Helmed by Mira Nair, Monsoon Wedding, set on the eve of a big fat Indian wedding, continues to impress audiences even after more than two decades of hitting cinemas. Made on a shoestring budget, the film remains one of the highest-grossing international films at American box office.
Almost two decades after the global success of the film, Nair turned Monsoon Wedding into a musical, the latest show of which recently opened at Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse with Nair as director.
When asked about when she started to work on a musical theater version of the film, the filmmaker told a publication, “I’ve been working on this deeply and actively for 12 years, making some films alongside, but never letting go. It does take a long time to create songs, and this new musical form is something for which I really needed to have many wonderful collaborators. After a [workshop] production at Berkeley Rep [in 2017], we were all set to open in London in June 2020 and then we were hit by three years of shutdown from the pandemic. But I’ve never let up.”
Monsoon Wedding’s bride, Aditi, is referred to as “South Delhi girl” in the film. Explaining what that means in the context of this community, Nair said, “It’s where the new money is. And [that’s the case now] more than ever, with a globalized India, with the malls and the Pradas and the brands.”
She further added, “I live between New York and Delhi and it’s extraordinary each time I go back, [to see] how depraved it is between rich and poor, and how confident it is in manifesting all these signs of wealth. I came from a socialist family where you hid any notion of wealth. Now it’s all about displaying it. So, a South Delhi princess is exactly what we sing about, which is a life that’s devoted to consumerism and capitalism, where it’s a full-on display without any regard to the inequities that surround it.”
Stay tuned to this space for more updates and reveals.
