Friday, March 28, 2008
Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding
Monsoon Wedding is Mira Nair’s story of an Indian family preparing for the extravagant wedding of their daughter, complete with all of the family drama that goes along with such occasions. The father, Lalit, is struggling to come up with the money to pay for the event while trying to impress all of his and the groom’s family; the wedding planner, PK Dubey, is distracted from his duties when his desires become fixated upon the family’s maid Alice; niece Ria is struggling with the idea of going to America for school and also with the fact that she was abused by one of her uncles who has come back for the occasion. Then of course there’s the bride herself, who is still sneaking off to see her ex-boss and lover, a married TV producer and is altogether uninterested in marrying the person her parents have chosen for her. All of these stories intertwine and overlap to create a lively examination of a typical family in modern day Delhi. Nair’s look into the lives of this family during one of the most important and hectic times in their lives not only makes for a good story filled with family drama, old secrets and new loves but also lets us take a look at their culture and the ways that it has come to butt heads with western ideals and traditions. Unlike its traditional Indian equals, Monsoon Wedding is more than the same old tired love story-plot with a few flashy dance numbers thrown in; it delves into the deeper and usually avoided topics such as child abuse, a gay child, class disparity and the disloyalty that can stem from arranged marriages. This new direction for Indian cinema is refreshing and takes the same old story to original and exciting lengths.
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2 comments:
Monsoon Wedding does seem to address the social climate of India more than many other Bollywood films. I agree that many of the plots are not common in the generic romance tale that seems to be everywhere. However, the film itself still seems draw a lot of influence from other movies, and the film seems to conform to some stereotypes while avoiding others.
The analysis of "Monsoon Wedding" here is very well written and covers several key topics for this film. You talk about all parts of the story and how each character was involved in a controversial film from Delhi. The only thing I would add to it is just a comparison to Bollywood cinema and how it is similar or different to popular films from this area. Perhaps mention how despite its conflict of plot line, it still has the music that most Bollywood films contain. Other than that this review covers several aspects of analysis on "Monsoon Wedding."
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