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Monsoon Wedding - Sunanda Vashisht Sunanda Vashisht was born in the beautiful valley of Kashmir, India when Kashmir was known for its unparalleled natural beauty and not as a cauldron of fear and terror. She did most of her schooling in Delhi and dabbled with several professions before moving to U.S last year. she is currently pursuing higher studies here. she likes to introduce herself as an explorer because she wants to spend all her time in this world exploring unknown. Writing for her is a cathartic experience. She can't remember when she began writing first but she does know that writing has always helped her to be at peace with herself and with the world around her.

I am sure almost all of you must have at least heard of if not seen, Mira Nair's latest offering 'Monsoon Wedding'. The film was released amidst huge hype and the Golden Lion that it bagged this year has made it a must see for most Indians and all lovers of good cinema.

While I enjoy Mira Nair's cinema, I also find it discomforting to some extent. I experienced the same feeling in Salaam Bombay and Missisipi Masala. The discomfort lies in the fact that Mira Nair successfully challenges you to think about issues that you know existed but never questioned or discussed.

The first thing that struck me in Monsoon Wedding was its honesty. The film is a very honest film and that is what makes it a compelling film. However, I am not going to talk about the merits or demerits of the film. I wish to put some of my random thoughts across to you about the kind of people the movie talks about.

Verma Household is a typical example of upwardly mobile, nouveau riche Punjabi family. They live in big houses with huge lawns, drive luxury cars, and indulge in every kind of ostentation possible especially at the time of wedding. Having lived in Delhi I know this breed very well. You meet them in celebrity parties; some of them are permanent fixtures on the page3 of newspapers. Their lives look glamorous and they seem to have everything in the world till you come close enough to scrape the shallow layer of façade that they have immersed themselves in. Mira Nair has done exactly that. She has carefully scraped the upper layer to peep into the dark secrets and rut that lay hidden beneath. This is the truth that we are uncomfortable discussing because it makes us feel so vulnerable.

Largely due to the information revolution, money has ceased to be a very scarce commodity among a lot of people living in metropolitan cities. This has given rise to this new breed of upper middle class who are modern and yet traditional. This class very delicately treads the fine balance of modernism and tradition. So Pimmi Verma, the mother of the bride will smoke in the bathroom when no one is looking and a young woman requests her friend Ria to get an alcoholic drink for her because she doesn't want to be seen drinking by those who know her. Yet they wear Indian clothes at social do's, dance to Indian music and love to eat Indian Food. Welcome to new generation Indians who are fighting hard to uphold tradition and yet at the same time are being swept by new age pressures.

The film amongst the variety of other issues also talks about pedophilia. I really do appreciate Mira Nair raising this issue so sensitively. Although one admires the step Naseeruddin Shah takes to punish the old man who had made Ria his victim and now had designs for the other young girl of the family. The issue of sexual abuse of children by family members is an old issue but not much attention is paid precisely because of what Lalit Verma says in the film that it will lead to family break-ups. I particularly know of one such incident where a friend of mine who was living with her aunt and uncle was harassed by her uncle. She was an educated independent girl by all means but never had enough courage to tell her parents fearing that it would lead to family break-ups. I personally know of the turmoil this girl went through and eventually we managed to find her a job so that she could live on her own. I am sure there must be hundreds of other such incidents.

It is very important that families stand by their girls and understand the trauma they go through especially if the perpetrator of crime is some one they know and respect. It is for us to spread the awareness of child abuse through all means that we know and protect the innocence from being trampled upon.
I must mention the sterling performance by the event coordinator Mr. Dubey and his romance with the maid Alice. They seem to be the only people with genuine emotions and their honesty really does capture your imagination.
Monsoon Wedding is a great film so do watch it and also do think about the issues that it talks about and what we in our capacity can do to tackle them.

Till we connect again...

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