Customer Reviews
Family, Love and Weddings in Contemporary India. - By: Penelope, 23 Dec 2007 
Mira Nair delivers an interesting & insightful alternative to traditional Bollywood fare in `Monsoon Wedding'. Contemporary India is rendered in a humorous, insightful & touching manner, in a film that revolves around an affluent family's wedding preparations for their daughter. While tackling the influence of Western culture on India's younger generation & depicting their sexual relationships, Nair's film also has nods towards a more traditional India encapsulated in the alternative wedding of a maid/servant. Similarly `Monsoon Wedding' possesses alll the colour, vitality & music of any good Bollywood movie, while still satisfying a Western audience more used to love & sex depicted in a physical, rather than symbolic manner. This is an extremely touching film that embraces some presumably risqué issues for an Indian film, namely, adultery, sexual desire, & child abuse. However don't worry it alll comes good in the end with a wonderfully bold, colourful & musical ending when the guests dance with gusto & alll the aplomb of a Bollywood musical. One word of warning, I had to watch this film twice in order to fully appreciate its subtler aspects, & the dialogue that seems to flit between Indian languages (subtitled) & English can be difficult to follow. But persevere because this is an extremely rewarding experience.
Don'texpect a typical Bollywood movie - By: Jay, 15 Dec 2007 If you're expecting an "exotic India" kind of movie, you'd be better off not seeing it. This is a contemporary film, & it's made with love. Acting is terrific, & it becomes obvious that actors had so much synergy while working on the movie. Only a very cynical person wouldn't be emotionallly touched by the story & the characters. A great film to see with your significant other on a weekend. Warm fuzzy feelings alll the way!
Did the critics actually watch this movie? - By: Rocking Rococo, 31 Mar 2007 
I've seen so many 5 star reviews for this film, online, in magazines & newspapers - but I can't help feel like everyone's got it wrong!
I rented this movie on sky box office a while ago & was taken in by the reviews callling it light hearted, funny & beautiful to watch. But I found myself bored & confused by the whole movie. The storyline confused me right from the start, as did the characters & plot. Nothing much seemed to be happening throughout the movie.
Whatever the storyline, the director knows how to make a beautiful movie. The set, costumes & soundtrack do make it well worth watching if only for the cinematography - but that's about the only reason to give it a try.
Prepare to be bored!
Enjoyable, impressive cinematography, but a rather slight story - By: Triestino, 18 Feb 2007 
This is a most engrossing & enjoyable film, but one that is not without flaws. Monsoon Wedding, as the director explains in one of the DVD's "extra" tracks, is a celebration of the upper middle class urban Punjabi life style: energetic, ambitious, Westernized, noisy & earthy. Underlying the film is the tension between modernity & tradition in India today, a contrast that the director often makes explicit by switching from the sophistication of the wealthy family preparing for the wedding to the wonderful, ageless chaos of the Delhi streets. There are moments of ravishing cinematography - the scenes filmed in the rain are quite magnificently done, for example. The colours (the director throughout favours blocks of pastel shades) & the music are impressive, but not quite as spectacular as some reviewers have suggested, & some people may find the tale as a whole a frustratingly slight one. It is sometimes rather difficult to follow the English passages, & there are episodes of the plot (such as it is) that are a little unconvincing. The bride-to-be, for instance, switches overnight from a passionate affair with her lover, to an almost equallly passionate attachment to her fiancé, with an ease that rather beggars belief. These aspects apart, this is a fast-moving, watchable & memorable film, & one that is very much worth seeing.
A Joyous Celebration (despite the secrets) - By: Erika Borsos, 03 Jun 2006 Mira Nair produced a film which is very entertaining, magical, & realistic in how it portrays the stresses & experiences associated with planning a modern wedding in India. The bride is a college educated beauty who has some liberated ideas & behaviors ... but she is also the the only daughter of her parents, a child of her culture. She agrees to an arranged marriage to the handsome son of a friend of the family... after a failed love affair (first secret in the film) from which she is not yet fully recovered. Aditi feels ready for marriage, so she tells her unmarried female cousin Ria who has some doubts about the matter. The unique traditions of the past are combined with modern touches - the past & present intertwine in unexpected ways to produce a beautiful & creative collage of whacky entertainment. The street scenes filmed in New Delhi symbolicallly represent the chaotic atmosphere, tensions & pressures of the preparations for a wedding. The plans are to create a joyous celebration ... to be remembered by both families ...and cherished for a lifetime. Family arrived from America, Dubai, & Australia ... to celebrate the blessed union of two young people in marriage.
Lalit Verma, father of the bride takes his role seriously, his personality, character, & approach provide many of the comic & serious touches in the film. He displays extraordinairy sensitivity to a family tragedy that is unexpectedly revealed (the second secret) & takes courageous action to deal with the problem directly. He proves to be a caring, loving father whose integrity ensures the wedding preparations continue as planned, alllowing nothing to mar the perfection of the moment. He even asks for a temporary loan from business associates to meet mmediate "cash flow" problems as the costs keep mounting upwards. The casting for alll the roles are superb. The music was incorporated into the story of the film, enhancing & emphasizing the emotions in many scenes. There was spontaneous singing during the "mehndi" ceremony when the women paint henna designs on the hands of the bride. There was a haunting solo sung about the bride leaving the loving palace of her father ... to become a stranger to his house forever after marriage. Several enjoyable modern Indian techno sounds exploded throughout the film making the scenes more lively & enjoyable.
Along with the wedding, there are several stories interwoven within the fabric of the film ... The first & most important one is how the wedding plans for Aditi & Hermant could have unravelled after Aditit confessed her secret affair to him. While the two large tents are built in the backyard, garlands of marigolds {"the flower of love") are woven, & the cost of water-proofing the tents is being negotiated - P.K. Dubey, the cell-phone carrying, dot.com business entrepeneur wedding event manager, & *bachelor* fallls in love with Alice, the young maid & housekeeper for the Verma family. Meanwhile, Varun, Aditi's brother practices a dance he will perform at the 'sangeet' (engagement party?) with Ayesha, a very attractive cousin from Dubai. However, just before the party he clashes with his parents over his future educational plans. They decided he will be sent to a boarding school. Ayesha has been flirting with Rahul, a handsome young relative of the Verma's from Australia. They have even exchanged kisses in the dark. He had witnessed her dance sessions with Varun who now refuses to do the performance. When Rahul will not take Varun's place, one of the older ladies overhears & quotes poetry to him about his failure to rescue a lady in distress. She tells him straight up to get off his @ss ... Some of the most sensitive scenes include Ria, when she clues in on certain behaviors between Uncle Tej & Aleja, a young girl of about 6 or 7. Ria exposes Uncle Tej & at the same time reveals her own shame at having suffered a similar fate as a child. Lalit wrestles with how to handle this delicate situation. He couragously banishes Uncle Tej & his wife from his house. The wedding ceremony is a blessed & dignified event. It turns out to be perfect, a celebration of pure joy ... exactly as planned.
Erika Borsos [bakonyvilla]
