''Marigold'' (also known as ''Marigold: An Adventure in India'') is a 2007
romantic musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
directed by
Willard Carroll
Willard F. Carroll (born November 12, 1955, in Easton, Maryland) is an American producer, writer, director, and animator.
Career
He was an executive producer of ''The Brave Little Toaster'', ''The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars'' and '' The ...
. The film is about an American actress who begins a personal transformation and becomes enamored with
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
as she experiences
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
firsthand.
Plot
Marigold Lexton, a self-centered and temperamental young American actress, arrives in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
expecting to be treated like a star, despite the fact that she has been making nothing but
B movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
sequels for some time. She is stranded in
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
after the film she was to star in is canceled, and a sympathetic crew member offers her a ride, which brings her to the set of another movie, a
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...
. She actually tells her boyfriend Barry that she was hoping she wouldn't have to marry him if this trip was successful, and soon finds herself the center of attraction on the set, where she quickly lands a minor role and a date with the spoiled young lead actor. But after she rebuffs his crude proposal that night she winds up talking with Prem, the film's
choreographer
Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...
. He knows she lied about being able to dance, and takes her in hand while showing her the nearby towns and countryside in their spare time.
As they grow closer Prem talks to her about the importance of family, and she not only learns that he is estranged from his father, but that he is also a prince. He had not seen his family in three years, but the day before he received a call from his sister, asking him to come home for her wedding. He asks Marigold to go home with him to
Jodhpur
Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the Ki ...
,
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...
, for the wedding, since shooting on the movie had been shut down for a week. She is entranced by the generosity and opulence of his family leading up to the wedding but afterward is shocked to discover that he has been betrothed to another since childhood. He has fallen totally in love with Marigold but has neglected to mention the long-arranged marriage, and his father has not encouraged him to follow his heart. She feels betrayed and storms out, followed by Prem's fiancé, who offers to buy her a drink. She confesses to Marigold that although she loves Prem she doesn't believe he has ever really loved her.
Meanwhile, Prem, a teetotaler, heads to a bar to drown his sorrows, where he finds a drunken American who commiserates with his romantic problems. He explains he has come looking for his estranged girlfriend, called Marigold, and Prem invites him to stay the night at his parents' house. Barry accepts and then passes out. In the morning, Marigold decides to return with Barry to the United States, since Prem, the only son of
Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...
's Ruler, feels duty bound to marry the woman his father has chosen. The ceremony takes place that day, and as he follows his bride, whose face is totally hidden behind a long veil, seven times around the
Holy fire
In Orthodox Christian belief, the Holy Fire ( el, Ἃγιον Φῶς, "Holy Light") is a proposed miracle that occurs every year at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Great Saturday, the day before Orthodox Easter. However, the ...
, Prem believes he is marrying the woman he has been engaged to since childhood. With the marriage complete, Prem lifts his wife's veil, and he and most of the guests are astonished to find Marigold standing before him—and it appears that Barry has married Prem's former fiancé as well. The movie's director and their friends from the crew appear in the crowd, cheering, then Prem sings and dances with Marigold and a full chorus, just like a happy ending in a Bollywood musical.
Cast
*
Salman Khan
Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. In a film career spanning over thirty years, Khan has received numerous awards, including two Nation ...
as Prem
** Fazl Khan as Young Prem
*
Ali Larter
Alison Elizabeth Larter (born February 28, 1976) is an American actress and model. She portrayed fictional model Allegra Coleman in a 1996 ''Esquire'' magazine hoax and took on guest roles on several television shows in the 1990s. She made her ...
as Marigold Lexton
*
Simone Singh
Simone Singh (born 10 November 1974) is an Indian actress and model.
Biography
Singh was born in Jamshedpur on 10 November 1974.
She made her acting debut with the television series '' Sea Hawks'' followed by a small role in ''Swabhimaan'', ...
as Shazia
*
Nandana Sen
Nandana Dev Sen (19 August 1967) is an Indian-born American actress, screenwriter, children's author and child-rights activist. Her first film role in Bollywood was Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ''Black'' (2005), starring Rani Mukherjee and Amitab ...
as Jaanvi
*
Ian Bohen
Ian Stuart Bohen (born September 24, 1976) is an American actor best known for his role as Peter Hale in MTV's '' Teen Wolf'' and as Ryan in Paramount Network's drama series ''Yellowstone''. Bohen also appeared in a recurring role as Roy Hazelitt ...
as Barry
*
Shari Watson
Shari may refer to:
* In South Asia, women's clothing also known as sari or saree
* In Buddhism, bead-shaped objects among the cremated ashes of Buddhist spiritual masters, also known as Śarīra
Japanese culture
* Shari, deadwood on the main ...
as Doreen
*
Helen Richardson as Prems Grandmother
*
Vikas Bhalla
Vikas Bhalla (born 24 October 1972) is an Indian film, television actor, singer and producer. Vikas is trained in Hindustani classical music from Allahabad University, under Pandit Jialal Vasant. He appeared as a lead actor in films in the la ...
* Suchitra Pillai as Rani
* Vijayendra Ghatge
* Roopak Saluja as Mani
* Kiran Juneja
*
Gulshan Grover
Gulshan Grover (born 21 September 1955) is an Indian actor and producer who has appeared in over 100 films. He is popularly known as the "Bad Man" of Bollywood because of his ability to create an impact with his negative roles in films.
Early ...
as Vikram
* Rakesh Bedi as Manoj
* Marc Allen Lewis as Marc
*
Lea Moreno Young
Lea Moreno Young (born November 10, 1977) is an American actress.
Career
In 2000, Lea Moreno starred in the short-lived TV series ''Brutally Normal
''Brutally Normal'' is an American sitcom television series that starred Mike Damus and aired ...
as Valjean
*
Catherine Fulop
Catherine Amanda Fulop García (born March 11, 1965) is a Venezuelan actress, model, beauty pageant contestant, television presenter and radio host. She participated in the Miss Venezuela 1986, finishing as the fourth runner–up and in Mis ...
as Sister Fernandéz
Production
While in India, Carroll had seen a Bollywood film (with
Salman Khan
Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. In a film career spanning over thirty years, Khan has received numerous awards, including two Nation ...
), and, after seeing 150 such films, he hired Larter (whom he had worked with before) and Khan to be in a "crossover" film (although Carroll says he dislikes the term and prefers the idea of an "international audience").
[ Larter said that her role in the film, to some degree, mirrored her life at the time.][ Larter lacked professional dance training and worked with a choreographer to prepare for the filming. One of the songs features her own singing.][
Composer ]Graeme Revell
Graeme Revell (born 23 October 1955) is a New Zealand musician and composer. He came to prominence in the 1980s as the leader of the industrial/electronic group SPK. Since the 1990s he has worked primarily as a film score composer.
Some of ...
augmented the songs with a Western (and in one case an Indian) sound and ended up striking an overall balance between the two.[ Carroll decided that some of the songs should be in Hindi.][
CGI effects were used to create most of the white Taj Mahal (there were some set pieces built) and all of the mirroring black structure.]
Reception
In India, the film grossed ₹38 lakh
A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ex ...
in first two weeks.
Rachel Saltz of The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
rated the film 4 out of 5, stating ″ Mr. Carroll knows his Bollywood stuff and, refreshingly, doesn’t apologize for, or waste time explaining, an industry and a style that most Americans still regard as silly. Instead, he honors them.″ Conversely, Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
gave a negative review, writing ″The film will suffer on two fronts: Bollywood fans will dismiss the mishmash as the work of an American director “slumming” in a genre outside his own culture, and Western audiences unfamiliar with Hindi-language masala movies will find the whole thing puzzling.″
Soundtrack
The music of the film is composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy
Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy () is an Indian musical trio consisting of Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa. They have composed music for over 50 soundtracks across five languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and English. Amongst t ...
while the lyrics are penned by Javed Akhtar
Javed Akhtar (born 17 January 1945) is an Indian poet, lyricist, screenwriter and political activist. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 200 ...
.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marigold (2007 Film)
2007 films
Films about Indian Americans
Films about infidelity
Films directed by Willard Carroll
Films about actors
Films set in India
Films scored by Graeme Revell
Films about Bollywood
Hyperion Pictures films
Films with screenplays by Willard Carroll
2000s English-language films