#489: NAIR, Mira: Monsoon Wedding (1987)

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NAIR, Mira (India)
Monsoon Wedding [1987]
Spine #489
Blu-ray


Cultures and families clash in Mira Nair's exuberant Monsoon Wedding, a mix of comedy and chaotic melodrama concerning the preparations for the arranged marriage of a modern, upper-middle-class Indian family's only daughter, Aditi. Of course there are hitches: Aditi has been having an affair with a married TV host; she's never met her husband to be, who lives in Houston; the wedding has worsened her father's hidden financial troubles; even the wedding planner has become a nervous wreck. And there are buried family secrets as well. But Nair's celebration is ultimately cathartic, a colorful love song to her home city of Delhi and her own Punjabi family that won the hearts of audiences worldwide and the Golden Lion at the 2001 Venice Film Festival. This set also includes seven of Nair's acclaimed shorts — documentaries and fiction films that show the social and political engagement of this most passionate of filmmakers.

114 minutes
Color
Surround
in English and Hindi
1:85:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2009
Director/Writers


Screenplay by Sabrina Dhawan.
Mira Nair was 30 when she directed Monsoon Wedding.

Other Nair films in the Collection:

#1127: Mississippi Masala (1991)

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Thirty-page booklet featuring an essay by Pico Iyer.

Commentary

Featuring Nair.

Video interview 1

With actor Shah, conducted by Nair.
Video interview 2

With DP Declan Quinn and production designer Stephanie Carroll.

Seven short films
  1. So Far from India (1982)
  2. India Cabaret (1985)
  3. The Laughing Club of India (2000)
  4. The Day the Mercedes Became a Hat (1993)
  5. 11’09’01 — September 11 [Segment: “India”] (2002)
  6. Migration (2007)
  7. How Can It Be? (2008)
All with video introductions by the director.

Theatrical trailer
Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

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