The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

If there’s one pastime that I love to consistently engage in, it’s going to the movies. It’s a well-worn romanticized cliché, but I am consistently enamored by the notion of going to a theatre, watching the lights dim, and then being transported on a filmic journey for two hours. Since returning from India last Wednesday, I’ve already gone to the movies several times. One movie that I recently saw was The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, featuring an ensemble all-star cast that included some of the biggest acting luminaries that Britain has to offer.

Moreover, the main attraction for watching The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was that it was set in India. I’ll be upfront and readily admit that I would not have seen this film if it wasn’t for the fact that I just returned from India only days ago. I wanted to see if any of the experiences that I had first hand knowledge of jived at all with anything that was captured on the screen. Of course, there were going to be a measure of artistic license taken in the film, but I wasn’t going to let that detract from my film going experience.

To briefly set up the overall story of the film, seven disparate British retirees travel to the titular hotel for the “elderly and beautiful,” which is advertised as being a newly restored palatial place to stay, but is actually run down. Despite that, the hotel slowly charms each individual in unexpected ways.

I won’t go into a blow-by-blow recap of the entire film, but, with this post, I do want to cover some of the situations that were encountered by the British foreigners on their sojourn to India. Many of the situations that were experienced by the characters in the film were almost exact mirrors of what we saw during our time in India.

For example, there is an early scene where the seven retirees take an auto rickshaw ride (referred to as tuk tuks in the film for some reason). Their ride is crazy and out of control, much like what we had experienced. Another scene featured Judi Dench attempting to buy a sari for 1000 rupees, with Bill Nighy’s character attempting to negotiate a cheaper price. In the end, Nighy is unsuccessful, and Dench’s character buys the sari for 1000 rupees.

Little touches like those made me enjoy the film all the more. Also, the film really captured the beauty of Jaipur. Even though it was a city that we did not visit while we were in India, the overall travelogue feel that the film took of Jaipur was very successful. In summary, I’m glad I got to watch the film, and I feel that I was able to enjoy it even more on a deeper level fresh off my journey to India.

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