Awesome !! Bravo !! Great, great movie !. Review on Monsoon Wedding

After watching the movie for the 3rd time, I lean back with a sigh..... How long will it be before somebody makes an Indian movie this full of life, realism, and .. and ... not be stricken with the curse of Bollywood ,songs !!

Mira Nair's ''Monsoon Wedding'' is a visual feast of the senses, a story of love, responsibility, honesty and above all ... a typical Punjabi wedding (not that every Punjabi wedding will have a family member come forward with allegations of child abuse !)

From the very beginning, the movie prepares one for the chaos that will envelope everyone. The starting scene with Naseeruddin Shah's harried look and tone and his disparaging comments on Dubey's flower arrangement bring a smile to the viewers faces and reminds us of the tensions and stress that accompanies a wedding. He is making the final touches for his only daughter's wedding and he is displeased with everyone in sight ! His wife, son, his brother's son ... all bear the brunt of his grumblings and sometimes outright hostility.

He is blissfully unaware of the fact that his daughter still harbors romantic feelings for a newscaster, a married one at that. The moment that this is revealed we are made privy to numerous other subplots that lurk beneath the surface. Shefali Chhaya's shock and obvious discomfort on seeing an uncle points to a dark family secret. Naseeruddin Shah's younger son with his girlish behavior and fascination of cooking is well on the way to becoming gay ... maybe already is , he just doesn't know it ! Naseeruddin Shah himself openly insults his brother's son right in front of his parents, showing obvious contempt for his somewhat less classy brother (Kulbhushan Kharbanda). The secrets keep tumbling out of the closet most of the movie and what engages the viewer is how the characters face up and fight their fears sometimes facing up to them openly (like when the bride to be confesses her affair to her fiance) and sometimes simply compromising and keeping quiet. Towards the end, the whole colorful family is shown to be disintegrating. The sullenness and hostility of the whole family as they come together for a final family photograph brings this out beautifully and makes one wonder whether everything is lost at this point. Will Naseeruddin Shah gather the courage to do the right thing ? Or will he simply succumb to the old Indian way of handling family tragedies namely, ''close your eyes and it will all go away.'' If you are one of the unlucky souls who have not watched this gem of a movie ... you know what to do :)

As far as characters are concerned, Mira Nair has sifted through the myriad Indian psyches and come up with the most typical and the most talented. The most colorful and my favorite character of the movie is the awesome Dubey (Vijay Raaz). A typical entrepreneur, Dubey makes up for in sheer spunk and energy what he lacks in education and sophistication. A hard task master, his method of driving his workers makes one smile and laugh ... One moment he is one of them, sharing a meal and tea with them and the other he is cursing them with ''Arre, gd par baithne ke paise milte hain kya ?'' It is just refreshing that at least one Indian movie has the balls to use the Hindi equivalent of ass, a word which one just has to step out of ones houses to hear being used on the streets of any major metro and which every one of us has probably used to convey the stupidity of a situation, but which is avoided like the plague by Generation-X kiss-ass movies and Bollywood movies in general. Back to the characters, they are a study in contrasts.... We have the suave, educated and polished uncle,the cynosure of all eyes, and one to whom the whole family is indebted , who turns out to be an inveterate child molester while a simpleton, almost illiterate, man who everybody makes fun of and with whom everybody is embarassed to be seen with (Kulbhushan Kharbanda), is a gem of a person at heart. An interesting contrast is brought out in a couple of scenes ---- When they are alone, the little girl is gently chided by her simpleton uncle (Kharbanda) when asked the meaning of the word ''uxorious''; he calmly tells her that it is a spelling mistake and it is actually ''luxurious'' !! He lovingly tells her to go off and play ... Contrast this to ,when they are alone, the sickening moves made by the lecherous uncle who intends to make her his next victim. Both bring out the truth, nobody is as they seem, whether in family or any person we meet in life. The legendary Naseerudding Shah plays the family man to the hilt .... willing to be humiliated amongst his golf ''buddies'', whom he asks for financial help, just so that he can pull of a grand wedding for his daughter. His anguish in the scenes is heart-breaking.

No jarring songs, good or bad. An awesome oldie by the great Rafi (''O Aaj Mausam , hmmm Bada ...''), is interspersed into the movie and in a totally appropriate way - in the background where it belongs and conveying the mood .... no stupid lip-synching by two-bit actors and actresses. This movie is supposed to have been entirely shot using a handheld camera. If that is the case, Mira nair has put the whole of Bollywood, with its bevy of serial copy-cat morons like Mahesh Bhatt, his sundry minions and other criminal producers and directors, to shame. Goes to show that a person with vision and talent can produce a product far better than the best that big money can.

All in all, an engaging, thought-provoking and a classic movie.