Monsoon wedding... |
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Movie
Review: monsoon wedding
Starring: Naseeruddin Shah,
Lillete Dubey, Shefali Shetty, Vijay Raaz, Tilotama Shome, Vasundhara Das,
Parvin Dabas, Kamini Khanna, Rajat Kapoor
Director: Mira Nair
Producer: Caroline Baron & Mira Nair
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Monsoon Wedding is set in the rainy season. The Verma family
return from foreign climes for an last minute arranged marriage in New Delhi. The film
captures the 4 days and nights of the wedding. The story looks |
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at various characters and splinters off to various
sub-plots.
The parents of the bride are Lalit Verma (Naseeruddin Shah) and Pammi ( Lillete Dubey).
The bride is Aditi Verma (Vasundhara Das) who is getting married to Hemant (Parvin
Dabbas), an Indian engineer settled in Houston after an unsuccessful love affair with her
former boss Vikram (Sameer Arya). Just a night before her wedding, she goes to meet Vikram
and this throws her future into a turmoil. |
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Aditi's cousin Ria (Shefali Shetty) has a past as well and that wrecks the family ties a
day before the wedding is to take place. She is a writer by profession and seeing Aditi
recklessly plunge into the arranged marriage, she tries to assert herself and in the
process of doing so defys all convention and reveals a |
secret that she had suppressed for years.
P.K. Dubey (Vijay Raaj) is a mobile tent and catering
contractor who falls for Alice (Tillotama Shome), the maid of the Punjabi household.
Ayesha (Neha Dubey), another cousin of the bride, is a young lady whose path crosses that
of Rahul (Randeep Hoonda), who is returning to India after |
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studying for five years at the University of Sydney. Surprised by Ayesha's
boldness, Rahul falls for her, who challenges all assumptions about contemporary Indian
culture and family life.
Merging all these sub plots, Mira has managed to successfully create "Monsoon
Wedding", in the process |
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paying her tribute to the rich Punjabi culture and
tradition. The use of background music and silence instead of dialogues in many emotional
scenes shows her mastery over craft.
The film is a treat to the eyes and every character is just brilliant. Naseeruddin Shah is
the best. Well, can we say experience over the years? Lillete Dubey is again too good and
is a perfect mother of the present era. Vasundhara Das looks stunning and acts well.
Tillotama Shome despite her average looks excels in her role. Vijay Raaj impresses |
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as the catering contractor and the supporting cast
of Parvin Dabbas, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rajat Kapoor, Roshan Seth and Kamini Khanna does
its little bit. Shefali Shetty deserves special mention for her astounding performance.
Technically too, the film reaches the success peak. The background music by Mychale Danna
goes well |
with the changing mood of the narration. Cinematography is
colourful. The costumes designed by Arjun Bhasin match the ambience. The only song by
Sukhwinder Singh in the film comes off well. The editing by Allyson C.Johnson is perfect.
Sabrina Dhawan, as the writer, could not have asked for a better debut film. Finally, Mira
Nair as a director comes out flying colours!!!
Keep it up, Mira. |
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