Spoilers ahead, of course.
Monsoon Wedding is a 2001 Indian film directed by transnational filmmaker Mira Nair. The film revolves around a middle-class Indian family and their preparations for their only daughter’s wedding. The movie explores themes of family, culture and societal expectations. Set in Nair’s family home in New Delhi, the film begins with members of Aditi’s (the bride) family coming to stay from all parts of the world. Her parents – Lalit and Pimmi – are gracious hosts, trying to keep up with the increasing costs of the wedding. Aditi is arranged to marry Houston-based Hemant but is still in love with her married boss. Her unmarried cousin Ria endures judgment from her family for not settling down yet. Woven into the plot of the movie is the story of PK Dubey – the comedic wedding planner with a soft spot for Alice, the family maid. A bevy of problems arise throughout the wedding, the most egregious being the revelation that Lalit’s brother-in-law and close friend is a predator. Having abused Ria as a child, he was now doing the same to Aliya, a child in the family.
Mira Nair as a filmmaker does not tread lightly when it comes to exposing the realities of the world. She exposes many veiled taboos of Indian society in Monsoon Wedding. From the get-go, we see that Aditi and her boss have a relationship that is sexual in nature. Nair’s stance on sexuality can be seen in the news segment being filmed at the beginning of the movie – she understands sex is a part of society and shouldn’t be treated as a hush-hush subject. Aditi’s juvenile attraction to her boss, Pimmi’s desire to comfort her husband, Ayesha and Rahul’s flirtation and the playful banter about kissing among the young adults at the wedding – all serve to demystify the nature of sex and portray it as what it is – a multifaceted part of life. She exposed the weaponisation of it against children as well, and displays how most crimes against minors are committed by trusted adults. Lalit’s brother-in-law Tej became the de facto head of the household once Ria’s father died. He attempts to retain his control over her life by offering to pay for her education abroad as well. He exploits the trust of Aliya’s parents and tries to take her to an unknown location.
In some instances, Nair exposes taboos as they are – stark and unchanged. This can be seen when Tej’s wife, Ria’s own aunt; slaps her and accuses her of lying about her abuse simply because she is unmarried. This can also be seen with Lalit’s internal homophobia and discomfort with his son being interested in more traditionally female areas such as cooking and dancing. We can also see how the wedding is putting a huge financial strain on Lalit, taking on more and more debt as wedding costs pile up. In India, a major cause of bankruptcy in families is due to weddings. The cost of the wedding falls onto the bride’s family and the pressure to put on a show is enormous.
In other instances, Nair’s optimism comes out on screen. Lalit cutting off Tej from the family is a highly unlikely scenario in Indian society. In reality, situations like this are kept covered and family members are afraid to disrupt the status quo, often blaming the victims for coming forward or inviting the abuse onto themselves. The end of the movie too, with Dubey and Lalit dancing happily together during the wedding is a bit unrealistic. Dubey is clearly of a different class, and possibly caste than Lalit’s family. His purpose in society is primarily to serve the upper classes, and this kind of wholesome rejoicing is not a common sight in India.
The purpose of Nair’s chosen method of exploring taboos seems to be to normalize these topics and to show the audience what society is really like. It also serves the purpose of showing viewers how life could be, should we cast aside our preconceived notions of how we need to act and behave.
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