Monsoon Wedding (2001)

Monsoon Wedding- 2001 Director: Mira NairMonsoon Wedding directed by Mira Nair is a film about an India family marriage. This film is one of the most effective examples of an India family ever put on screen. It displays events ranging form delightful to serious and appalling situations. You see family parties, drama, lots of music and dancing and that one creepy person in the family whom women of the family are afraid of! The great film-making and the use of hand held captures camera scenes is an important setting in the movie.With combinations of warmth and laughter, music and dance, romance and serious problems, Director Mira Nair has made this movie a family entertainment

"My father, I leave the palace of your love to become a stranger to you forever." This is a quote from a Punjabi song, which is sung in the movie "Monsoon Wedding". It expresses a daughter's feelings, before she marries into a new family. The feeling of not knowing what the future might show and uncertainty, are common feelings of a girl, who soon will be the bride in an arranged marriage. At the same time, she might feel, that she will become a stranger to her own family, because she will belong to her husband and in-laws after the wedding. These are some of Aditi Verma's feelings.Monsoon Wedding is a touching, romantic comedy film starring Nassaruddin Shah as Lalit Verma, Vasundhara Das as Aditi Verma, Shefali Shetty as Ria Verma, Parvin Dabas as Hermant Rai and Vijay Raaz as P.K. Dubey. The movie is from 2001 and it's directed by Mira Nair, a successful Indian film director, and the first female recipient of the Golden Lion Award at Venice Film Festival. Monsoon Wedding is a movie, which tells the story about Lalit Verma, a family man, that try his best, to organize the perfect wedding for his daughter. His daughter, Aditi Verma, can't let go of an old flame, her already married ex-boss, whom she still has an affair with. Still, she accepts her father's offer to make an arranged marriage with Hermant Rai, an Indian man, who lives in Texas. Aditi does not tell her soon-to-be husband anything about her relationship. Soon she is placed in a risky situation, where the family's reputation is at stake. But this is not the only story. The film is also portrays some other stories, that take place in the busy time of the wedding preparations. Underneath the cheerful atmosphere of the big event something disturbing and unacceptable has happened between Ria Verma, the bride's cousin, and Lalit's brother in law. Ria fears to ruin the families' good relation. She is then forced to keep a big secret from the family. Love is the dominant theme in this movie, as the story is mainly based on the wedding, and the relationships Aditi has. Family matters is also an important theme, as we are introduced to all the family members in this enormous family gathering. We hear about the various conflicts, that occur in the family, and what consequences they might bring. The family roles in the Indian society are quite clear in this movie. The younger family members show a lot of respect to the elderly, which is considered as an important courtesy in India. Aditi is forced to live her life, the way her father wishes it like, as it will be shameful for her father and the family, if she chooses not to. "Monsoon Wedding" is set in the modern India, which creates a clash between the still existing traditional way of thinking and the modern westernized culture. Aditi's father is very fond of the old traditional way of doing things. He is so hostile when it comes to modern things, that he even refuses to get a computer. Instead he chose to do all the accounting from the wedding on paper. This is an example, of how some people at that time, were still skeptical about the modern culture. At last, the film is also portraying the class differences in India. The Verma family is extremely wealthy, meanwhile the people in the town are awfully poor. A relationship develops between the Verma family's maid and the wedding planner P.K. Dubey. The viewer is then introduced to a potential relationship between two different economic and social statuses, which might create trouble for both parties.The film is filled with heart-warming, cheerful and humorous moments, but at the same time it portraits serious conflicts and problems, occurring in an Indian society. The music and the colorful scenery from the Indian Punjabi culture, makes the movie eye-catching, artistic and interesting to watch. The good acting by all the actors, makes the viewer empathize with the characters, and their emotions in the movie. The hand-held camera was the element giving the movie the "final touch". As a viewer, you actually feel like you're present at all the events in busy wedding preparation.This is an excellent movie, that makes its audience feel the atmosphere of the Indian culture close up. It's a film worth 9 stars.

Monsoon Wedding was perhaps one of the most brilliant films I have ever seen. It took me somewhere I'd never been, and by the time two hours were up, I felt at home.A lot of the film's success was in the acting. Talented portrayals of deep complex characters who can make you laugh and cry in just minutes. I was amazed how easy it was to keep tabs on no less than 5 separate subplots without getting the characters mixed up or losing interest.Another key to Monsoon Wedding's success was how the camera told as much story as the actors and dialogue. Lingering shots on a character who doesn't seem part of the action revealed so much more than dialogue could.And the most amazing thing - this film was made in 30 days!! Couldn't believe it. Fantastic production values, mind, not like many other Indian movies I've seen. And down-to-earth realistic, not like Bollywood. Yes, there is singing and dancing, but in context, not every five minutes! I don't have anything against Bollywood, but I'm glad to see that there is a higher standard of Indian film-making out there.

Apart from a colorful marriage(which every marriage in Indo Pak subcontinent is..and may be more than that).The movie doesn't hold anything else.If you want to see good Indian movie then watch Lagaan or Swades.I guess no one in the West has seen wedding movie like "Hum Apkay hein Kon" who are howling for this movie.Very Good Soundtrack.The additional stories(good ones and thats why i think they should have been given more time) are added and scrapped out just to fill out the time.For example the maid wearing jewelery of the bride and mistaken for stealing it.Now in normal scenario those servants would have told the Bride's Father and the poor maid would have been kicked out.The feeling of Monsoon was the thing i liked a lot .For those who haven't seen Indian marriages,it will be something extraordinary(like My Big Fat Greek Wedding was for me) and not much for those who attend these marriages all the year.