2. About the Film
The film is centered around the concerns of an Indian father who struggles with
organizing an enormous, chaotic, and expensive arranged marriage for his
daughter. The daughter has only known her fiance for a few weeks. Regardless
of that fact, the father invites family from all corners of the globe including
India, Australia, Oman and the United States.
The story is set in the modern upper-middle class of India, where
telecommunications and a western lifestyle mix with old traditions, like the
arranged wedding the bride accepts when she ends a current affair with an
anchorman. The groom is an Indian living in Texas, and all relatives from both
families, some from distant places like Australia, come to New Delhi during the
monsoon season to attend the wedding.
3. Values Frameworks
American Indian
Individualist Collectivist
Modern Traditional
methods rituals
Sex before
Values chastity
marriage
Predetermined
Free will
futures
4. Buuut...
Thanks to modern, technical innovations, Indian
culture is steadily changing as it becomes more
globalized. Indian society actually proves to be much
more complex than we had thought.
5. Things We Found Interesting
celebrate things largely (Collectivist culture)
older generation v. new younger generation
India has gone global
conflict and communication styles
6. “Your Daughter is My Daughter” - Dubey
Indian culture places a lot of significance on the
family. Indians treat everyone like their own kin.
Also, Indians like to celebrate all events together with
a big family party. In the following clip, Lalit (the
father of the bride) prepares for his daughter’s
wedding, an extravagant gala that is expected to last
four days.
8. Traditional Rituals v. Modern Methods
Even though the groom has been educated in the
United States, he still returns to India expecting to
find a virginal bride. Although he has been exposed to
a casual view of sex in America, Hemant still cannot
accept his fiance’s affair with a married man.
10. “Call My Pager!” - Dubey
India is changing as fast as its population is growing.
In the following clip, the characters show just how
much India has started to adopt Western ideas and
customs as the characters hear a racy excerpt from an
American film being read aloud.
11. Global India (6:24 - 7:49)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK0oSu5fmTE
12. Communication Styles
American Indian Characters in this film do a lot
of code switching
Direct Direct We think they code switch when
they get flustered and
Self-
Self-Humbling automatically resort back to the
Credentialing
Low power High power
language they are most
distance distance comfortable using
Emotionally Emotionally
engaged engaged
