Monsunowe wesele

Monsoon Wedding is one of those projects that reminded the West that it would be interesting to also follow Indian films. Together with the films Do Your Thing and Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India, the ice was broken and people started to show more interest. Suddenly, there were festival screenings and awards, DVD distribution, and the occasional airing of the film on television. Indian cinema ceased to be an empty concept, and Indian celebrities broke through and began appearing in various other international and multinational productions, becoming faces of global campaigns. And it happened just in time. Individual Indian film industries matured after the year 2000 and started to become competitive. The transformation of Bollywood, in particular, in the following 20 years completely defies the practice of slow development of Indian cinema throughout the entire 20th century. I must say that it has been a joy to watch. And it still is. Mira Nair has become the face of a whole generation of the emancipated Indian diaspora, which finally managed to communicate its culture in such an understandable way that it broke many taboos. Yet, the basic story of a wedding defined by monsoon rains seems to be so banal at its core. But in reality, it is not. (17.11.2023)

Honestly, I have to admit that I do not like Bollywood productions, and what they stand for and offer to their viewers fills me partly with indescribable resistance and partly with despair. The overly sweetened romance and kitschiness, along with the popular songs and dances, reliably drive me away from the television or screen, regardless of the beautiful actresses and sets they offer. Monsoon Wedding is not a typical Bollywood film aimed at the domestic audience - in the film, it is evident that it has greater ambitions and wants to appeal to the Euro-American audience, for whom Bollywood films are typically indigestible. Thanks to that, Mira Nair's film was enjoyable for me, but I still perceived the romantic storylines of the couples in the film, which unfold parallel to each other, as beyond the limits of kitsch, and the film primarily functions for me as a certain depiction of life in modern India, although it is necessary to take into consideration that the film certainly does not show a typical Indian family, but rather its wealthier and more educated class. It is generally true that Indian families are more cohesive and that parents still select partners for their children in the overwhelming majority of Indian families. The film does not include the fact that the caste system, religion, and horoscopes also play a major role. It is typical for the film to play on national sentiments. Dark tones in the form of pedophilia by one of the clan members come from overseas from the USA and it is also noticeable how much the director is enjoying emphasizing the economic rise of India in recent years. Overall impression: 55%. (08.03.2010)