(India, 55 min.)
Written and directed by Geetika Narang Abbasi, Anandana
Kapur
Arranged marriage is nothing new to India, but the longstanding
tradition in the nation has exploded into a most unusual industry. Matchmakers
are no longer old widows visiting potential brides-to-be. Much Ado About Knotting offers a humorous look into the business of
arranging marriages that takes an old fashion and gives it a flair of Costco capitalism.
Much Ado About
Knotting follows three stories of Indians finding their way through the
matchmaking business: one a woman, the other a man, and the third a pair of nitpicky
in-laws searching for the right bride for a family member. Each subject
explains the stressful trials of playing along with the matchmaking game:
cosmetics, for example, are of greater interest than personality, while the
controversy of comportment at pre-screenings and interviews is a worrisome
affair of betraying one’s class and status. Everyone seems to want to use the
tradition of arranged marriage as a vehicle to find a life of opportunity in
America, but nobody seems to find the exodus of talented youth a problem. In
fact, it’s a selling point when a prospective bride or groom has relations in
America.
Some funny bits of filler show the added businesses that
have branched out from the matchmaking market. Etiquette lessons teach young
Indians how to impress by eating a sandwich properly with utensils. Corporate
entities amass databases of information on the families of marital candidates:
caste, income, property, even the make and model of vehicles are catalogued so
that marriage can be arranged as efficiently and cleanly as possible. There are
even private detectives that make a business by spying on future mother in laws
so that a bride knows what she is getting into! The private affairs of a
potential father in law, however, are nobody’s business. The anecdotes of Much Ado About Knotting drag a little
too long, though, for this look at the ins-and-outs of matchmaking feels
stretched even with its running time of fifty-five minutes.
Rating: ★★½ (out of ★★★★★)
Much Ado About Knotting screened at the Ottawa International Film
Festival October 4