A Suitable Boy

I write this as a Western person with no real knowledge or bias regarding the Hindu religion, Islam, or the people involved in making this film.

The story seems to centre on "Romeo and Juliet"-like themes of "forbidden" love - certainly not an earth-shattering, ground-breaking movie theme. Some of the characters are, to me, overblown; the mother's histrionics about her daughter's affair with a Muslim, the son who behaves wildly and inappropriately at a Holi party, the daughter-in-law who melts down the father's medals for earrings, and the corpulent sultan who seems to revel in causing conflict.

Certainly the scenery and cinematography are exquisite, but I found the story somewhat difficult to follow at times. I chalk this up to my not being a part of the target audience. I did not really understand the significance of the songs and poems. I don't know how the parliament/city council/legislature depicted here works or is constituted. I don't understand the nuances of how people dress for various occasions. I did not grasp that a kiss in a temple was so significant. Other productions about India (Jewel in the Crown, Gandhi Slumdog Millionaire) made these kind of things clear to the Western viewer, but A Suitable Boy seems to have missed that mark.

I don't know and can't comment on whether or not the show was pro or anti Hindu, only on whether or not I understood and enjoyed it. That seems to boil down to a 50-50 split - some parts were good, some were not.

My Rating : 6/10

Great selection of actors, music and settings however it's too bland - too gimmicky and cringe most of the time.

The book is one of the greatest ever - this doesn't do justice to its scale and opulence.

OK for a one-time viewing.

Sad to say that this was so, so disappointing - everything that was great in the novel is missing. Hard to know who or what to blame the most - the choice of screenwriter, the poor direction, the wooden dialogue, the random changes between English and HIndi/Urdu, the miscasting of Mrs Mehra and especially Lata - Tanya Maniktala was definitely not a 'suitable girl' for the part! The only saving graces were the presence of Tabu and the music of Shujaat Khan. I don't think that anyone will be inspired to read Vikram Seth's novel after watching this BBC dramatisation, so would advise not wasting your time watching this but instead invest your time reading the novel.

People giving it a lower rating might be the ones who are used to gripping tales these days from the very first episode as gone are the days of good slow burn soap operas. To really appreciate this, one needs to be familiar with Vikram Seth's writing, which itself takes time to dwell in you with its fine details to all the characters and the period they are set in and secondly, not many people are familiar with Mira Nair's work. She has a beautiful eye for details in her direction and the way she narrates her story is always with a kind of tenderness and her characters take their own time to amalgamate. I understand, at first, it's a bit unusual to see many familiar faces having lengthy conversations in english, especially the actors whom we have only seen in 'Hindi' speaking cinema/series till now. But I do believe the ensemble is doing justice to their roles and with time we will become more attached to them. I for one will be rooting for the show.

When I started to read Vikram Seth's monster novel, 'A Suitable Boy', I found it hard going: had Seth really written 1400 pages about the attempts of a young woman to find a husband? But the story inside this framing ultimately expanded into an astonishingly broad, subtle, superbly written and cunningly plotted epic. This television adaptation can't quite bring the Seth's full vision to life, and feels much more like I first feared the book would be: an essentially simple story about finding the right partner. We do still see a lot of India; but at times it feels that it's merely providing background colour, while the characters are simplified and presented straight up as the people you gradually come to know over the book's many chapters. It's always hard judging a new version of something you already love fairly, but I couldn't engage with this series. Read the original instead: it's a literary masterpiece.