Susan Granger’s review of “MONSOON WEDDING” (USA Films)
Harvard-educated Indian filmmaker Mira Nair (“Mississippi Masala,” “Salaam Bombay!”) transports us to New Dehli to the exhilarating nuptials of a beautiful young Punjabi woman in this intimate exploration of the contemporary culture clashes in this exotic rite-of-passage. Aditi Verma (Vasundhara Das) is the only daughter of a hypertense, upper middle-class businessman (Naseeruddin Shah) who has arranged for her to marry a Texas-based engineer (Psarin Dabas) and move to America. Problem is: she’s never met her fiancé and is still having an affair with a married TV talk-show host. Despite the sweltering heat, relatives arrive from all over the world as the lavish marriage preparations proceed at a feverish pitch. Like a Robert Altman film, there’s a sprawling cast of disparate characters whose lives are interlinked. Like the mercurial event planner (Vijay Raaz) who falls in love with the Vermas’s shy, virtuous maid (Tilotama Shome); a cousin (Neha Dubey) who’s after another cousin (Randeep Hooda) back from school in Sydney; and another unmarried cousin (Shefali Shetty) who yearns be a writer but who, ultimately, bears her emotional scars to reveal a shameful, sorrowful secret. Using English, Hindi and Punjabi, screenwriter Sabrina Dhawan cleverly interweaves old customs and westernization within the raunchy, robust, resplendent festivities. Photographed by Declan Quinn, it’s a sensual delight – with pop-jazz-folk music, sumptuous food and a plethora of orange marigolds, the Indian wedding flower. It’s easy to understand why it won the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Monsoon Wedding” is an insightful, intoxicating 9, offering a fresh look at the universality and complexity of human relationships.
