Classics: Mira Nair's "Monsoon Wedding"

Monsoon is a symbol of fertility and prosperity .So is the ritual of wedding emblematic of procreation and fulfillment. Mira Nair focuses on the theme of wedding and brings together a family that reside in their respective nuclear orbits. This joint family is a minuscule cross -section of the modern Indian society that which we thrive in. The female characters in particular endeavor to establish an identity of their own in their individual ways. Mira Nair and the writer, Sabrina Dhawan, within the small span of the movie ,address a number of issues ranging from identity crisis, gender politics, the conflict between appearance and reality, brain-drain and even child sexual harassment. . Mira Nair engages an ensemble cast that includes names like Naseeruddin Shah, Shefali Shetty, Vijay Raaz, Roshan Seth, Lillete Dubey, Vasundhara Das, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Rajat Kapoor

The father of the bride-to-be, Lalit Verma and his wife Pimmi reveal with subtlety the anxiety and apprehensions of parents about to marry off their girl. In Indian society, owing to the dowry system, the girl is always considered a liability. Their treatment of the marriage preparations is endearing as they are united in their misgivings at every step of the way. The scene where they share the same looking at their sleeping daughter is indeed poignant. Aditi, the bride after an affair with her former boss embarks on the ritual of marriage as a formality to be completed, and not as a personal necessity . It comes across as an experiment for her to be a housewife in Texas. Thus she is caught between individual aspiration and communal choice, as she goes for a brief fling with her ex-lover even a day before her marriage. The best part is the hypocrisy surrounding the same. Nobody is guilty until caught red-handed.

The female characters assert their individual stances whether it is Aditi with her own way of protesting a night before the marriage, or Pimmi through her unconventional smoking. Similar is the case of Ria who to decides not to join the bandwagon of Marriage and single-mindedly pursues a career in writing. However, certain underlying secrets point to her aversion for the system of marriage. Ayesha, the Delhi babe asserts herself through her unrepressed sexuality. Alice, though uneducated ,appears an inch taller than the Catering contractor P.K. Dubey. Her level-headedness and sound knowledge falls as a tight slap on Dubey's expediency. Her attempts at adorning the ornaments of her mistress is a pointer to her unrealized dreams.

The movie embodies a number of post-colonial elements too. Like, for instance, the utilizing of the marriage-tent wit the Clinton theme. And the presumption that a person is cultured as long as he is well-versed in English. The capturing of the movie has the casualness of a hand-held camera employed deliberately to echo the custom of video-shooting for a marriage. In such a context, a particular situation is universalized as it transforms into a typical household affair and Tilotama Shome.