Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding opened in New York and Los Angeles on this day in 2002. The fictional story weaves five smaller stories around the central plot of an arranged Punjabi wedding in New Delhi, India. Nair’s directorial masterpiece brings together the Verma family as both heat and tensions build as the Indian’s monsoon season approaches. Monsoon Wedding fast became a critical and audience darling--winning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Film in addition to the prestigious Golden Lion at the 2001 Venice Film Festival. (Nair was the first woman in the festival’s history to receive this award.)

Filmmaker Factoid: Director Mira Nair is the Indian-born, Harvard-educated movie director well-known for her universal, Bollywood-style productions. Her debut film, 1988’s Salaam Bombay! was the first Indian feature to be nominated for the Academy Award’s Best Foreign Film honor.