Featured attraction
Though the soon-to-be-wed Indian man and woman at the heart of this bewitching, sprawling romantic drama are thoroughly modern—he's a computer engineer based in Houston, she works at a TV station in India—theirs is an arranged marriage. "I know it's a risk," the groom (Dabas) tells the bride (Das), whom he meets for the first time only days before their wedding in New Delhi, "but what marriage isn't? If our parents introduced us or we met in a club, what difference does it make?"
Director Mira Nair (Mississippi Masala) here pays tribute both to India's fanciful Bollywood musicals and to the ensemble films of Robert Altman, interweaving multiple story lines for a rich, rewarding movie that is both funny and touching. (R)
Bottom Line: Vow to see it
