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Monsoon Wedding. .

Article Excerpt
Produced by Mira Nair and Caroline Baron; directed by Mira Nair; screenplay by Sabrina Dhawan; cinematography by Declan Quinn; edited by Allyson C. Johnson; production design by Stephanie Carroll; costume design by Arjun Bhasin; music by Mychael Danna; starring Naseeruddin Shah, Lillette Dubey, Shefali Shetti, Vasundhara Das, Vijay Raaz and Tilotama Shome. Color, 114 mins. A U.S.A. Films release.

Aristotle's offhand remark (he was mainly discussing tragedy) that comedy presents human nature as worse than it really is, seems right on target for Monsoon Wedding, at least at the beginning.

A harried father, Lalit Verma (Naseeruddin Shah), is frantically making last-minute preparations for his daughter's big wedding, which he knows he will never be able to afford. He is in constant, exasperated conflict with the self-assured, freewheeling caterer, Dubey (Vijay Raaz), who expertly exploits his client's anxieties about doing the right thing on this important occasion. Meanwhile, the bride herself, Aditi (Vasundhara Das), is engaged in an obsessive sexual relationship with her married, ostentatiously Americanized boss, a television talk-show host so smarmy that not even she can call her behavior a love affair. Family members are gathering from all over. The bridegroom, Hemant (Parvin Dabas), a computer analyst who lives in Houston, arrives on the traditional white horse, accompanied by his extended family. For good measure it starts to rain, pour actually, as it can pour only in India during the monsoon.

So far, this is the stuff of farce. Director Mira Nair gives us plenty of that, along with a mixture of music...