A SUITABLE GIRL

Abstract

A Suitable Girl provides an intimate portrait of three unmarried (and marrying) Indian girls (Dipti, Amrita, and Ritu) and their parents as they go through the tortures and thrills of seeking and finding suitable spouses. All three come from urban Hindu families with a range of socio-economic backgrounds and the film does very well to demonstrate the marriage stakes and constraints in India today. One of the three of the film’s protagonists, Dipti, celebrates her birthday in her parent’s flat with neighbours and friends cramped around a cake with the number “30” scrawled ominously over it. Did it really need to be advertised, she wonders aloud. Interestingly, the unassuming Dipti has a fan-following of sorts in her Bhayandar building; we are drawn in by her warmth and open-heartedness and begin to see why her parents so dote on her; even her building neighbours seem to be willing her into marriage through their friendship, prayer, and love.