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The marriage of Indian culture and family drama make for gratifying entertainment in Monsoon Wedding, the art-house hit from director Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay!). The colorful story -- think reds and oranges -- concerns a high-strung father, Lalit (Naseeruddin Shah), planning the arranged marriage of his daughter Aditi (Vasundhara Das) amid a flurry of chaos and catharsis. The bride-to-be's feet are on the cold side, as she still isn't over her affair with a married man. Meanwhile, Adit's cousin Ria (Shefali Shetty) feels the stress of being older and unwed. With dashes of both Robert Altman and John Cassavetes, Nair deftly handles a hodgepodge of characters, while the docudrama feel of her active handheld camera lends realism to the proceedings. Much like Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet, Monsoon Wedding offers a glimpse of Eastern culture but also transcends it with universal family themes. Sublime touches of Bollywood sentimentality serve as the frosting on this multi-tiered cake. Especially delicious is the romantic subplot involving one the family's servants (Tilotama Shome) and the wedding planner (Vijay Raaz), who has a penchant for eating marigolds. Not quite a musical, but with a noticeably festive soundtrack, Monsoon Wedding is not only the perfect blending of Indian and American independent cinema but a sweet and emotionally honest story as well.
Condition:NEW. Brand New Factory Sealed
Cast & Crew - Monsoon Wedding
Naseeruddin Shah
(Films) Lalit Verma
Lillete Dubey
(Films) Pimmi Verma
Shefali Shetty
(Films) Ria Verma
Vasundhara Das
(Films) Aditi Verma
Parvin Dabas Hemant Rai
Vijay Raaz P. K. Dubei
Tilotama Shome Alice
Rajat Kapoor Tej Puri
Neha Dubey Actor
Kulbhushan Kharbanda Actor
Technical Credits
Mira Nair Director, Producer
Caroline Baron Producer
Arjun Bhasin Costumes/Costume Designer
Stephanie Carroll Production Designer
Mychael Danna Score Composer
Sabrina Dhawan Screenwriter
Allyson C. Johnson Editor
Caroline Kaplan Executive Producer
Declan Quinn Cinematographer
Jonathan Sehring Executive Producer
Product Details
Actors: Naseeruddin Shah, Lillete Dubey, Shefali Shetty, Vijay Raaz, Tillotama Shome
Directors: Mira Nair
Writers: Sabrina Dhawan
Producers: Mira Nair, Caroline Baron, Caroline Kaplan, Freny Khodaiji, Jonathan Sehring
Format: AC-3, Color, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Subtitles: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: R (Restricted)
Studio: Criterion
DVD Release Date: October 20, 2009
Run Time: 114 minutes
Features:
Audio commentary featuring Nair; New video interview with actor Naseeruddin Shah, Conducted by Nair; New Video interviews with Quinn and production designer Stephanie Carroll; Theatrical trailer; Seven short films, all with video introductions by the director; A booklet featuring essayist Pico Iyer
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