Monsoon Wedding - Wedding Budget Breakdown

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 University's 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 Marché du Film section of the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

The film's 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 of Pimmi and Lalit for their daughter's wedding, with help from Pimmi's sister Shashi and her husband CJ. Tej Puri (Rajat Kapoor), Lalit's wealthy brother-in-law, arrives. Lalit is grateful to Tej for helping the family to start a new life after the Partition of India left them penniless. Now Tej offers to pay for Aditi's cousin, Ria Verma (Shefali Shah) to attend university in the U.S.. But Ria, whom Lalit took in along with her mother after her father died, stays away from Tej and grows concerned when he appears to be flirting with a younger relative, ten-year-old Aliya.

A few days before the wedding, Aditi has an affair with her old lover, her married boss Vikram. She subsequently confesses to Hemant. 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. Aditi's little brother Varun (Ishan Nair) plans an elaborate dance for the pre-wedding party with another cousin, Ayesha (Neha Dubey), but Lalit worries that the boy is too effeminate and wants to send him to boarding school. The night before the ceremony, Varun refuses to dance and Ayesha performs alone. 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. Some of the women disbelieve her, attribut ing her accusations to her unmarried status. Emotionally distraught, Ria leaves.

The next day, Lalit goes to Ria and pleads for her to return to the wedding, admitting that he can't possibly imagine what she's gone through but also saying that he can't 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 (who is Lalit's sister) to leave the wedding and the family, as he will go to any lengths to protect them. Tej's wife protests "For such a small thing!", but Lalit insists.

During the wedding ceremony, after Aditi and Hemant 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 become attracted to 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 (Don't 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

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.

Won

• British Independent Film Award for Best Foreign Language Film
• Canberra International Film Festival - Audience Award (Mira Nair)
• Independent Spirit Awards - Producers Award (Caroline Baron)
• Venice Film Festival - Golden Lion (Mira Nair)
• Venice Film Festival - Laterna Magica Prize (Mira Nair)

Nominated

• BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Language Film (Caroline Baron, Mira Nair)
• Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film
• European Film Award for Best Non-European Film (Mira Nair)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
• Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Foreign Language Film
• Satellite Award for Best Foreign Language Film

Home media

This film was released on DVD in 2002. In 2009, it was released as part of the Criterion Collection.

References

External links

• Official website
• Monsoon Wedding at AllMovie
• Monsoon Wedding at Box Office Mojo
• Monsoon Wedding at the Internet Movie Database
• Monsoon Wedding at Rotten Tomatoes
• Review of Monsoon Wedding