Topic: Tom's Random Reviews

[Tom]

Title: Bhoothnath
Year: 2008
Director: Vivek Sharma
Rating: FSK-6
Length: 131 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: German

Stars:
Amitabh Bachchan
Juhi Chawla
Satish Shah
Rajpal Yadav
Priyanshu Chatterji

Plot:
It's believed that children have the strongest connection to god. They have the ability to perceive goodness in everything and everyone. This is a story about a seven-year-old naughty yet innocent boy, who unknowingly turns a foe into a friend. This is a story about Banku and his friend, Bhoothnath - about innocence, honesty and the pure love of a child. It is believed a mother's love is selfless. But a child's love can transform relationships; it comes with no expectations and no boundaries. Their love can make you believe in miracles. A story about a little innocence, a little playfulness, and a lot of emotions that will touch hearts. This is a story that will show adults to see the world through the eyes of a child - an angel, a creation of god. It's then that one will realize what a beautiful world they live in after all.

Awards:
Extras:
Featurettes
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

A nice family movie. A bit silly at times, but overall very enjoyable. This movie is about a ghost, who haunts a house because he doesn't want anyone living there. Until a family moves in, of which the small boy encounters the ghost and doesn't fear him. Throughout the movie they become tight friends.
Amitabh Bachchan is very fitting as the grumpy ghost. Shah Rukh Khan's role is minor, as expected. He plays the absentee father. I liked the cinematography. Also the songs were fun. Though the first one, while I liked it, was a little disturbing:



Rating:

[Critter]

Hmm the plot of that one reminded me very much of Beetlejuice, just from reading your review of course, I haven't actually seen it. But the whole ghosts haunting the house becuase they don't want anyone there, until they befreind the child of the family is also what happens in Juice.

[Tom]

Yes, the idea is not original. There is also "The Canterville Ghost".

[Tom]

Title: Billu
Year: 2009
Director: Priyadarshan
Rating: FSK-6
Length: 132 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: German

Stars:
Irrfan
Lara Dutta
Om Puri
Asrani
Rajpal Yadav

Plot:
Based in Budbuda, Uttar Pradesh, Billu Vilas Pardesi barely makes a living as a barber. His wife, Bindiya, looks after the household, and his children, Gunja and Ronak, are on the verge of being expelled from Gyaan Bharti Vidyalay Higher Secondary School due to non-payment of fees. Then everything changes when Bollywood actor Sahir Khan makes an appearance to film a movie in the town. Rumors spread that Billu is Sahir's close friends, and he becomes a celebrity virtually overnight. His shop gets donations and clientèle, and the school decides to educate his children for free. The trouble begins when townsfolk want to meet with Sahir but Billu is unable to contact him.

Awards:
Extras:
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

This movie is about a simple guy, living hard times because of money problems. Then one day THE Bollywood superstar is coming to the village to shoot some scenes for a movie. The complete village is excited about this, except Billu. He supposedly was a friend with this star when growing up and he fears that he won't be recognized by him anymore. And he doesn't want to look like he only approaches him because of this money problems. But then the villagers get wind of it that he knows him and want Billu to introduce them to the star personally. Most of the movie is Billu trying to avoid this. Until toward the end the villagers turn on him believing he doesn't really know the star. The conclusion of this movie, though clichéd, is really heartfelt and I liked it.

The superstar is played by Shah Rukh Khan, of course. His character name is Sahir Khan, but he is obviously based on SRK himself. They even used a lot of snippets from previous SRK movies when showing excerpts of previous Sahir Khan movies, like from "Chak De! India", "Veer-Zaara", "Main Hoon Na" and "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna".



Rating:

[Tom]

Title: Swades
Year: 2004
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 187 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: German: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: German

Stars:
Shah Rukh Khan
Gayatri Joshi
Kishori Ballal
Master Smith Seth
Lekh Tandon

Plot:
Set in modern day India, Swades is a film that tackles the issues that development throws up on a grass root level. It is to this India, which is colorful, heterogeneous and complex that Mohan Bhargava (Shah Rukh Khan), a bright young scientist working as a project manager in NASA, returns to on a quest to find his childhood nanny. The film uses the contrast between the highly developed world of NASA, which has been at the forefront of advances in space research, and this world back home in India, which is at the crossroads of development. Mohan's simple quest becomes the journey that every one of us goes through in search of that metaphysical and elusive place called 'home'.

Awards:

Filmfare Awards	2005	Won	Best Actor Award	Shah Rukh Khan
Filmfare Awards	2005	Won	Best Background Score Award	A. R. Rahman
Filmfare Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Director Award	Ashutosh Gowariker
Filmfare Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Movie Award
Filmfare Awards	2005	Nominated	Best Music Director Award	A. R. Rahman

Extras:
Scene Access

My Thoughts:

Mohan, a NRI (Non-Resident Indian) returns to India after living twelve years in America working for NASA. Here he is confronted with poverty, illiteracy, caste discrimination and even child marriage. But on the other hand he also experiences again the connection to his mother country. After trying to bring some change into a small villiage, where his childhood nanny now lives, he struggles with the decision if he should return to America or stay in India.
I enjoyed this movie. Shah Rukh Khan did a great job. This movie is a great insight into today's India outside the cities. I can also recommend this movie to those who do not like musicals. Even though there are some songs, there is hardly dancing and the songs are few and far between. They do not distract from the movie at all in my opinion.



Rating:

[Tom]

Title: Dil Se..
Year: 1998
Director: Mani Ratnam
Rating: FSK-16
Length: 159 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: Hindi: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Subtitles: German

Stars:
Shahrukh Khan
Manisha Koirala
Preity Zinta
Raghuvir Yadav
Sabyasachi Chakravarthy

Plot:
Ancient Arabic literature classifies love into seven different shades...

HUB...their eyes meet, it's like a touch... a spark... Attraction
UNS...the touch of the eyes was as if, it was infatuation...
ISHQ...the flame of her body is felt, his breath starts igniting... Love...
AQIDAT...Reverence... she touches him like a whisper, as if silence is mixed in her eyes... he prays, knelt down on the floor, a little consciously and a little unconsciously...
IBADAAT...he is entangled on her path, entangled in her arms... Love turns to Worship.
Junoon...his living is an Obsession... his dying is an Obsession... apart from this there is no peace...
MAUT...let him rest in the lap of Death... let him drown his body in her soul...

DIL SE.. a journey through these seven shades....

Awards:

Filmfare Awards	1999	Nominated	Best Actress Award	Manisha Koirala
Filmfare Awards	1999	Won	Best Choreography Award	Farah Khan
Filmfare Awards	1999	Won	Best Cinematographer Award	Santosh Sivan
Filmfare Awards	1999	Won	Best Lyricist Award	Gulza
Filmfare Awards	1999	Won	Best Male Playback Award	Sukhwinder Singh
Filmfare Awards	1999	Won	Best Music Director Award	A. R. Rahman
Filmfare Awards	1999	Nominated	Best Supporting Actress Award	Preity Zinta
Filmfare Awards	1999	Won	Lux New Face Award	Preity Zinta

Extras:
Featurettes
Scene Access

My Thoughts:

I very much enjoyed this movie. Manisha Koirala was great as the love interest with a big secret. Too bad I don't have anything else with her. This was also the debut of Preity Zinta in a supporting role.

Rating:

[Tom]

Title: Dhoom:2
Year: 2006
Director: Sanjay Gadhvi
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 156 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: German

Stars:
Hrithik Roshan
Abhishek Bachchan
Aishwarya Rai
Uday Chopra
Bipasha Basu

Plot:
In the second installment of the Dhoom series, Jai and Ali are back as the buddy cops on their toughest job so far. 'Mr.A' is an international thief who has planned to steal a priceless artifact in Mumbai and the police have got to nab him. But Mr.A manages to steal the artifact and elude the police. He finds his match in Sunehri and they form a partnership. They move on to Rio for their next job, with Jai and Ali hot on their trail. Mr.A whose actual name is Aryan, and Sunehri are drawn towards each other but little does Aryan know of Sunehri's little secret.

Awards:

Filmfare Awards	2007	Won	Best Actor Award	Hrithik Roshan
Filmfare Awards	2007	Nominated	Best Actress Award	Aishwarya Rai
Filmfare Awards	2007	Nominated	Best Director Award	Sanjay Gadhvi
Filmfare Awards	2007	Nominated	Best Movie Award
Filmfare Awards	2007	Nominated	Best Music Director Award	Pritam
Taurus Award	2007	Nominated	Best Action in a Foreign Film	Allan Amin

Extras:
Music Videos
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

I have bought Dhoom 1+2 at the same time a while back, when both were down in price at the same time. These movies belong to the most successful Bollywood movies in recent times. But after watching the first one I was heavily disappointed and it took me a while to watch the second one. Luckily I decided to finally watch it, because I enjoyed it a lot more than the other. In huge part thanks to Hritik Roshan ("Krrish") as the master thief Mr. A.
When the movie started I feared it was going to be similar to the first one. It had bad over-the-top and very unrealistic action scenes. But luckily it was only the pre-credit sequence. After that it was a funny buddy-cop movie with some nice action and a great villain.
This movie also caused some controversies in India because of the on-screen kiss between Ashwarya Rai and Hritik Roshan. In recent years it is done more and more in Indian films, but it is still not very much accepted. Especially in such a high profile movie.



Rating:

[Tom]

Title: Kya Kehna!
Year: 2000
Director: Kundan Shah
Rating: PG
Length: 156 Min.
Video: Widescreen 2.35
Audio: Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish

Stars:
Saif Ali Khan
Chandrachur Singh
Priety Zinta
Anupam Kher
Farida Jalal

Plot:
'Kya Kehna!' is a social family drama. Anupam Kher and Farida Jalal have three sons and a daughter. Preity Zinta, being the only daughter, is the darling of the fis not aware of his feelings for her. She falls in lov with a college playboy Saif Ali Khan, despite of his bad reputation of being a flurt. She is also warned by her family but she does not take listen and in their relationship, Preity gets pregnant. Saif refuses to marry her. Preity's parents advice Preity to get the baby aborted, but she refuses and insist of giving birth to the baby. What happens to the unwed mother is the rest of the story.

Awards:

Filmfare Awards	2001	Nominated	Best Actress Award	Preity Zinta
Filmfare Awards	2001	Won	Best Story Award	Honey Irani
IIFA Awards	2001	Won	Best Screen Play	Honey Irani

Extras:
Bonus Trailers
Music Videos
Scene Access

My Thoughts:

Funnier than I had expected. From the description I thought it would be a drama throughout. But the first hour or so is just a regular romantic comedy. Anupam Kher as the father is a riot as he often is.
This movie handle the delicate (for India) subject of a pregnacy of a young woman out of wedlock. Preity Zinta did a great job here. It is one of her first roles. I didn't realize that she was paired with Saif Ali Khan so early. I have seen two later movies with those two in the leads.
The DVD quality on the other hand is not so good. The video is non-anamorphic. There were a few minutes were the subtitles were mostly missing (only every fifth sentence or so got subtitled), but you got the gist of those scenes. The most annoying though was, that the audio track was out of sync with the video the last half hour or so.

Rating:

[Tom]

Title: Forrest Gump
Year: 1994
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 136 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Czech: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Subtitles: Commentary, Czech, English, German, Hungarian, Polish, Turkish

Stars:
Tom Hanks
Rebecca Williams
Sally Field
Michael Conner Humphreys
Harold Herthum

Plot:
Forrest Gump is the movie triumph that became a phenomenon. Tom Hanks gives an astonishing performance as Forrest, an everyman whose simple innocence comes to embody a generation. The winner of six Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, Best Director (Robert Zemeckis) and Best Actor (Tom Hanks).

Awards:

Academy Award	1994	Won	Best Actor	Tom Hanks
Academy Award	1994	Nominated	Best Art Direction	Rick Carter (Art Direction); Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)
Academy Award	1994	Nominated	Best Cinematography	Don Burgess
Academy Award	1994	Won	Best Director	Robert Zemeckis
Academy Award	1994	Won	Best Film Editing	Arthur Schmidt
Academy Award	1994	Nominated	Best Makeup	Daniel C. Striepeke, Hallie D'Amore, Judith A. Cory
Academy Award	1994	Nominated	Best Music, Original Score	Alan Silvestri
Academy Award	1994	Won	Best Picture	Wendy Finerman, Steve Tisch, Steve Starkey (Producers)
Academy Award	1994	Nominated	Best Sound	Randy Thom, Tom Johnson, Dennis Sands, William B. Kaplan
Academy Award	1994	Nominated	Best Sound Effects Editing	Gloria S. Borders, Randy Thom
Academy Award	1994	Nominated	Best Supporting Actor	Gary Sinise
Academy Award	1994	Won	Best Visual Effects	Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Stephen Rosenbaum, Allen Hall
Academy Award	1994	Won	Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay	Eric Roth
AFI	1994	Won	100 Years... 100 Cheers (2006)
AFI	1994	Nominated	100 Years... 100 Laughs (2000)
AFI	1994	Won	100 Years... 100 Movies (1998)
AFI	1994	Won	100 Years... 100 Movies (2007)
AFI	1994	Nominated	100 Years... 100 Passions (2002)
AFI	1994	Won	100 Years... 100 Quotes (2005)	"Quote": Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.
AFI	1994	Nominated	100 Years... 25 Scores (2005)	"Composer": Alan Silvestri
Amanda-prisen	1995	Won	Beste utenlandske spillefilm	Robert Zemeckis
American Cinema Editors Awards	1995	Won	Best Edited Feature Film	Arthur Schmidt
American Society of Cinematographers Awards	1995	Nominated	Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases	Don Burgess
BAFTA	1994	Won	Achievement In Special Effects	Ken Ralston, George Murphy, Stephen Rosenbaum, Allen Hall, Doug Chaing
BAFTA	1994	Nominated	Actor In A Leading Role	Tom Hanks
BAFTA	1994	Nominated	Actress In A Supporting Role	Sally Field
BAFTA	1994	Nominated	Adapted Screenplay	Eric Roth
BAFTA	1994	Nominated	Cinematography	Don Burgess
BAFTA	1994	Nominated	Editing	Arthur Schmidt
BAFTA	1994	Nominated	Film	Wendy Finerman, Steve Tisch, Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis
BAFTA	1994	Nominated	The David Lean Award For Achievement In Direction	Robert Zemeckis
BMI Film & TV Music Awards	1995	Won	BMI Film Music Award	Alan Silvestri
Casting Society of America Awards	1995	Nominated	Best Casting for Feature Film – Drama	Ellen Lewis
Cinema Audio Society Awards	1995	Won	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Feature Film	Randy Thom, Tom Johnson, Dennis S. Sands, William B. Kaplan
Directors Guild of America	1995	Won	Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures	Robert Zemeckis, Charles Newirth, Bruce Moriarty, Cherylanne Martin, Dana J. Kuznetzkoff
Golden Globe	1994	Won	Actor in a Leading Role - Drama	Tom Hanks
Golden Globe	1994	Nominated	Actor in a Supporting Role	Gary Sinise
Golden Globe	1994	Nominated	Actress in a Supporting Role	Robin Wright Penn
Golden Globe	1994	Won	Director	Robert Zemeckis
Golden Globe	1994	Nominated	Original Score	Alan Silvestri
Golden Globe	1994	Won	Picture - Drama	Wendy Finerman, Steve Starkey, Steve Tisch
Golden Globe	1994	Nominated	Screenplay	Eric Roth
MTV Movie Awards	1995	Nominated	Best Male Performance	Tom Hanks
MTV Movie Awards	1995	Nominated	Best Movie
National Board of Review Awards, USA	1994	Won	Best Actor	Tom Hanks
National Board of Review Awards, USA	1994	Won	Best Film
National Board of Review Awards, USA	1994	Won	Best Supporting Actor	Gary Sinise
Saturn	1994	Nominated	Best Actor	Tom Hanks
Saturn	1994	Nominated	Best Director	Robert Zemeckis
Saturn	1994	Won	Best Fantasy Film
Saturn	1994	Nominated	Best Music	Alan Silvestri
Saturn	1994	Nominated	Best Special Effects	Ken Ralston, ILM
Saturn	1994	Won	Best Supporting Actor	Gary Sinise
Saturn	1994	Nominated	Best Supporting Actress	Robin Wright Penn
Saturn	1994	Nominated	Best Writing	Eric Roth
Screen Actors Guild Award	1994	Nominated	Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role	Robin Wright Penn
Screen Actors Guild Award	1994	Nominated	Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role	Sally Field
Screen Actors Guild Award	1994	Won	Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role	Tom Hanks
Screen Actors Guild Award	1994	Nominated	Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role	Gary Sinise
Screen Actors Guild Award	1995	Nominated	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role	Robin Wright Penn
Screen Actors Guild Award	1995	Nominated	Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role	Sally Field
Screen Actors Guild Award	1995	Won	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role	Tom Hanks
Screen Actors Guild Award	1995	Nominated	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role	Gary Sinise
Writers Guild of America Awards	1995	Won	Best Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published	Eric Roth
Young Artist Awards	1995	Nominated	Best Performance by a Young Actor Co-Starring in a Motion Picture	Michael Conner Humphreys
Young Artist Awards	1995	Won	Best Performance by an Actor Under Ten in a Motion Picture	Haley Joel Osment
Young Artist Awards	1995	Won	Best Performance by an Actress Under Ten in a Motion Picture	Hanna Hall

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Screen Tests
Trailers

My Thoughts:

I always liked this movie. I haven't seen it for years, but I had the urge to watch it now, after I recently watched "My Name Is Khan" at the cinema, which reminded me a little of Forrest Gump.
The time flies by with this film and it never gets boring.

Rating:

[Tom]

Title: The Office: Season Five
Year: 2008
Director:
Rating: NR
Length: 608 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Stars:
Steve Carell
Rainn Wilson
John Krasinski
Jenna Fischer

Plot:
Scranton's most outrageous workforce is back to give their clients the business in the fifth hilarious season of The Office. Join obnoxious regional manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and his fellow paper pushers Dwight (Rainn Wilson), Jim (John Kransinski), Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Ryan (B.J. Novak) as they steal customers, frame co-workers, indulge in intra-office love affairs and just plain behave badly while a documentary film crew captures their every word and misdeed. Developed for American television by Primetime Emmy Award-winner Greg Daniels, The Office: Season Five features 26 uproarious episodes – including two one-hour specials, exclusive commentaries, webisodes, deleted scenes and more in a sidesplitting five-disc collection no true fan of The Office can afford to miss!

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Outtakes
Trailers
Webisodes

My Thoughts:

I have had this season lying around for a few months now but for some reason never was in the mood to watch it. I finally came around to it and I enjoyed it very much. I watched the complete season in just three evenings.
Though the fake documentary style is the charm of the series, but it is still getting more and more unbelievable. The things the characters say in their interview segments, it is like they do not think the others will watch it when it airs. Maybe they are contracted to not watch it
Also the camera people seem to be everywhere, but they never get into each other shots.

What I really like is, that after they got Pam and Jim finally together, they didn't do what other series would try to do and break them up again. Their relationship is still going strong and is getting stronger from episode to episode.
The new receptionist introduced in the last few episodes is also showing potential and what I have read she is part of the next season's cast.

#	Episode	Rating
01	Weight Loss
02	Business Ethics
03	Baby Shower
04	Crime Aid
05	Employee Transfer
06	Customer Survey
07	Business Trip
08	Frame Toby
09	The Surplus
10	Moroccan Christmas
11	The Duel
12	Prince Family Paper
13	Stress Relief
14	Lecture Circuit Part 1
15	Lecture Circuit Part 2
16	Blood Drive
17	Golden Ticket
18	New Boss
19	Two Weeks
20	Dream Team
21	Michael Scott Paper Company
22	Heavy Competition
23	Broke
24	Casual Friday
25	Café Disco
26	Company Picnic

[Tom]

Title: Na Tum Jaano Na Hum
Year: 2002
Director: Arjun Sablok
Rating: PG
Length: 159 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: Hindi: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Saif Ali Khan
Hrithik Roshan
Esha Deol
Alok Nath
Smita Jaykar

Plot:
God works in strange ways. He makes us aware of the important people in our life - our parents, grandparents, friends. But the one person who will matter most in our life - the one we will love and cherish - He keeps secret from us.
Only He knows! And only He decides when and how he will tell us.
Who we will fall in love with? Who will fall in love with us?
Na Tum Jaano Na Hum is the story of Akshay, Rahul and Esha.
Three beautiful people dreaming of that one special person.
Three young hearts with but one unfulfilled longing.
Three souls that yearn to be touched by the magical wand of love.
Three innocents in a fix, floundering on the complicated path of love.
Only he knows the ending. Only he holds the key to their happiness.
For only he knows.Na Tum Jaano Na Hum.

Awards:
Extras:
Bonus Trailers
Interviews
Music Videos
Scene Access

My Thoughts:

I wasn't expecting much of this movie, but I really enjoyed it. A nice love triangle story. Rahul and Esha are corresponding via letters which each other and fall in love. But both of them does not know anything about the other. No name, no address. Then one day Rahul's best friend's marriage is arranged. As it turns out, the bride is Esha. Now Rahul has to step aside for his best friend, who also fell in love with Esha.
This is one of those movies which I can only recommend to people who already like Bollywood movies. It will not win over new fans. I also enjoyed the songs in this one.

Rating:

[Tom]

Title: The Other End of the Line
Year: 2008
Director: James Dodson
Rating: FSK-0
Length: 101 Min.
Video: Widescreen 2.35
Audio: German: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles: German

Stars:
Jesse Metcalfe
Shriya Saran
Larry Miller
Anupam Kher
Sara Foster

Plot:
True love is calling, but you never know whom you'll find on The Other End Of The Line! When a beautiful customer-service operator in India falls for a charming American executive over the telephone, they're in for a serious case of mistaken cultural identity. With a penchant for all things American and a heart full of dreams, Priya (Shriya Saran) flies to San Francisco to meet her destiny, and it looks like love at first sight. Now Priya and Granger (Jesse Metcalfe) must risk everything for true love in this delighful and heartwarming romantic comedy for the global era.

Awards:
Extras:
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

A fun little movie. It seems that it is mandatory, that in a movie about an Indian family clashing with the western world, Anupam Kher is to play the Indian father (he also was in "Bend It Like Beckham" and "Bride & Prejudice").
Though the male lead comes off a little unlikable in the beginning, he turns out to be okay. The Indian female lead is beautiful and charming.

Rating:

[Tom]

Title: Monsoon Wedding
Year: 2001
Director: Mira Nair
Rating: 15
Length: 109 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English

Stars:
Naseeruddin Shah
Lillete Dubey
Shefali Shetty
Vijay Raaz
Tilotama Shome

Plot:
An exuberant family drama set in Mira Nair's beloved Punjabi culture, where ancient tradition and dot-com modernity combine in unique and perfect harmony.

As the romantic monsoon rains loom, the extended Verma family reunites from around the globe for a last-minute arranged marriage in New Delhi.

Monsoon Wedding traces five intersecting stories, each navigating different aspects of love as they cross boundaries of class, continent and morality. The film celebrates a contemporary India never seen before.

Awards:

BAFTA	2001	Nominated	Film Not In The English Language	Caroline Baron, Mira Nair
British Independent Film Awards	2002	Won	Best Foreign Independent Film - Foreign Language
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards	2003	Nominated	Best Foreign-Language Film
European Film Awards	2001	Nominated	Screen International European Film Award (non-European)
Golden Globe	2001	Nominated	Foreign Film
Satellite Awards	2003	Nominated	Best Motion Picture – Foreign Language

Extras:
Commentary
Featurettes
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:

As soon the movie started, I was reminded of "Rachel Getting Married". It has a similar style and theme. The cinematographer is even the same in both movies. Looking at a few reviews on the internet, "Rachel Getting Married" is even often compared to this movie.
Personally I enjoyed this one more. I liked the characters more.

Rating:

[goodguy]

Title: Monsoon Wedding
...
Personally I enjoyed this one more. I liked the characters more.

The only movie by Mira Nair I have seen is Hysterical Blindness (2002), also a collaboration with cinematographer Declan Quinn. It stars Uma Thurman in what I consider her best performance, but it is a truly uncomfortable and difficult viewing experience. Demme himself named Susanne Bier's Efter brylluppet (DK 2006, AKA After the Wedding) as an inspiration for Rachel Getting Married.

[kahless]

A long time ago I've watched "Mississippi Masala" with Mira Nair as director and Denzel Washington as actor. I have to admit that I was not really convinced of this movie. I was missing something - hard to say what exactly! 

Salaam Bombay! is a more famous movie of her, but so far I have never watched it!