"I don't think you're ready for marriage." Ria
☆☆☆☆☆ Classic
Monsoon Wedding (2001) is a beautiful story that opens the many facets of matrimonial nuputials in India.
Directed by Mira Nair.
Starring Naseeruddin Shah, Lillete Dubey, Shefali Shetty, Parvin Dabas, Vasundharah Das among many others.
Monsoon Wedding is a wonderful film directed by Mira Nair. I spent over 2 years in NYC's Times Square AMC theaters every Saturday morning watching Indian Films from Bollywood. They were all entertaining and fun to watch. For me it was like going to an exotic world every Saturday morning. It baffled and amazed me that whatever the the film genre, be it an action, an adventure, a comedy or drama, suddenly without warning the actors would all break into an elaborate song and dance number. Reminded me of the musicals from the 1930's and 1940's in Hollywood. It was truly puzzling until an Indian audience member explained to me that when they break into a song and dance sequence its their version of a love scene. What he said made sense to me.
I'm always fascinated by foreign films. Brought up in America, films from abroad allow me to see someone else's perspective on the human themes we all share. Mira's film has this humor that is subtle and yet instructive on Indian culture. Nair's directing style reminded me Coline Serraeu's social comedy, La Belle Verte - The Beautiful Green (1996).
Monsoon wedding snuck up on me. I was expecting the normal Bollywood fun, escapist film. Instead Mira showed me how Indian culture deals with family, relationships, marriage, love, pedophile family members and members of an entire extended family and neighbors who come together to celebrate a couple put together by their family elders. Arraigned marriages in India depicted in this film and from my Indian friends who have shed a light on this subject seem to strive to find mates for their offspring that take into account the strengthens and weaknesses of each couple. If anyone can shed more light on this practice please leave a comment below.
Trivia - The wedding scene and other scenes in the completed movie were ruined by an airport x-ray scanner. Additional funding had to be secured to re-shoot the lost footage months later.
No comments:
Post a Comment