Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding is about a big upper-middle-class punjabi family who unite for a wedding. The movie is beautifully packaged for a foreign audience... a fact which is well evident in its winning the Golden Lion at Venice earlier this year. On home ground though, the movie almost falls flat on its face.
For those living in India, specially the north, the opulence, the ostentatiousness, the ironical paradoxes and most of all, the boisterous happiness of punjabi culture are nothing new. Its something we live amongst, something we've come to take for granted. This is nothing that'll enchant an Indian audience. So remove the captivating charm of the above, and whats left is a slide-show of tens of ultra familiar characters and their even more familiar relationships.
Sabrina Dhawan's script makes no attempts to go deep into the minds of the characters....though it would make the movie an amazing social documentary for the indian viewer, the international audience would find it too complex a drama. It is full of dry humour and ironical moments. The dialogue is well written, with nobody speaking even a single line out of character.
The actors have performed well. My pick among the hordes of actors has to be Vijay Riyaz as PK Dubey. Though she appears to be on the verge of being typecast, Shefali Shetty comes a close second with a strong dramatic role. Khulbhushan Kharbanda, Rajat Kapoor, Lilette Dubey, Neha Dubey and co. give in satisfactory performances with Naseeruddin Shah displaying his mastery of the art in the last few minutes. Vasundhara Das goes through the film with the same i'm-confused-but-what-dyou-think-you-are expression on her face.
The musical score, both original and non-original, is brilliant. Sukhwinder Singh's amazing bhangra composition translates to music the upbeat, high-voltage, jolly mood of the marriage. Songs from old Hindi movies are used very well to accentuate the emotion prevalent. The background music does a good anough job of making the atmosphere palpable.
Declan Quinn's camera takes you from your viewer's seat into the life of the movie...a feat not many cinematographers can boast of. The hand-held camera floats from one character's life to another's, giving a realistic marriage-video feel.
Despite quality work the cast and crew, not to forget Mira Nair's competent direction skills, what lets down the native viewer is a script exclusively packaged for a foreign audience.
6/10
For those living in India, specially the north, the opulence, the ostentatiousness, the ironical paradoxes and most of all, the boisterous happiness of punjabi culture are nothing new. Its something we live amongst, something we've come to take for granted. This is nothing that'll enchant an Indian audience. So remove the captivating charm of the above, and whats left is a slide-show of tens of ultra familiar characters and their even more familiar relationships.
Sabrina Dhawan's script makes no attempts to go deep into the minds of the characters....though it would make the movie an amazing social documentary for the indian viewer, the international audience would find it too complex a drama. It is full of dry humour and ironical moments. The dialogue is well written, with nobody speaking even a single line out of character.
The actors have performed well. My pick among the hordes of actors has to be Vijay Riyaz as PK Dubey. Though she appears to be on the verge of being typecast, Shefali Shetty comes a close second with a strong dramatic role. Khulbhushan Kharbanda, Rajat Kapoor, Lilette Dubey, Neha Dubey and co. give in satisfactory performances with Naseeruddin Shah displaying his mastery of the art in the last few minutes. Vasundhara Das goes through the film with the same i'm-confused-but-what-dyou-think-you-are expression on her face.
The musical score, both original and non-original, is brilliant. Sukhwinder Singh's amazing bhangra composition translates to music the upbeat, high-voltage, jolly mood of the marriage. Songs from old Hindi movies are used very well to accentuate the emotion prevalent. The background music does a good anough job of making the atmosphere palpable.
Declan Quinn's camera takes you from your viewer's seat into the life of the movie...a feat not many cinematographers can boast of. The hand-held camera floats from one character's life to another's, giving a realistic marriage-video feel.
Despite quality work the cast and crew, not to forget Mira Nair's competent direction skills, what lets down the native viewer is a script exclusively packaged for a foreign audience.
6/10