Producer: Caroline BAron, Mira Nair
Director:  Mira Nair
Cast:  Lilett Dubey, Naseeruddin Shah, Vasundhara Das
Music: Mychael Danna

Mira Nair brings you the wedding of the season with ‘Monsoon Wedding’, in a realistic and raw manner. Indian NRI’s will be able to relate their lives with the film as Mira Nair goes ahead to prove her sensibility way ahead of the Bollywood run of the mill potboilers and breaking the barrier of a cliché normal film. She is an intelligent filmmaker and her film affirms that. It’s a film on wedding but it doesn’t have the masala overdose and faux emotions like ‘Hum Aapke Hain Kaun’.

Delhi businessman Lalit’s (Nasserudin Shah) only daughter Aditi (Vasundhra Das) is to get wedded to Hemant (Parvin Dabas) in an arrange marriage with the groom chosen by their parents. Families and guests start arriving and the drama opens up on the screen. Taking a look into the life of family members we discover the teenage cousin who attempts her sexuality, the bride to be whose temptations outweighs her anxiety, the young boy who isn’t given enough attention in interestingly woven sub-plots. Aditi is still in love with Vikram (Sameer Arya), a married man with whom she was having an affair with. Before the night of marriage she commits adultery with him and only later realizes that she has done wrong. There is another love story going simultaneously between P.K Dubey (Vijay Raaz) who is Lalit’s wedding planner. He is an eccentric guy who falls in love with Lalit’s maid. His love story went fine until the complication that arises at the last moment. Then there is Aditi’s cousin Shefali Shetty who guards a deep and dark secret of the past.

The cast comprises of established actors and newcomers and Nair has managed to extract superlative performances from the entire cast. Nasserudin Shah is in his best form once again. His expressions, dialogue delivery, body language, emotional scenes or comedy scenes are top notch and this role is undoubtedly another landmark in his career. Lilette Dubey as his wife is first rate. Shefali Shetty steals the show donning the most complex role in the film. The character of Vijay Raaz will appeal to the masses and he glides with ease with his get-up and persona delivering a raw and natural performance. Vasundra Das is impressive. Parvin Dabas, Sameer Arya and Khulbhushan Kharbandha support ably.
 
Directorially Mira Nair excels with the theme as she handles sex and incest in a deft manner. She handles the scenes sensitively and carefully. Sabrina Dhawan’s screenplay is perfect. The subplots, scenarios and characters merge witheach other leaving no loopholes. The movie starts slow but gains momentum as the narration progresses. The climax doubles the impact further. The dialogues are witty and in sync with the narrative, with a mix of English and Hindi. Technically also the film has no flaws. Cinematography gives the right feel and essence to it. Michael Daaney’s musical compositions are appealing and tunes of Hindi films finds place in the movie going with the theme.
 
‘Monsoon Wedding’ proves that Bollywood has come of age and is one of the intelligent and entertaining cinemas of the recent time.