Monsoon Wedding - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

Monsoon wedding trailer

The exuberant ensemble comedy unites a Punjabi family for the wedding of a family member. Relatives from all over the world descend on Delhi for the wedding ceremony. Universal in theme, the film explores the bonds that unite families in touching, dramatic, and comedic ways.

Monsoon Wedding is a 2001 film directed by Mira Nair and written by Sabrina Dhawan, which depicts romantic entanglements during a traditional Punjabi Hindu wedding in Delhi. Writer Sabrina Dhawan wrote the first draft of the screenplay in a week while she was at Columbia Universitys MFA film program. Monsoon Wedding earned just above $30 million at the box office. Although it is set entirely in New Delhi, the film was an international co-production between companies in India, the United States, Italy, France, and Germany.

The film won the Golden Lion award and received a Golden Globe Award nomination. A musical based on the film was in development and was premiered on Broadway in April 2014. The film was premiered in the Marche du Film section of the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.

From an exciting Indian wedding comes a relationship from two different times not only showing the modern but also the traditional. Different characters and stories interact with each other in director Mira Nair film where he used an Indian-American production to illustrate these themes modern day Indians are very familiar with.

Plot

The films central story concerns a father, Lalit Verma (Naseeruddin Shah), who is trying to organize an enormous, chaotic, and expensive wedding for his daughter, Aditi (Vasundhara Das), for whom he has arranged a marriage with a man, Hemant Rai (Parvin Dabas), she has known for only a few weeks. As so often happens in the Punjabi culture, such a wedding means that, for one of the few times in each generation, the extended family comes together from all corners of the globe, including India, Australia, Oman, and the United States, bringing its emotional baggage along.

The movie focuses on the struggle put by Pimmi and Lalit for their daughter. Meanwhile, Tej Puri (Rajat Kapoor), Lalits brother-in-law, who had given Lalit a new life, arrives. But Aditis cousin, Ria Verma (Shefali Shah), stays away from him and grows concerned when he gets close to a younger relative, Aliya.

A few days before the wedding, Aditi has an affair with her old lover, her married boss Vikram. Though Hemant is initially angry, he is glad for her honesty and - as the affair only reminded Aditi why she stopped seeing Vikram - is confident that they can put it behind them and be happy together. Meanwhile, P.K. Dubey (Vijay Raaz), the wedding planner, falls in love with Alice, the Vermas servant. The night before the ceremony, after a series of jokes and dances, Ria catches Tej taking Aliya for a drive. Ria stops them from driving off and takes Aliya away from him, proclaiming for all to hear that he had molested her as a child. Emotionally distraught, Ria leaves. The next day, Lalit goes to Ria and pleads for her to return to the wedding, admitting that he cant possibly imagine what shes gone through but also saying that he cant disown Tej: he is family, and they go back a long time. Nonetheless, Ria agrees to return. Hours before the wedding, however, Lalit changes his mind and tells Tej and his wife to leave the wedding and the family, as he will go to any lengths to protect them.

During the wedding ceremony, after Aditi and Hermant are wed, Dubey and Alice get married as well with the help of the Vermas. Ria moves on from her past life, and appears to fall in love with another family member. All is well and everyone happily dances to the music.

Cast

Naseeruddin Shah as Lalit Verma

Lillete Dubey as Pimmi Verma

Shefali Shah as Ria Verma

Vasundhara Das as Aditi Verma

Vijay Raaz as Parabatlal Kanhaiyalal P.K. Dubey

Tillotama Shome as Alice

Parvin Dabas as Hemant Rai

Kulbhushan Kharbanda as C.L. Chadha

Kamini Khanna as Shashi Chadha

Rajat Kapoor as Tej Puri

Randeep Hooda as Rahul Chadha

Neha Dubey as Ayesha Verma

Roshan Seth as Mohan Rai

Soni Razdan as Saroj Rai

Jas Arora as Umang Chadha

Natasha Rastogi as Sona Verma

Ram Kapoor as Shelly

Dibyendu Bhattacharya as Lottery

Soundtrack

The soundtrack includes a qawwali by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, a ghazal by Farida Khanum, a Punjabi song by Sukhwinder Singh, an old Indian song by Rafi, a folk dance song. The film includes an Urdu ghazal, Aaj Jaane Ki Zid Na Karo (Dont Be So Stubborn About Leaving Today) sung by Pakistani artist Farida Khanum.

All music composed by Mychael Danna (except where listed).

^(*) Originally featured in the Hindi film Loafer (1973)

^(**) Originally featured in the Hindi film Biwi No.1 (1999)

Awards

Monsoon Wedding movie scenes Monsoon Wedding centers on the Verma s a well to do Indian family preparing for their daughter Aditi Vasundhara Das to partake in an arranged marriage

The movie won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Mira Nair was the second Indian (after Satyajit Ray for Aparajito) to receive this honour.