to us how much he really loves his family.'Love of family' seems to be the movie's theme as we watch the various parties, ceremonies and customs. Sure, there are all sorts of little psycho-dramas being played out.That happens in all families no matter what the country or culture.But in the end, just about everybody gets swept up away by the joyfulness of the celebration.You really feel like your at a wedding!The script to this film is complicated and involving. It's captures your attention as you try to figure out who is related to who and what the relationships are. The acting is first rate especially from Naseerudin Shah (the bride's father) and Vijay Raaz (the event planner).The film makes brilliant use of it's cinematography, which just explodes into vibrant color (lots of reds and golds) giving the story an almost magical flavor by the end. Finally, I have to mention the wonderful dancing and music which greatly enhances the film. This is a very entertaining comedy/drama which I highly recommend!
  
  
• Dancing in the Rain!
  By A384J1WXRN4C9V on 2004-12-05
  Grinning from ear to ear for hours after watching this movie, I happily commend it to the humble viewer.
  
  From the opening sequences, the fabulous scenes of monsoonal India, this lovingly detailed film is part Shakesperean comedy with Dubaie the event planner as [...] part realistic family drama, and round to pure escapist romance.
  
  The movie follows a couple of tangents, and various romantic subplots, but is set around a wedding (as the title shouts).
  
  Deciding she can not wait any longer for her married lover to divorce his wife, Aditi asks her parents to arrange a marriage for her and is hopeful that moving to America to live with her new husband will help her overcome her heartbreak and build a new life.
  
  Her doting parents are struggling to put on the most wonderful celebration they can afford, and preparing to receive all the extended family members who are arriving for the wedding.
  
  The parents utter absorbtion in the task is demonstrated when the mother nearly leaves the house with her curlers still in - a feeling mother's around the world about to launch their children into married life would relate to!
  
  When Dubaie (the wedding planner/event manager) first debut's in the movie, he comes across as an abrasive, obnoxious cockrell, entirely self absorbed until someone else intrudes on his sphere, then he falls desperately in love.
  I thoroughly enjoyed his portrayal, his ability to skull water whilst grinning cheesily, and the wonderful quote "10 minutes exactly & approximately", which is just such a commentary on the Indian schedules. The meddling workers were also a delight.
  
  Aditi's cousin Ria is troubled by Aditi's decision to go through with the arranged marriage, and proves herself a wise counsellor with a fierce love for family. Her character is well fleshed out with another thread involving some painful family secrets, which I must confess, I saw coming.
  
  Nontheless the film, and the characters, handling of the emotions is superbly done, and very tear-inducing.
  
  The moment the taps really turned on for me, was when Aditi's father (in a sublime performance)says "sometimes when I look at my children, I feel love which I almost cannot bear" which is a sentiment I relate to on such a deep level.
  
  On another note, it was refreshing to see so many "full figured" girls. They were beautiful in their bounty, and in particular Ria was a gorgeous full-bodied celebration of womanly curves & the appeal of a warm smile and glowing personality. She (the actress) look strikingly similar to Elizabeth Taylor in her Cleopatra!
  
  I was amused to see the "Australian cousin" what a genuine accent he had, and if you watch, do notice how even with his broken finger he is the one who ends up carrying everything (all the time) as well as serving at the bar, which is a bit of a comment on his heritage isn't it!
  
  Loved the wonderful Indian accents, and their sharp little witticisms that were peppered through the script, and the interesting variation in their colouring. Half the families relatives looked no more than partly Indian, in particular the main villian.
  
  Last thoughts?
  I want an Indian Wedding with the amazing bamboo construction bedecked in silks & flowers! (and I wouldn't mind the roominess of a sari, come to think of it!)
  
  Interestingly after I pressed my father to watch it, he had an entirely different reaction, commenting on the degradation of their society & integration of Western values. But that's a different review all together.
  
  There are moments of sublime beauty, the cinematography and the eye to fine detail are exquisite, and this combined with the script, actors (That and the constant procession of gorgeous males) & humanity of the film found me elated by the final scenes.
  
  kotori Dec 2004 - ojadis@yahoo.com
  
  
• Stunning, visually and emotionally
  By A1K909FBCJBJ71 on 2002-07-15
  One of the things that struck me about "Monsoon Wedding" was the colors of the film. There are electric colors everywhere: the orange of the marigold flowers, the exotic saris the women wear, the green of the foliage, the beautiful wedding tent. All these colors assault the viewer's eye in the most pleasurable of ways.
  Another excellent part of the film was the way Mira Nair explored relationships, both familial relationships [cousins, father to son] and male-female relationships [the married couples]. I thought the different relationships among the male-female couples was especially interesting. The actors did a very good job, making me believe that I was watching a documentary of a family, not a movie about a "staged" family.
  I also enjoyed the mix of Punjab and English spoken in the film. It made the movie that much more realistic, as the characters switched effortlessly between the two languages in conversation.
  This movie seems to only reinforce my theory that foreign films are way better than American movies. I strongly and highly recommend this movie to everyone. You will enjoy it whole-heartedly!!
  
  
• A look at India today
  By A3MLO4GAD2O9DL on 2002-03-15
  Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding, from the perspective of this non-Indian Westerner, does an excellent job of portraying the mix of traditional and contemporary that makes up Indian culture today. The intercut scenes of street life in Delhi are rich details that complement the story of a well-to-do family whose oldest child, their daughter, is about to be wed in an arranged marriage--still practiced, judging by this film. When the daughter questions the arranged marriage, it's based not on the tradition itself, but on her possible attachment to another man, her ex-boyfriend. The resolution of this situation is satisfying because the obvious vacillating of her emotions is shown so clearly and sympathetically.

  Another integral part of the story is a second marriage of a man not as well off to a young woman domestic with whom he's smitten.
  This second love story is, in fact, much more poignant and gripping; the smitten man is, in spite of his initially crass behavior, full of loneliness and heart.

  The juxtaposition of these two strata--wealthy and working class--is handled very well, as is the complexity of family dynamics: the young, spoiled, possibly gay son; the rich, corrupt family friend; the "duffer" (a young Indian male relative living in Australia--complete with an Australian accent--who comes back to Delhi for the wedding); the adopted niece who suffered child abuse much earlier in her life; the women relatives who, in one great scene, sing together about the trials and tribulations of finding the right man.

  After the visually and musically stunning yet somewhat vacuous Kama Sutra, it's great to see Nair returning to the peak of her talents, applied to Indian life with the same sensitivity and attention to detail she displayed in her first (and some say, her best) film, Salaam Bombay.

  Highly recommended
  
  

• Beautiful slant on an Indian world
  By A1R7RSAMR1ST5M on 2002-11-21
  If you don't count the hour I spent watching Lagaan (I tried to rent that one first, but it was out), Monsoon Wedding serves as my first introduction to the illimitable products of Bollywood, Bombay's equivalent for the American film scene. Put plainly, the movie is a gorgeous, light-hearted piece of visual fluff, proving a wonderful introduction into Indian life but possibly a bit over-the-top for the more critically minded viewer.

  Take the plot, for instance. It hinges upon the wedding of the only daughter of the father (whose name, I don't believe, was ever mentioned in a conspicuous manner). As many weddings are even in present day India, the couple is arranged, and the first, inevitably awkward meeting is at the engagement party, set only a week or so before the wedding. Yet the couple's whirlwind courtship proves only the backdrop: the real drama plays out in the various inter-personal relationships within the family unit. Who loves whom seems to be a popular topic. The wedding organizer takes one look at the comely servant and cannot forget her, nor does any of the resulting entanglements changes his heart. The sparks flying off the exchange student and the bride's lovely cousin are measurable in the rise of temperature. Who is seducing whom? Who has previously been seduced? With such a tangled web the watcher cannot be sure. What is certain, however, is that we are entranced by the telling even as we realize its unreality.

  The beautiful scene New Dehli presents to the Occidental viewer enhances this sense of otherworldliness. The director often chooses to add slices of every-day Indian city life throughout the picture: glorious colors continually overwhelm, as do the hordes of people and traffic that run through the narrow and crowded city streets. Though the pieces themselves are obviously shot from real life, the color and tableau-like quality make India seem like paradise, one which those of us in the West may wistfully enjoy, but never fully comprehend. The ritual of the wedding and its preceding ceremonies creates this same feeling: the entire party knows what words follow each other in succession, and they can all sing the tune as well. When the entire group gets up and begins to dance, their spontaneous gaiety is natural and carefree, born out of knowing that no matter what they do, they belong.

  Though there is a difference in classes, as shown clearly by the wedding scene, it is beyond this movie to do any explorations of any topic other than the superficial. The story almost has too many threads as it is, and so to remain light-hearted, it is fitting that it gloss over such problematic details. Other, more problematic details (abuse, infidelity) aren't glossed over, but instead are dealt with in such a quick manner as to show the movie's true emphasis. And that? That is to resolve a couple of problems, to have fun, and most of all, to make us feel good about the world, ourselves, and India in particular. Arranged marriages really aren't all that bad, are they? Indian families are all large and boisterous and happy. And the caste system prevents no one from finding his or her true happiness. But in the end, (and despite my griping) I had a wonderful time watching it, and in that respect, Monsoon Wedding is a complete success.
  
  

• What a movie!!
  By A17MMYJP7OUZ77 on 2001-12-06
  I was in India last week on vacation and had the opportunity of watching this classic film in a theatre on teh first day of its release. I thouroughly enjoyed watching this film. All the characters have performed well in keeping the audience entertained throughout. It is a movie that no one should miss. I would love to watch it again and would also love to keep a DVD too. Whether you are from East or West, you will have no problems understanding the film - the Indian culture, its tradition and whatever that goes along with a family wedding which of course cannot be explained here. A must see for all! It is a family movie. Mira Nair has done a wonderful job in that she has made the movie short and upto the point.
  
  
• Contemporary India at last
  By A180HNC1LFE027 on 2002-04-12
  Mira Nair has done it again! As an Indian living in the United States for the past 15 years, I was extremely glad this film got the response it did. I've seen it twice. I am a child of modern India, and have no connection to the India of Kipling and the Raj or of Mother Teresa, poverty and mysticism. Until this film came along India was portrayed either from the perspective of the "good old days" of British rule (when Indians were treated as second class citizens) or as a land of grinding poverty peppered with snake charmers and mendicants as quaint interludes amidst the sheer hopelessness. Sadly, Lagaan, India's Oscar nominee did nothing to dispel this myth. "Monsoon Wedding" however, is about the India I know. Vibrant, joyous and real. The family depicted in the film could have been mine - and Dubey and Alice were as real to me as it is possible for characters in a film to be. This was also the first film in English to address the issues that are very real for the Indian diaspora - issues of identity and of belonging to two cultures, yet to neither. In fact the first to acknowledge that they do not all run laundrettes, corner stores or drive taxicabs. If you're interested in India, forget the Jewel in the Crown and the City of Joy. This is the real India... a land where cell phones and PDA's co-exist with rickshaws; a country with the highest number of computer engineers, where electricity is not taken for granted; a country where sand traps at golf courses are painstakingly raked over by hand...The cinematography, script and music were fabulous. Naseerudin Shah is probably one of the best character actors in Indian film, and his portrayal of Lalit was very believable. The ensemble cast was outstanding. Probably the best film set in India I have seen and one of the twenty or so best I have ever watched, I'm going to buy this film on DVD when available.
  
  
• Monsoon Wedding was wonderful!
  By A10JYWPP1YRY8W on 2002-05-22
  I loved this movie! As an Indian, I thought it was a wonderful and very accurate portrayal of Indian families. It was a realistic slice of life in New Delhi. This movie brought back a lot of memories for me visiting India - that shows how right on target it is.
  The actor who portrayed the bride's father was absolutly brilliant - with the way he could change from being a negotiating payer, loving dad, leader of the family, and showing his own insecurities.
  I particularly loved the part of the movie where the bride has just told her husband to be that she had extra - marital outings, and the husband pours out all of his frustration - saying they would take the family to Disneyland, send pictures of the happy family - it is just how Indians live in this country - this also portrays how they relate back to thier families how they are living.
  The bride was very modern in this movie - they made her work at a television station - a working woman - she really represents the vast majority of young Indian women. I loved that.
  This was a great example of how little foriegn films can really raise the bar on movie making standards - even with out the big studio budget - it gives the American public a glimpse of Indian culture - which I think is badly needed.
  Wonderful movie - with truly great music!
  
  
• Eliminating the Caste of Monsoon Wedding
  By A3MMZMYJ1ODBUC on 2005-03-13
  Set in a nation of over one billion people, where approximately thirty-five percent of the inhabitants live below the poverty line, Monsoon Wedding is the story of an upper-middle class family's trials and triumphs during their preparation for an elaborate wedding. Director Mira Nair, while focusing much of the audience's attention on Lalit Verma and his daughter Aditi (whose wedding serves as the platform for the plot), mindfully illustrates the social division between an upper-middle class family and an economically segregated sub-culture.
  Utilizing juxtaposition of scenes in editing, Nair forbids her audience to forget that, apart from the colorful decadence of Monsoon Wedding's setting, there exists a marginalized mass with equally lucid hopes and dreams. Often strategic in their placement, images of overpopulated and squalid city streets contrast the more welcoming setting of the Verma family's home. Even within the more affluent setting, however, Nair situates Alice, the family servant, to contextually represent a society far removed from this comfortable lifestyle. In this expressive arrangement, Monsoon Wedding carefully illustrates a dividing barrier in the class distinctions of India, particularly through a tacit comparison of Alice with her wealthier counterparts.
  Within her introductory scene, Alice is presented quietly executing mundane chores. While picking up used drinking glasses from her employers' patio, Alice's attention becomes fixed on a small pile of marigolds that have fallen from a decorative arrangement. The camera cuts to a medium close-up shot of her as she lifts a single blossom, in slow motion, and places it behind her ear before continuing with her task. Whatever one's analysis of the marigold's representation may be, this small action illustrates the emotional response of a person in contrast to the mechanical response of mindlessly working- that is, Alice is to be seen as more than a commodity. While particular tendencies exist within Indian culture (and most other cultures, for that matter) to dehumanize and exploit the labor of a lower economic class, Nair's intent in this scene seems to be focused on showing Alice as more than an extra body to help around the house.
  At times, Alice may seem indistinguishable from the family she serves. In a following scene, for example, the younger Verma women surround Aditi and leisurely socialize. The camera then cuts to Alice, who is also laughing warmly and enjoying their company. This laughter is broken only after she rushes to a window and joyfully exclaims, "The groom!" Appearing more excited than the bride herself, she enthusiastically leans at Aditi's side and repeats, "The groom's here!" In this scene, one might feel inclined to believe that, regardless of social position, Alice is as much a member of the Verma family as Aditi.
  As close as Alice appears to be with the family, however, she is unarguably separated from their lifestyle. In the first family dinner scene, the establishing shot focuses on Alice cleaning up after the Verma family and their guests as they drink, smoke cigars, and enjoy intimate interaction. Midway through the scene, the comfortable festivities are temporarily halted by a power outage. Amidst the sound of a ringing telephone and the guests' complaints, Lalit is heard hollering, "Alice, has the fuse blown?" Immediately following Lalit's implicit command for Alice to check the fuse box, Pimmi (Lalit's wife) shouts, "Alice, get the phone!" Until the film's all-inclusive ending, Alice's place within her society is a position of sacrifice and servitude where she is consistently reminded of pleasures that lie beyond her reach.
  Alice's desire to enjoy the pleasures of the class she serves is best illustrated in the scene where she plays dress-up while tidying a dressing table. Adorning herself in her employers' jewelry, Alice takes time to examine how each piece looks and feels. Gradually adding more accessories to her borrowed outfit, she conclusively applies a jeweled bindi and (literally) lets her hair down. However fitting and believable the reflection in the mirror may seem to the audience, Alice's peers, upon seeing her in the contextually inappropriate attire, instinctively accuse her of theft. She immediately recognizes the futility of her pipe dream; with a disheartened expression, she grounds herself in reality and sheds the illusion of an unattainable fantasy.
  Resuming the duties of her place in society, Alice returns to serving the Vermas. Going nearly unnoticed by the women of the family who sing and dance, brandishing their cell-phones and expensive jewelry in the process, Alice's only participation in the henna-party involves delivering beverages and picking up litter. In this scene, Nair makes it painfully clear that, while Alice may be physically, emotionally, and mentally similar to the other women, her current lot in life is merely to magnify their comfort.
  To leave the story at this, however, would be to say that there is no hope for the lower class that Alice represents. Using love as the foundation for hope, Nair beautifully develops a romantic interest between Alice and another of Lalit's employees. Dubey, the coordinator for Aditi's wedding, courts Alice throughout the wedding's preparation (sometimes successfully, and sometimes not) until eventually proposing marriage in her darkest hour of the film. Nair uses Dubey and Alice's and Aditi and her fiancé's relationship as a link between the lower and upper classes, carefully blending the two worlds together as the film progresses toward a wedding.
  On the long awaited night of Aditi's ceremony, the audience is surprised with a second wedding. Away from the marching bands and lavish formalities of Aditi's banquet, Dubey and Alice celebrate their devotion to one another with an intimate ceremony. Once again, the juxtaposition of scenes invites the audience to not only witness, but to blend the worlds of the elaborate and the simple, the humble and the ostentatious.
  Upon returning to the Verma's estate, Dubey and Alice are accepted into the crowd with dancing and cheering. With the single brush of a wedding night, centuries of caste distinction have at last been swept away; Dubey is invited to enter his employer's tent (a tent built by Dubey himself) to escape the rain, while Lalit and Alice dance shoulder to shoulder. Nair wants us to believe that, if only for this evening, society has disposed of discriminating social distinction.
  While the theory of a culturally unifying ceremony seems far-fetched, Nair's ideology is in-touch with the progressive ambitions of many Indians who currently seek to improve a system that subjugates millions of already disfranchised individuals. Smita Narula, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, states, "There is a growing grassroots movement of activists, trade unions, and other NGOs that are organizing to democratically and peacefully demand [the lower caste's] rights, higher wages, and more equitable land distribution. There has been progress in terms of building a human rights movement within India, and in drawing international attention to the issue" (qtd. in Mayell). In her optimistic vision of restored dignity for the servant-class of India, Mira Nair artistically contributes to this emerging beacon for global attention, making Monsoon Wedding an international voice for an intra-national ideology.
  
  
  
• Dissapointing and crass
  By A2W6ZK51A4V7Q4 on 2002-03-11
  This is the type of "crossover" film that the Indian film industry can do without. Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta have the same agenda in their films -- pandering to Western stereotypes of India. Here she takes a crack at one of India's wonders-- the strong social order of the family.And supposedly tears away the facade of happiness and shows how enslaving and oppressive the institution of family can be. And this is about as stereotyped and cliched as it can get.There is also a disgraceful scene where policemen are seen almost molesting the bride when she is caught having sex with her boyfriend in a car.....as Mira Nair would like us to believe India lurks with molesters and predators be it inside the police or inside the trusted structure of family.

  Watch Lagaan instead if you wanna see what Indian films can really be.
  
  

• Fantastic film
  By A1QGEKNC8E3X9U on 2005-09-25
  Mira Nair's "Monsoon Wedding," is a fantastic film that gives you a very good idea of how an Indian marriage is conducted, what happens behind the scenes before the actual ceremony takes place.
  
  The film at one level gives you a peek into a typical North Indian style wedding, but at the same time addresses a couple of very interesting social issues. The first one is how young girls and women become the victims of older male relatives, and the second is the changing attitude of the younger generation to pre-marital relationship. Both the themes are very skillfully woven into the storyline, and do not bog the film, but instead lift it up and make us sit up and notice what is unfolding in front of us.
  
  Nair pays tribute to Bollywood in this film, and has incorporated quite a few songs from Hindi films in this movie.
  
  Watch it, and you will like it.
  
  
• Monsoon Wedding - Something to be forgotten about
  By A1E9PFL3F7M9XE on 2002-07-31
  Mira Nair a self proclaimed ambassador for the cultural heritage of India has again managed to capture the western audience with her narration of the happenings ina Punjabi wedding. Kudos to her for doing this.

  Now a few words about the movie. A very mediocre self indulgent and essentially depressing narration of a middle class family setting in New Delhi. It is essentially pretentious in its interpretation of happenings. Mira Nair has established an aura of credibility which she is exploiting to tell the story of confused morals and misplaced values in a Punjabi family. While I agree that such issues are generally not addressed very openly, I am appalled at the latitude she offers herself in passing value judgement on a culture taht she claims as her own.

  The editing is bad though the docudrama feel to the movie is interesting. The characters are woven very skillfully though I thought that there was an overdose of characters. The screenplay is mediocre and the direction average.

  Naseeruddin Shah excels as the patriach and Lilet Dubey is good as well. Others are all just about average with the exception of Vasundhara Das. She should stick to singing.

  On the whole if you want to see a piece of farce I would recommend it. This movie assumes the audience to have an average IQ of 70.
  
  

• Simply the emptiest imaginable project
  By on 2002-10-31
  I wouldn't even call this a film. It looks like one long MTV video, or a hip, happening tourism commercial. Depressingly shallow, the movie never tries to convey anything at all. I felt like someone told me interminable, tedious, mild stories about their family, while the TV played in the background, and someone arranged flowers nicely in the foreground. The 'making-of' documentary on the DVD showcased the glibness of the director, so impressed by cellphones and computers side-by-side with pigs and saris, that she completely lost sight of the fact that texture does not make a tale.
  
  
• Ho-hum Wedding.
  By A1TL34XG2HNMQ6 on 2004-02-25
  So far as my own point of view goes Mira Nair was quite at an advantage since the last film of her's that I'd seen was 'Cumasutra: A Tale of Lewd' after which any effort would have been an improvement. I do not intend to say here that I liked the film, but I certainly could not dislike it as much as that earlier piece. As for the question of the film bagging Venice's Golden Lion, I will say that it was entirely because of a western audience delighting in the exotic-ness of a third-world film interpretation of the Hollywood/British ensemble romantic comedy.
  The film shoots itself in the foot at an early stage with its pathetic attempts at thrill humor (women comparing breast sizes, smart-ass children spying adults naked, an incongruous sequence of a TV debate on censorship where a fat dubbing artiste is called in to recreate the dialogue of a copulation sequence). The plot revolves around a wedding in a rich n' loud Punjabi family whose sundry members include a worried Father-of-the-Bride, his wife, the daughter who's having an affair with a married man, assorted sexually desperate and pedophiliac relatives and the aforementioned smart-ass children. The story moves about in a very predictable way, often painfully so, and at its 120 odd min length asks for too much of your patience. Trimming it down by 45 min wouldn't have improved the quality of the film, but there would have been that less of it to endure. The slapstick element in the form of a romance between the housemaid and the wedding contractor could have been mildly amusing in a film of much better overall quality but like most other elements of this film, it begins to grate. Various models and NRI-recruits display their typical vacuousness and it is left to a handful of seasoned actors to salvage as much of this venture as they can.
  So is there any silver lining to this cloud? I'd like to say yes:
  Naseeruddin Shah as the bride's father makes for a picture of dignity in this unholy pastiche. Although one could not ever count it among his more striking performances, it goes without dispute the film benefits immeasurably from the experience and essential solidity of this thespian. He builds a rapport with the audience bit by bit and uses this intimacy to lend a touching credibility to his dramatic scenes towards the end of the film.
  Lilette Dubey as his wife lends very good support and it's nice to see an Indian film that features sexual intimacy between middle-ageds without sensationalizing it.
  Shefali Chhaya as an ex-victim of the pedophiliac relative is sincere but hampered by utter cliché.
  One person who seems to have had fun with this film is composer Mychael Danna. The credit titles roll with an amusing blend of typical Punjabi Baaraat and Western March music. Shots of city traffic (while nice to view, wholly unrelated to the film's plot and adding nothing to it) are punctuated with well executed inspirations from Indian classical music and a wonderful thumri plays as the background to a rather tiresome car-sex scene. If Danna himself has composed these then he represents the Western equivalent of our Vanraj Bhatia, being able to easily fuse the music of disparate cultures. To reflect its Punjabi ambience though, some brain-chewing songs have been imported from other sources for sequences including a horrifying one where a younger relative dresses up as a veritable street-walker and prances to a ludicrous beat while her elders and assorted suitors beam on (the former proudly and the latter lustfully).
  
  
• This shoulda been the Oscar entry!!!!!!!!
  By AP6X4IJR5H92P on 2002-02-07
  All I can say is wow! Indian movie-making keeps getting better and better. The thing love most about this movie is that it is Authentic. Absolutely an authentic and accurate portrayal of 21st Century Urban India. The story itself is basically that of an Indian wedding, and all the crazy stuff that comes along with that, including a few skeletons that come tumbling out. This movie is basically, to quote the director Mira Nair, a tribute to her roots, and as fer me, it is a very accurate portrayal of an upper-middle class North Indian family living in New Delhi. The family shown here reminded me so much of my own it was shocking sometimes(well barring the incest an the extra-marital affair). One of the previous reviewers said something about how there were some of the typical Bollywood songs in this. That's not true. This was no tribute to bollywood. All North Indian weddings consist of a LOT of song and dance, this wasn't just fluff added, this is how it really is. I loved this movie because it smashes those nasty imperialist notions which show India as all misery and suffering. For once, the world get's to see another very real and very prevalent side. Go Mira Nair! Shame that Lagaan was India's entry for the oscars and not this one. (See my review for Lagaan as well)
  
  
• Sweet and familiar
  By A3UM23R4T9ZRCX on 2002-04-07
  As the wealthy Verma family in India prepares for the marriage of its daughter, a variety of emotions - some expected, some rather surprising - surface from the whole family. There's the bride herself, Aditi, who feels she must level with her arranged groom-to-be about her affair with a married man. Ria, Aditi's cousin, must face a painful memory caused by an important family member, and a tragedy that may ensue if she does not take action. Lalit, Aditi's father, is forced to choose between tradition and righting a past wrong. Then there is Dubey, the goofy wedding planner who yaks on his cell phone while whimsically ordering his haphazard wedding crew around - all the while falling for the Verma's maid, Alice, in a very sweet subplot.

  Many of its audience members - Indian or not - will relate to the craziness that a wedding or family gathering ensues. The dialogue - a mix of English and Indian languages, with occasional subtitles - can be a bit difficult to follow, as are the relationships between characters somewhat confusing at first, but Monsoon Wedding lives up to its recent international appeal.
  
  

• A beautiful film....
  By A1PMUOCK4V0R2Y on 2002-04-29
  I am not familiar with Indian culture at all, but I loved this film. The story, which takes place over about a week's period of time leading up to a wedding, held my interest for the entire film. For those who have never been to India, or who do not personally know anyone from India, it was nice to see a wide variety of personality types in the film. (I think here in the States, we have certain stereotypes of India.... dirty, poor, etc., but this film showed many different sides of the country).

  The film was also beautifully filmed. As an appreciator of cinematography, costume design and nature, I was sitting through much of the film with a big smile on my face, as I watched the beautiful colors of the saris, the abundant use of flowers in the film, and some of the dancing. The soundtrack was also wonderful. Prior to this film, I assumed I did not like "Indian music", but apparently I'd only been exposed to one type of Indian music.... that stereotypical style where the women sing in a very high, sing-songy pitch. This film once again brings the point home that, contrary to popular stereotypes, ALL cultures have a wider range of emotions, personalities, artistic qualities than we are often led to believe.
  
  

• How the monsoon rains wash us all clean
  By A2P49WD75WHAG5 on 2004-01-28
  The Verma family are quite under stress, especially the father Lalit. His only daughter Aditi is getting married, a traditional arranged marriage as done in India, but with a twist. The groom, Hemant Rai, is a computer programmer living in Houston, and for Aditi, this is a chance to enter a new world. However, her parents don't know that she has a married lover, Vikram Mehta, a broadcaster for a current affairs programme, and she's counting on him to divorce his wife. And everything about Indian weddings, down to the gatherings of various relatives, the ceremonial engagement rituals, the overbearing loud talk and laughter, is all there (q.v. Bend It Like Beckham). Aditi finds Hemant to be a decent and nice guy, but when push comes to shove, she finds that she doesn't want to start something based on lies and deceit.

  Lalit has hired P.K. Dubey as the Events Manager, decorating the trees and bushes with marigolds, arranging the tents, etc. He is quite a shrewd businessman and a character who's made lots of money. Something in him changes when he sees Alice, the Verma family's hired kitchen maid. Alice's a quiet, timid, but pretty and simple girl, and as time passes, he has an attraction to her. It causes P.K. to realize he has managed 150 to 175 marriages, and the pleas of his mother to get her a daughter-in-law causes him to wonder if it's time to abandon his lonesome vagabond lifestyle and settle down with a decent, simple girl.

  Other attractions involve Rahul, who has come from Melbourne to attend the wedding, who falls for the sensuous Ayesha, who will do a dance at the wedding.

  However, other conflicts come into play. Ria, an adopted daughter who wants to be a writer, seems tense at the presence of an Uncle, Tej, whose family the Vermas are indebted to. She gets a bit nervous when he sees her with Aliya, a young preteen girl. The antics of Varun, their chubby and sensitive son, and his desire to be a chef and rehearsing for a dance for Aditi's wedding frustrates Lalit, who wants his son to more of a man and threatens to send him to boarding school. And when P.K.'s helpers see Alice trying on jewelry in the mirror in a moment of wishful fantasy, they label her a thief, which strains things between P.K. and Alice.

  Like the parents in the later Bend It Like Beckham, the Vermas are displayed as disciplinarian and strict, but loving parents. Lalit tells his wife that everything he has done has been for their children's happiness, and that he's willing to take on any trouble and any sorrow for them. Despite the expense, as the mother Pimmi says, since it's their only daughter's wedding, nothing's a waste of money.

  If Mohan Rai, the groom's father looks familiar, that's Roshan Seth, who played Nehru in the Gandhi movie-bio as well as the villainous Chattar Lal in the second Indiana Jones Movie.

  Intercut with the trials of the Vermas are scenes of Delhi in monsoon season, people in cars, people dragging carts on concrete streets, a mixture of the modern and ancient in the global age. Which leads to this. What of India's role in this global Internet world? As a guest on Vikram's programme states, "just because India is global, why accept everything" at the cost of losing their ancient culture and traditions? When Hemant asks for a tea with no sugar, his friend and person on duty instantly equates no sugar with being American. America may be a land of modern luxury and opportunity, but at the cost of losing one's culture. Why accept everything indeed?

  Michael Danna's score and the Hindi songs here add to the atmosphere of this foreign treat, as do the colourful costumes. As for why this is called Monsoon Wedding, well, monsoons are unpredictable in what they do. They come during a certain season, they cause great havoc and destruction, but in the end, the rain cleanses all, and life begins anew, as it does for the Verma family and the newlyweds.
  
  

• Must have missed something in the translation
  By ACLZBESHAAZJK on 2006-12-12
  My husband I ordered this movie based on all the glowing reviews here. We quickly instituted the 20-minute rule for this one. Which means that if a movie isn't going anywhere or getting any better after 20 minutes, it generally never will. Any time I've flouted this rule, I've found myself wasting two hours of my life.
  
  From the outset we couldn't hear 80 percent of what the actors said. As another reviewer noted, it's not the accents, it's just really poor sound quality. We had the volume turned up all the way and maybe caught every fifth word or so. We generally had no clue as to what was transpiring on an auditory level. That was frustrating enough, but even the visuals were bewildering - the chaotic scenes and jerking camera got tiring quickly. It's like a homemade video by an overeager, drunken Uncle Bob trying out his new recorder.
  
  I am honestly perplexed by the the endless rave reviews here, but to each their own. Hopefully our local library will be as glad to get this donation as we are to get rid of it.
  
  
• A MARIGOLD-EATING-GOOD-TIME!
  By AF2UOFC8BTHLC on 2002-05-05
  A delightful romp thru the four days prior to the wedding of the only daughter of the Verma family of northern India. The cast is great and we have a whole different perspective of the tight knit families of the modern day east Indian culture. Hand held camera, and great music...hold this film together.

  We have merriment of the older women on contemplating their own arranged marriages. There is extra marital sexual activity of the bride to be, and her agonizing on having to tell her to be husband. There is child abuse of the sexual kind, but, not graphic. And how they deal with it is by ousting the culprit from the family circle, which in the case of this culture is more punishment than calling in the police.

  The wedding planner is a joy as he goes thru decorating and haggling with the father of the bride over money.Dubney rages around eating whole marigold flowers and yelling at his workers who have been with him for four years. Dubney's mother is on his back about giving her grandchildren. Alas, Dubney falls for the servant girl at the Verma house, and laments to his friends that it is time he got married and settle down and have a family. After almost loosing her he goes all out and builds a shrine with flowers and candles and a heart made out of marigolds. She is impressed and they become engaged. A delightful character is Dubney the wedding planner.

  The people are beautiful an you care for them. It is refreshing to see a culture still embracing the family and its goals, with it's up's and down's , but in the end the main body of the family, still intact. The last scenes are marvelous with the music, dancing, swirling bright colors and the groom enters on horseback. Monsoon rains... it was great!!

  These little foreign movies are a great relief from the stoic efforts of our picture industry, and I hope there are more for us in the future. Please go out and see this film and support the imports. The captions are easy to overcome.
  This review is for the theatrical release not the dvd!!
  ciao yaaah69
  
  

• This is a wedding you wont want to miss.
  By A91YY4W9MB3R9 on 2002-09-15
  The hardest thing about writing a story is giving it enough real depth without losing focus on the story. Monsoon Wedding is just that. After a long period of arrid and dust filled months it finally rains and cleans the air. The Monsoon is a deluge...just like this film. It is a deluge of stories. Each character has one...it's exactly like life.
  Most movies lose the ability to portray the lives of all the characters involved, but Mira Nair does not back away from the challenge of bringing all the stories together. Some might think that this is a stereo-typical view of the lives of Indians. If you have ever been to India, you will know that this is not a stretch from reality. Social castes, social appearances, dark secrets, slick business practices, traditional ceremonies between the women, rebellion against arranged marriages, desires to find a love of your own, desires to know what it is like to be on the other side of the social coin, sexuality and acceptance....all of this is Monsoon Wedding. A real masala. This movie has heroes, villains, deep characters dressed in shallow images, shallow characters dressed in deep images. All reveal themselves in the course of this film.
  Nair does her best to keep this from being a full blown Bollywoord flick and holds back until the scenes of the day before and the day of the wedding when song and dance breaks out like an Indian Rogers & Hamerstain musical. That is Indian cinema...and in case some didn't know it, although a resident of Canada, Mira Nair is Indian.
  It's a great film and has a wonderful soundtrack. If you are expecting Deepa Mehta-esque type story telling...this is Mira Nair. Nair is a real genius for telling and filming a story. She is resourceful and incredibly open. By the time you see this review, it will be out of general cirulation in theatre..so go to Blockbuster and rent the DVD.
  
  
• boring and pointless
  By A2UN5UY8Q6YMOF on 2002-10-09
  I guess I have to be in the right mood to see a movie like this, but I could not stay interested in it at all. I liked movies such as Gosford Park, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, etc. But those movies usually had interesting characters, plot intrigue, and some humor mixed in to keep the movie upbeat at least a little. This movie had none of that. I did not care about any of the characters. It was mostly depressing (when not boring) and the sporadic use of subtitles was annoying and distracting. The plot was straightforward-almost like a documentary. My wife did not care for this film either so I am truly astounded by all the positive reviews. I would pass on this one.
  
  
• Comes Out in the Wash
  By A1B3NP9BYLXX36 on 2003-01-17
  This film is sort of a My Big Fat Greek Wedding for those of the Indian middle class, with fewer outright laughs but just as much heart. That said, the similarities are scarce, mostly because the cultures are so different - actually, the culture of MBFGW is American and that of Monsoon Wedding is Indian - and partly because the characters are not well known American types.

  Where Monsoon Wedding succeeds, and I think brilliantly, is in making these unfamiliar character types seem like comfortable, old friends. In spite of the trilingual communication (English, Hindi, Punjabi), and perhaps because of the universal appeal of a story that mixes them, if they don't exactly conflict, the old-world values work with the modern-day mores and technology. The plot is simple: Aditi Verma (Vasundhara Das) accepts a marriage arranged by her parents (Naseeruddin Shah and Lillete Dubey) to a computer programmer from Houston she has never met (Parvin Dabas), after a failed affair with a married TV producer. The wedding planner (Vijay Raaz) is smitten with the Verma's maid (Tilotama Shome); a family benefactor is found to be a serial child molester; and a new romance develops between Aditi's attractive cousin Ayesha (Neha Dubey) and Rahul (Randeep Hooda).

  That all this works so well is a credit to excellent ensemble acting and, of course, to director Mira Nair's sure hand (she directed Mississippi Masala, 1991). It is missing the point to say that things eventually work out in the end. It's the getting there, even in the monsoon rain, that's most of the fun.
  
  

• superb film that discusses universally important matters
  By ADS5APY1NKTL4 on 2004-04-28
  This was the first film I saw directed by Mira Nair, and produced by her production company, MiraBai films. I had heard a great deal about her films, Salaam Bombay! (which I still need to see), Mississippi Masala (another beautiful treasure of a film that I plan to review on Amazon.com), The Perez Family and Kama Sutra. I was so happy to see this film for so many reasons. For starters, visually, it was beautiful to watch, and very engaging. Everything from the street scenes in the market of New Delhi with shots of young boys selling coconut slices, vibrant saris in multitudes of color, and beautiful shots of the architecture held my attention. The story was a great one, too. It was a real glimpse into the lives of two families coming together for a wedding celebration, and all of the baggage, controversy and eclectic friends that come along for the ride. The young couple is brought together through arranged marriage, and are just meeting about two to three days before the wedding is to take place. The young groom is a successful, handsome, intelligent and sensitive computer scientist form Houston, Hemant Rai (Parvin Dabas), and his bride is a young professional, Aditi (Vashundhara Das), who is caught between two worlds--the modern, more western world that says she can engage in premarital sex, keep a full time job, and even continue to sleep with her still-married boyfriend, and the world of traditional Indian values, that include the importance of familial closeness and arranged marriages. What world will she choose to live in? You have to rent this fine film to find out. Also, the subplots that are finely intertwined with the main story about the wedding preparations are very engaging. One is about the importance of redemption, and the other, about love's power to transform.
  Don't miss it!
  
  
• A MONSOON OF A MOVIE!
  By A2CAT3DSH7QEDN on 2004-09-10
  I know, I know, I am late in seeing this movie. I have it on my Netflix queue, but other movies mysteriously move ahead of it :0). Anyway, I love Kama Sutra (I think Indira Varma is one of the most beautiful woman in the world), but it was my only introduction to Mira Nair's work. I didn't know what to expect from this movie, but it was such a breath of fresh air. I love the story and the scenery and music--all together--just took you to another place. My favorite characters are the cousin (it was such a touching moment when she was talking to her younger cousin in the kitchen and they touched noses to show their love for each other), the father (I cried when he was telling a relative the reason why he wanted them to leave the wedding) and the wedding planner (it was amazing how his character grew--I was laughing at him in the beginning and I was cheering him on at the end). Wonderful movie!
  
  

• Bride and Prejudice
• Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love
• The Namesake
• Bend It Like Beckham (Widescreen Edition)
• Salaam Bombay (Widescreen Special Edition)