The woman in the audience with me who giggled repeatedly through Monsoon Wedding, along with the five or six Aussie/Indian little kids who chatted away delightedly during the film, added to the charm of a very good time at the cinema.
Monsoon Wedding, directed by Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala) along with writer Sabrina Dhawan have concocted a delicious wedding punch of colour, vivacity, romance and drama. Monsoon Wedding is an uplifting celebration of the best and worst of humanity set in modern day Delhi.
Very well to do Aditi Verma is to be married to Hermant. It's an arranged marriage. Hermant lives in the U.S.. Still they're not children, they're in their thirties and they're modern young adults. Aditi has been having an affair with a TV talk show host. Needless to say Hermant has his doubts too.
Aditi's Dad Lalit is also juggling problems of enormous proportions. The wedding is to be a huge and very expensive show. His wedding is being organised by what looks to be a shifty con man named P.K. Dube who, as played by Vijay Raaz, appears both shifty and comical. Getting the money together increasingly becomes more of a task.
Monsoon Wedding follows the time honoured traditions of Bollywood, the thousands of films that have been produced inexpensively for the huge mass market Indian domestic film industry.
Monsoon Wedding also has a sophisticated multi-layered complexity that lends itself to the best of Hollywood films, particularly to perhaps the movies of Robert Altman.
A lack of production gloss doesn't detract in the slightest from just how clever Monsoon Wedding is though. A thousand times in this film the camera whizzes about, tantalizing us with just glimpses of the richness of humanity. The editing of this film is superb.
Of course we're treated to some exuberant singing and dancing numbers, coloured by those peaking Indian melodies and with flashes of eyes and midriffs.
There's a ridiculously romantic scene concocted with marigolds and candles and a wonderful dance routine in what looks like some sort of empty swimming pool.
There must be twenty major characters, a moment of extreme pathos, and at least twenty moments that will encourage you to smile. At one point you might feel like cheering.
The young children having a chat just livened things up even more.
4 And A Half Flys In Pokora Out Of Five
Monsoon Wedding, directed by Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala) along with writer Sabrina Dhawan have concocted a delicious wedding punch of colour, vivacity, romance and drama. Monsoon Wedding is an uplifting celebration of the best and worst of humanity set in modern day Delhi.
Very well to do Aditi Verma is to be married to Hermant. It's an arranged marriage. Hermant lives in the U.S.. Still they're not children, they're in their thirties and they're modern young adults. Aditi has been having an affair with a TV talk show host. Needless to say Hermant has his doubts too.
Aditi's Dad Lalit is also juggling problems of enormous proportions. The wedding is to be a huge and very expensive show. His wedding is being organised by what looks to be a shifty con man named P.K. Dube who, as played by Vijay Raaz, appears both shifty and comical. Getting the money together increasingly becomes more of a task.
Monsoon Wedding follows the time honoured traditions of Bollywood, the thousands of films that have been produced inexpensively for the huge mass market Indian domestic film industry.
Monsoon Wedding also has a sophisticated multi-layered complexity that lends itself to the best of Hollywood films, particularly to perhaps the movies of Robert Altman.
A lack of production gloss doesn't detract in the slightest from just how clever Monsoon Wedding is though. A thousand times in this film the camera whizzes about, tantalizing us with just glimpses of the richness of humanity. The editing of this film is superb.
Of course we're treated to some exuberant singing and dancing numbers, coloured by those peaking Indian melodies and with flashes of eyes and midriffs.
There's a ridiculously romantic scene concocted with marigolds and candles and a wonderful dance routine in what looks like some sort of empty swimming pool.
There must be twenty major characters, a moment of extreme pathos, and at least twenty moments that will encourage you to smile. At one point you might feel like cheering.
The young children having a chat just livened things up even more.
4 And A Half Flys In Pokora Out Of Five