'Monsoon Wedding' a must-see for all
published: Saturday | November 23, 2002
Chaos, Freelance Writer
MARIGOLDS HOLD a particular significance in Hindi culture as was made clear in Mira Nair's film Monsoon Wedding, which was the featured film on 'movie night' at the blues cafe Redbones the Blues Café, 21 Braemar Avenue recently.
Marigolds are woven into garlands, used to cover various objects, chewed and swallowed with great solemnity and on one truly memorable occasion, used to construct a heart in the 2002 Indian film, a comedy-romance drama which is truly a joy to watch.
Indian director Nair, (best known for 1991's Mississippi Masala, which starred Denzel Washington and Sarita Choudhury) with a nod to Robert Altman (who most recently directed Gosford Park), in Monsoon Wedding had created a wonderful ensemble piece, fully involving the 'Bollywood' theme of song and dance with the odd bit of melodrama thrown in for good measure. The movie, set in present-day Delhi, centres the Punjabi Verma family, who are about to celebrate their daughter's (Aditi Verma, played by Vasundhara Das) arranged marriage to Hemant Rai (Parvin Dabas), an Indian who lives and works in Texas but has resisted 'Americanisation' who she met but a few days previously. With just a few days to go, the final preparations are being made with a frenetic rush as the extended families of both the bride and groom arrive. However, things get tense when financial problems, long kept secrets, fears and hidden desires come to light come to light admist the frenzy.
Throw in a brash, marigold-eating event planner (P. K. Dube, played by Vijay Raaz), who uses phrases such as 'exactly and approximately', the beautiful family maid Alice (Tilotama Shome) who clearly harbours dreams of being elevated beyond her status, paedophilia, infidelity and what Monsoon Wedding offers is a pot pourri of ideas painted on a canvas in colours that are at one moment bright and loud, almost overwhelmingly so, and the next are muted and solemn.
What Mira Nair has done is explore an India which is struggling with evolving into the 21st century while still remaining ritual-bound. A country in which it is still expected and accepted for marriages to be arranged, but the young ladies are no longer virgins and even have illicit affairs prior to their marriages. The cultural sub-tensions between Punjabi and Hindi families, the sometimes painful and awkward obligations that 'friendly' non-repayable debts can have and the pain of keeping a dark secret and the latent homosexuality of an only son are just some of the themes explored with gusto, if not exactly finesse.
At first one is not sure whether Aditi is getting married because her parents want her to or because she wants to jolt the married television show host into the divorce he has long been promising her. Hemant is not developed as a character until late into the film, but one never really finds out exactly how and why he has resisted deserting his culture, despite living and working in the United States. In fact, the only problem with the film is that the cast is so large that they all could not be developed fully. Those that are however, make this movie a treat to watch. Dube, who lives with a mother who constantly complains about her lack of grandchildren, starts off as someone you just love to hate, as he plans the wedding and seems to be ripping off Aditi's father, Lalit (Naseeruddin Shah), as he eats marigolds absent-mindedly. However, like a bolt out of the blue love hits him, and one is treated to seeing him become human as he walks the street of Delhi, lost, in a series of beautiful, seemingly washed out, shots. In fact, the cinematography is but one of the aspects that make Monsoon Wedding a must-see.
Aditi's cousin Ria (Shefali Shetty) at first comes across as at times spoilt and petty and at others as truly concerned about the mess Aditi is in, until, as the movie evolves, it becomes clear what the source of her pain is, and why she has to hide it. Naseeruddin Shah is a gem to watch as he plays a clueless father who is watching everything slip away from him and has not an idea what to do about it. Tilotama Shome as Alice steals every scene she is in, and in a movie where practically everything is beautiful, that takes some doing. The 'Bollywood' aspect, where song and dance erupt on-screen with little in the way of rhyme or reason, is a treat as well.
Monsoon Wedding is so... dense with imagery, themes and stories that it, to all intents and purposes, defies description, unless you have the time to read a book. Suffice it to say that it is an excellent film that should be watched by one and all as soon as they have the chance. Feel free to chew a marigold while you are at it.
