MONSOON WEDDING

"Monsoon Wedding" is director Mira Nair’s love song to her family and her Punjabi heritage. Just like a good love song, it touches the heart with the simplicity of its lyricism. Individual stories are strung together like stanzas over a four day period while a father and mother (Naseeruddin Shah & Lillete Dubey) make preparations for a traditional wedding for their daughter (Vasundhara Das) in New Delhi, India. They reflect on a life that neither chose for themselves with its failures and successes, hoping to rekindle their lives through the aspirations they have for their daughter. The intended bride longs for a stable life after an aborted love affair while she dwells on a future with a man she met once as a child. Her husband-to-be is an engineer (Parvin Dabas) from Houston Texas who has the same misgivings. A cousin (Shefali Shetty) holds a dark secret that affects her relationship with men. A teenager (Neha Dubey) flirts with a prodigal student (Randeep Hooda) returning from Australia and a wealthy friend of the family has a hidden agenda that has been obscured by his generosity. At the bottom rung of the societal pecking order is the wedding planner (Vijay Raz) who is madly in love with a maid (Tilotama Shome).

Nair’s world is an upwardly mobile society where capitalism reigns in traditional settings. She balances the stories of her people against the backdrop of a bustling city where the poor, the middle class and the rich live side by side in a world of saris and cell phones. The bleak and sublime are as much a part of Delhi life as the food they eat and the air they breathe. The cast is made up of relative unknowns to these shores (except for

Roshan Seth who played Nehru in "Ghandi" and scores of other English language films). This provides an opportunity to get to know the characters on their own terms. They are as varied as any family member in any other culture or ethnic group, yet in their common humanity they strive for the same things - to love and to be loved.

"Monsoon Wedding" is a remarkable film that uses the conventions of the ensemble movie to reveal the essence of each of her and screenwriter Sabrin Dhawan’s creations. Mira Nair is an audacious director who knows how to go to the heart of her story and forge an emotional connection with her audience and stir their passions, not with special effects and fancy camera tricks, but through her craftsmanship and narrative gifts. Her insight into the human condition elevates her tales above their ethnic origins and give them a universal appeal. Wedding guests dance to the pop music of India with its Bollywood rhythms in much the same way New Yorkers or Jerseyites sway to the Electric Slide or Carolinians line dance. Costumes and custom may vary from country to country, and the music that forms the soundtrack to our lives may be different but family is family the world over. This above all is the message of "Monsoon Wedding"

Copyright 2002

"The Wedding March" (1928) - The Erich von Stroheim classic with Eric as the Prince who marries for money and falls in love with another. With Fay Wray five years before she met the King - King Kong that is. Also with Zasu Pitts who starred in von Stroheim’s "Greed" and later won fame as a comedienne

"Lovers and Other Strangers" (1970) - Delightful adaptation of Joe Bologna and Renee Taylor’s hit play about a young couple who decide to take the plunge and the humorous asides experienced by the members of their families. Richard Castellano made his mark here before "The Godfather" catapulted his career. With Bea Arthur, Harry Guardino, Anne Jackson, Bonnie Bedelia, Michael Brandon, Gig Young and Anne Jackson. A winner!

"A Wedding" (1978) - Director Robert Altman gives the social institution its due with an all star cast that includes Carol Burnett, Geraldine Chaplin, Vittorio Gassman, Mia Farrow and Lillian Gish among others.

"The Wedding Singer" (1998) - Very funny film with Adam Sandler as the title character who gets dumped at the altar and later strikes up a friendship with a waitress that steals his heart. Only she’s about to marry the wrong guy. This is the one that let Drew Barrymore show her comic chops. .

"My Own Country" (1998) - A Showtime original movie based on a true story that deserves to be seen. An Indian doctor settles in a small southern town and endears himself to the community in the midst of an AIDS epidemic. Once again Nair steers clear of stereotypes with her clearheaded vision of what people have in common rather than what sets them apart. Slow moving but worth the effort. Naveem Andrews plays the equivalent of a country doctor with support from Hal Holbrook, Glen Headley and Marisa Tomei.

"Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love" (1996) - Sumptuous looking movie about sex and politics in 16^th Century India. Indira Varma is a courtesan who seduces a king and remains the object of his obsession even after he marries into another royal family. He is a pure sensualist who forsakes his responsibility to his kingdom in pursuit of physical pleasure through sex and hash. His brother lurks in the background waiting for his chance to steal the kingdom out from under him. Great filmmaking. Often erotic but never pornographic. Also with Sarita Choudhury, and Naveem Andrews.

"Mississippi Marsala" (1992) - Sarita Choudhury falls for and has an affair with local hunk Denzel Washington in this examination of race relations in Mississippi. Roshan Seth is the proud educated father who longs to go back to the life he had in Uganda before he was ousted by Idi Amin. Strong performances all around make this work.