Introduction: Monsoon Wedding
India, USA, France, Italy, Germany, 2001
in English, Hindi, & Punjabi, with English subtitles; Run time: 115 min.
USA MPAA RATED R for language, including some sex related dialogue
Director: Mira Nair (pronunciation tip: Nair rhymes with fire)
b. 1957, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, India
Film Director, Producer, Actor, Writer

"As the monsoon rains loom, the Verma family reunites from around the world to attend a large Punjabi wedding in New Delhi. The family's hopes, fears and long-guarded secrets emerge during the frantic wedding prepara- tions. Five intersecting stories explore different aspects of love" ("Synopses: Monsoon Wedding").  Photo [at left] ("Film Screening: Monsoon Wedding.")

"We are like that only 40 locations, 30 days Exactly and approximately" --Epilogue to Monsoon Wedding [film & DVDs]      In her 2002 and 2009 DVD commentaries on Monsoon Wedding, director Mira Nair explains the meaning of the film's epilogue:  "We are like that only" is an Indian slang expression meaning "This is just what we are like"; the film's principal photography was shot in some "40 locations" in and around new and old Delhi, India, in a mere "30 days" on a shoe-string budget; and "Exactly and approximately" quotes the amusingly contradictory expression of P.K. Dubey, the film's endearingly comic wedding planner.  As Nair also explains in her DVD commentaries, at least 68 characters were needed to act out Monsoon Wedding's several intertwined plots (Monsoon Wedding).  In her Monsoon Wedding DVD commentaries, Nair also calls her Punjabi people the "party animals" of India and describes the film as an illustration of "musti" (which Nair translates as "intoxication with life").        All Monsoon Wedding's stories are (pretty much) happily resolved by the end of the film.  In conventional romantic comedy fashion, obstacles to true love are eventually overcome and two joyous wedding celebrations conclude the film, with hints that at least one more marriage is in the making.  In the process, love is rekindled in an old marriage, a destructive character is found out and evicted, and family ties are strengthened.  However Monsoon Wedding distinguishes itself by challenging simplistic Western prejudices against arranged marriages; and by pulsing with vibrantly crowded, realistically complicated, and splendidly colored life that few other romantic comedies - East or West - can match!  [This last paragraph expresses Cora Agatucci's opinion] SETTING & FILMING LOCATIONS:  Contemporary New Delhi and old Delhi, in northwestern India, during the monsoon season. "This film is a love song to the city of Delhi and a portrait of modern, cosmopolitan India. Two-thirds of MONSOON WEDDING was shot in an affluent farm-house on the city's outskirts, the rest in locations in both the old and new cities [of Delhi]: the exteriors of old Mughal Delhi and the gaudy charm of the wedding sari-shops of Karol Bagh juxtaposed with the chic ateliers of the city's established designer culture and its posh corporate world" ("Monsoon Wedding, A New Film by Mira Nair"). Monsoon Wedding "pays affectionate tribute to a city where weighty tradition collides daily with global culture and the dot-com age, yielding an unusual and melodious harmony"("Monsoon Wedding, A New Film by Mira Nair"). Monsoon = Summer period of heavy rainfall in India, caused by strong seasonal winds. MUSIC/SOUND: Monsoon Wedding "is filled with music, including ghazals (traditional love songs), modern Indian pop, jazz and bhangra (Punjabi folk/pop) music, all of which help to capture the varied and joyful sounds of a Punjabi wedding. The music and dance of old and new-style Bollywood is a constant presence in Indian life. MONSOON WEDDING echoes this Bollywood spirit with its vibrant score and with Ayesha's climactic dance number the night before the wedding" ("Monsoon Wedding, A New Film by Mira Nair"; emphasis added). Film critic Rose Capp describes Monsoon Wedding as "a film dominated by sound.  From the opening credit sequence, with its candy-coloured, retro-styled graphics, the energetic, infectious soundtrack sets the tone.  Mychael Danna's score, a skilful mix of traditional love songs, jazz, folk music and Indian pop provides the perfect counterpart to Nair's exhilarating imagery" (Capp). Bollywood = popular term for the huge Hindi-language film industry, based in Mumbai [formerly known as Bombay], India, which primarily produces musicals. Punjab/i = refers to a state in northern India and Pakistan, and an ethnic group, its language and culture, which originated in the Punjab. HAND-HELD CAMERA WORK: "The filmmakers use the mobility and economy of a hand-held camera, capturing subtle, expressive performances from a huge ensemble cast" ("Monsoon Wedding, A New Film by Mira Nair"). Mira Nair on her filmmaking from the "Personal Quotes" section of IMDb's web page "Biography for Mira Nair": "I want to question what the outside is and who defines it.  I often find those that are considered to be on the outside extremely inspiring.  They are the people who see through the double standards . . . ." "What is really important to me is a sense of humour and a mischief about life. Life is just too boring otherwise." "I would say that the audience in India is very important for me. Not for every film, of course, . . . but for films that have come from my heart, like . . . Monsoon Wedding." . . . . ". . . . We [Indians] are used to no privacy. We are used to a lot of people in a room, sleeping on mattresses." "I like to be unabashed, which is an Indian trait, both emotionally and visually. It's important to have a circus to play with." "I always like to reveal the fact that the emperor has no clothes. And children are best at that. They teach us how to see the world in that sense. They are without artifice; they see it for what it is. I am drawn to that ruthless honesty." . . . . "I am an independent film-maker first and foremost.  I have always cut my own cloth."

MLA Style Works Cited bibliographical entry - option 1 (minimum information on DVD version on reserve in COCC Barber Library): Monsoon Wedding. Dir. Mira Nair. IFC Productions, Mirabai Films, Key Films [Keyfilms Roma], Pandora Films, Paradis Films, 2001. Universal Studios, 2002. DVD. MLA Style Works Cited bibliographical entry - option 2 (minimum information on DVD version that Cora will show in class): Monsoon Wedding. Dir. Mira Nair. IFC Productions, Mirabai Films, Key Films [Keyfilms Roma], Pandora Films, Paradis Films, 2001. The Criterion Collection, 2009. DVD. MLA Style Works Cited bibliographical entry  - option 3 (with helpful additional information): Monsoon Wedding. Dir. Mira Nair. Wr. Carolyn Baron and Mira Nair. Perf. Naseeruddin Shah, Lillete Dubey, Shafali Shetty, Vijay Raaz, Tillotama Shome, Vasundhara Das.  IFC [Independent Film Channel] Productions, Mirabai Films, Key Films [Keyfilms Roma], Pandora Films, Paradis Films, 2001. The Criterion Collection, 2009. [Monsoon Wedding and Seven Short Films Director-Approved Special Edition Double-Disc Set.] DVD. Why all the above versions? See background discussion provided in Cora Agatucci's On Filmography & MLA-Style Citations (course paper handout) and also available online: URL: http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/FA125/Midterm/FilmographyMLAstyle.htm

Filmography Information See also Mirabai Films'  web page "Monsoon Wedding, A New Film by Mira Nair": http://www.mirabaifilms.com/monsoon.html

Monsoon Wedding  - Film first released: 2001 Director: Mira Nair Producers: Caroline Baron & Mira Nair Screenplay Writer: Sabrina Dhawan Cinematographer/Director of Photography: Declan Quinn Film Editor: Allyson C. Johnson Production Designer: Stephanie Carroll Costume Designer: Arjun Bhasin Music by: Mychael Danna Production Companies: IFC Productions, Mirabai Films, Key Films [Keyfilms Roma],       Pandora Films [Pandora Filmproduktion], Paradis Films       [Note: Mirabai Films holds the 2001 copyright to the film.] DVD [version on COCC Barber Library Reserve]: Universal Studios, 2002. DVD [version Cora will show in class]: The Criterion Collection, 2009. [Monsoon Wedding and Seven Short Films Director-Approved Special Edition Double-Disc Set.] Main Characters/Performers (grouped by story lines, though they are interlocked): Lalit Verma [Protagonist; beleaguered father of bride Aditi & beloved uncle/protector of niece Ria]        played by Naseeruddin Shah Pimmi Verma [wife of Lalit, mother of bride Aditi & son Varun] played by Lillete Dubey Varun Verma [ son of Lalit & Pimmi Verma and younger brother of bride Aditi] played by Ishaan Nair "The father of the bride, LALIT VERMA (50), and his wife PIMMI (45), have endured the ups and downs of a fairly traditional marriage for years. As their daughter [Aditi] prepares to marry and leave home, they reach out to each other once again, finding deep comfort in the history they have shared" ("Monsoon Wedding, A New Film by Mira Nair"). Aditi Verma [Protagonist; daughter of Lalit & Pimmi Verma, and prospective bride of Hermant Rai        by parental arrangement] played by Vasundhara Das Hermant Rai [the prospective groom, engaged to Aditi by parental arrangement] played by Parvin Dabas Vikram Mehta [Aditi's married boss & illicit lover] played by Sameer Arya "The bride, ADITI (24), on the rebound from an aborted love affair with her former boss, VIKRAM (42), agrees to marry HEMANT (32), an engineer from Houston. Suddenly apprehensive about becoming a housewife in Texas, Aditi re-visits her lover the day before the wedding, throwing her future into turmoil" ("Monsoon Wedding, A New Film by Mira Nair"). Ria Verma [Protagonist; daughter of Lalit's beloved dead brother & cousin of bride Aditi; Ria aspires to        study in the U.S. and become a writer] played by Shefali Shetty Aliya Verma [Ayesha's younger sister & object of Tej Puri's unwanted advances] played by Kemaya Kidwai Tej Puri [husband of Lalit Verma's sister &  the Verma family's rich, revered elder --until Ria accuses him of child abuse],         played by Rajat Kapoor "RIA (28) is the unmarried writer cousin of the bride [Aditi]. As she watches Aditi plunge recklessly into marriage, Ria begins to assert herself to her family, defying convention and revealing a disturbing secret she has suppressed for years" ("Monsoon Wedding, A New Film by Mira Nair"). Ayesha Verma [the dancer & another cousin of bride Aditi] played by Neha Dubey Rahul Chadha [Lalit's "idiot" nephew, from Australia, who falls in love with Ayesha] played by Randeep Hooda C. L. Chadha [Pimmi Verna's brother & father of Rahul Chadha] played by Kulbhushan Kharbanda Shashi Chadha (C.L.'s wife & mother of Rahul), played by Kamini Khanna "A story of steamy unconsummated teenage lust. AYESHA (17), another cousin of the bride, is a sexy Delhi 'babe' who meets RAHUL (19), a sophomore at the University of Sydney [Australia] returning to India after five years. Surprised by Ayesha's boldness, Rahul becomes infatuated with this brazen young Indian woman who challenges all his assumptions about contemporary Indian culture" ("Monsoon Wedding, A New Film by Mira Nair"). P. K. Dubey [the wedding planner who falls in love with Alice] played by Vijay Raaz Alice [servant in the Verma household courted by P.K. Dubey] played by Tillotama Shome "P.K. DUBEY (25) is the upwardly mobile Tent and Catering contractor for the elaborate wedding celebrations. A cellphone-wielding wheeler-dealer, he is a member of India's emerging urban middle class. Dubey's tough pragmatism is outdone by the innocence and virtue of the family's maid, ALICE (20). He accidentally spies on Alice as she secretly dresses in the ornaments of her mistress and finds himself falling hopelessly in love with her. Theirs is the only pure and completely unexpected love story in the film, echoed by their bizarre shared habit of eating the core of marigolds - the Indian wedding flower" ("Monsoon Wedding, A New Film by Mira Nair"). For more complete filmographical information, see these sources: "Monsoon Wedding (2001)." The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com-Amazon.com,1990-2010. Web. 6 May 2010. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265343/>. "Full Cast and Crew for Monsoon Wedding (2001)." The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com-Amazon.com,1990-2010. Web. 6 May 2010. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0265343/fullcredits>. "Mira Nair." IMDb: The Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com-Amazon.com,1990-2010. Web. 6 May 2010. <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0619762/>. "Credits: Monsoon Wedding." BFI [British Film Institute] Film & TV Database. 7 May 2009. Web. 6 May 2010. <http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/714109?view=credit>. "Biography" [and Filmography of Mira Nair]. Mirabai Films, n.d. Web. 6 May 2010. <http://www.mirabaifilms.com/bio.html>.