I was asked to write a review of Monsoon Wedding, but since there are 35 reviews of this already well-established film, I can only comment without the usual plot intros from my own point of view, that of an American (in India).
I first watched this movie a couple of months ago (and have seen it again since then), after several Indian friends of mine recommended it since I had never before seen an Indian movie. I thought better to start watching something Indian other than the traditional European movies that we normally see. Especially since I belong to the Mouthshut club where I am at quite a disadvantage if I don’t. Besides, I can see that I am missing out on a whole other world!
One thing that struck me from the very beginning was the crazy speech that is a combination of English and Hindi that is much like “Spanglish” or to a Jew, like me, Yiddish. The insane part was that I actually followed along quite well, even through my own laughter at what was going on and the “Hinglish”.
What was most wonderful was the music, colorful fabrics/silks and henna tattooing, all the decorative and demonstrative of the occasion and festive atmosphere of the pending party(ies). So lush were the colors and gardens made more dramatic by the Monsoon weather.
What was most like any other identifiable circumstance that was well done and easy to relate to were the human interactions that really depicted that our lives all over the world are so similar: Incest, family grief, living up to others’ expectations, true and unrequited love. In America, we do not have arrange marriages per se, but we are a conglomerate of many people and many of us, although we do not show or acknowledge it, are under great pressure to marry what/who we are supposed to.
Although the main story is that of Aditi and her arranged marriage, I found that the budding relationship of the wedding coordinator, P.K. Dubey and the housemaid, Alice was really interesting and quite uniquely comical. Dubey is really a character and because he so strange (at least to me he was highly odd) he was intriguing to watch.
So now that I am one of the gang…I look for suggestions to the next Indian movie!