Mira Nair’s

A SUITABLE BOY 

US/Canada Premiere

Streaming Exclusively on Acorn TV

Starting December 7^th

A Suitable Boy
Directors: Mira Nair, Shimit Amin
Cast: Tanya Maniktala, Ishaan Khatter, Tabu, Ram Kapoor, Namit Das

In this BBC adaptation of Vikram Seth’s novel, ‘The Suitable Boy’  directed by Mira Nair and Shimit Amin, the young heroine, Lata played by Tanya Maniktala is portrayed as naïve and playful, who sees her world in her own cocoon while  trying to figure out what she really wants to do with her life. Her mother in the meantime, starts on a quest to arrange her marriage to a suitable boy.

The six episodes series is a sweeping period drama of 1950’s India that has at its center, two influential families – one Hindu and the other Muslim who are bound together by their faith and friendship with each other. Yet circumstances will otherwise and through a series of unfortunate events, their loyalty and love are tested where they find themselves at the opposite side. Will humanity shine through or will politics and religion win in the end?  Each of the episodes build up the intensity of the plot and the all-too-human struggles of people trying to do the right thing.

The story begins in a fictional town called Brahmpur and we travel with Lata and her mother from this town to Calcutta and Lucknow as she meets the three men in her life, Kabir Durrani, Haresh Khanna and Amit Chatterji. As the series progresses, we find her torn by love and commitment to her family and her own notion of romance through the lives they represent.

The conflicting feelings for the three men also awaken in her, a deeper understanding of her relationship with them. At one point she tells her close friend Malati about a suitable marriage partner,  â€˜If we don’t understand what we speak, what future can we have together” and then listens as her friend says, “The key to a good marriage is to be find a husband who will give you the space to grow”.

The other half of the story is around Maan played by Ishaan Khatter in search of his own identity who is besotted with the singer and courtesan Saeeda Bai, played by talented Tabu only to find himself torn between passion and propriety as he forms a dangerous obsession with her.

This leads him to a terrible act on his best friend Firoz played by Shubham Saraf, that has long lasting effects. You see in Maan in the wake of his impetuous act, a slow awakening where he truly understands the consequences of his actions, the loss of what is important and how life gives you a second chance.

The movie also sets in motion, an India that has just undergone partition, the tensions within communities and the onset of its general elections. Although I heard that the book does not reflect in totality the movie, it is still worth a watch for the  authentic settings, the soulful classical music against the spectacular backdrop of ancient forts and villages that reflect the period. 

|