28 lines
2.5 KiB
Plaintext
28 lines
2.5 KiB
Plaintext
capsule : the verma family is having a wedding and all the relatives will come for the multi-day festivities .
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mira nair's film is pleasant enough with a little human drama , a few family secrets , some sadness and some happiness .
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you have seen it all before , but perhaps not from india .
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the photography is colorful and the music is very agreeable .
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, low +2 ( -4 to +4 )
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mira nair previously directed salaam bombay and mississippi masala .
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her newest film , written by sabrina dhawan , is very similar to previous films like betsy's wedding but it is set in new delhi .
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a wealthy family is having a wedding .
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an indian wedding is a multi-day affair as much a family reunion as a nuptial .
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even more than in the us , it is an excuse for a lavish and extravagant family get-together .
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the film shows us what the family does together and at the same time follows several family members' individual story lines .
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aditi verma is marrying hemant , an indian engineer working in the us .
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she had previously had a relationship with vikram , her supervisor .
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latit , her father ( played by naseeruddin shah ) , is juggling many problems , not the least of which is worrying about the caterer has hired pk dubey .
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dubey is a rather eccentric man with a taste for eating the marigolds he uses for decoration .
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even dubey will soon be romantically entangled when he becomes interested in alice , one of the family servants .
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several family members arrive giving rise to several plotlines involving sex , family secrets , or both .
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there are heartbreaks and there are people falling in love .
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some of the subjects covered are probably near taboo for indian films .
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western audiences will appreciate a look at unfamiliar indian customs like women painting their hands with henna .
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on the other hand it was not clear ( to me at least ) if scenes like the family singing together are typical of indian culture or if they are a convention of indian musical films .
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this seems a particularly westernized family with the father wearing american designer sweaters and the family speaking mostly english .
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the latter will , however , help with an international release .
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sabrina dhawan's screenplay is vibrant with witty dialog .
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we have seen films with plotting very much like this , but the indian setting makes a great deal of difference .
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director mira nair calls the film an affirmation of life .
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i rate it a 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale .
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