Band Baaja

Indian movies portraying weddings and matrimony are more than entertaining, often with a moral lesson behind all the singing and dancing

BY SHRADDHA ARJUN

indian weddings are definitely a big deal. It doesn’t matter which part of India you are from, it’s an ostentatious affair. Months of planning, coordinating and running around….choosing the beautician, photographer, florist, mehndi artist, caterers, drivers, reception, guests, musicians, entertainment - the list is an endless and an exasperating one! Days spent shopping for sarees, jewellery and visits to the tailor are anything but magical or divine.

In the end however, all the hassle is definitely worth the effort!

Whether a love marriage or an arranged one, Indian weddings are all about pomp and show, and days of celebrations. This is an event that brings families and friends together on an occasion that creates memories to last for a lifetime. Several Bollywood films have been made about Indian weddings; some have changed the look, scale, grandeur and even attire of present day weddings.

One might say that most Indian films are about weddings; they are mostly stories about how two people fall in love, tie the knot and live happily ever after! By that logic if I were to enumerate films made about weddings and critique them all, I’d probably end up writing a book, instead of an article. There have been a few iconic films that have treated the subject of weddings and marriages differently, while maintaining the essence of Indian weddings.

One such film is Socha Na Tha, the film that launched Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takkia into Bollywood. It was also Imtiaz Ali’s first full-length feature film as a director. This film did nothing for Abhay, Ayesha or Imtiaz and failed miserably at the box office.

The plot was quite intriguing as Abhay’s parents decide to get him