I first saw this film in Mumbai, where though I missed the sub-titles that made my appreciation of its humour clearer, I was surrounded by the atmosphere of a large Indian crowd, the plaintive cinema advertising (Please do not spit or urinate in the street!)and the positive expectation created by friends who had already seen it back home and enjoyed it.
The characters are wonderful and the film is well scripted to make maximum money by appealing to an international audience, making it easy for Americans, Australians, Dubai residents and more to identify with people in the movie.
The focus is on the family coping with each other and each member of the family facing him/herself as the wedding draws near. Though they are well off superficially, they are feeling the pressure of impending change. There is a great deal of interest in each person's circumstances. The film-maker withholds moral judgment of the main characters, but occasionally puts their "problems" into proportion by incorporating powerfully atmospheric street scenes where the masses of the city population, handkerchiefs over mouths as an optimistic prophylactic as fight for survival in the city of 20 million.
The wedding broker's sub-plot is both comic and touching. What he achieves on a personal level gives us more satisfaction that the outcome of the real couple.
I disagree with another reviewer who describes this film as cheerful throughout. I have already indicated two aspects which make viewers less than comfortable (the predicament of the general population, the pathos of the parallel story); there is also the sinister amorality of two of the main characters which are dark elements until they are exposed and partially resolved as the film proceeds.
In an understated manner, the film depicts the traditions of the various Hindu marriage ceremonies. There are some beautifully detailed touches (eg the elaborate rangoli of orange and maroon marigolds down each side of the main drive of the family home). Other tiny decisions would touch at the heart of an Indian away from home or caught between two cultures (eg a volume of Rabindranath Tagore poetry contrasting as bedtime reading for one of the girls compared with Cleo for the other).
The Music and Dance make for a great souvenir CD if you can get hold of it. Though they are woven into the story-telling instead of being patched-in as you might expect of a Bollywood production, there is still a loving nod to the Indian seductive movements of body and melody. That funny little nod of the head we associate with India is there too.
Not a lot has been missed to take us to the wedding in our imaginations. We are passive observers, as the characters on screen deal with what life throws them. But as we leave the theatre, we find ourselves thinking about our own challenges, flirtations, foolishness.
See the film. See if you agree with me there's MUCH more than cheerfulness in it.
The characters are wonderful and the film is well scripted to make maximum money by appealing to an international audience, making it easy for Americans, Australians, Dubai residents and more to identify with people in the movie.
The focus is on the family coping with each other and each member of the family facing him/herself as the wedding draws near. Though they are well off superficially, they are feeling the pressure of impending change. There is a great deal of interest in each person's circumstances. The film-maker withholds moral judgment of the main characters, but occasionally puts their "problems" into proportion by incorporating powerfully atmospheric street scenes where the masses of the city population, handkerchiefs over mouths as an optimistic prophylactic as fight for survival in the city of 20 million.
The wedding broker's sub-plot is both comic and touching. What he achieves on a personal level gives us more satisfaction that the outcome of the real couple.
I disagree with another reviewer who describes this film as cheerful throughout. I have already indicated two aspects which make viewers less than comfortable (the predicament of the general population, the pathos of the parallel story); there is also the sinister amorality of two of the main characters which are dark elements until they are exposed and partially resolved as the film proceeds.
In an understated manner, the film depicts the traditions of the various Hindu marriage ceremonies. There are some beautifully detailed touches (eg the elaborate rangoli of orange and maroon marigolds down each side of the main drive of the family home). Other tiny decisions would touch at the heart of an Indian away from home or caught between two cultures (eg a volume of Rabindranath Tagore poetry contrasting as bedtime reading for one of the girls compared with Cleo for the other).
The Music and Dance make for a great souvenir CD if you can get hold of it. Though they are woven into the story-telling instead of being patched-in as you might expect of a Bollywood production, there is still a loving nod to the Indian seductive movements of body and melody. That funny little nod of the head we associate with India is there too.
Not a lot has been missed to take us to the wedding in our imaginations. We are passive observers, as the characters on screen deal with what life throws them. But as we leave the theatre, we find ourselves thinking about our own challenges, flirtations, foolishness.
See the film. See if you agree with me there's MUCH more than cheerfulness in it.