A Suitable Boy , the screen adaptation of Vikram Seth’s acclaimed novel of the same name, has arrived in India to a mixed response. Mira Na...
A Suitable Boy, the screen adaptation of Vikram Seth’s acclaimed novel of the same name, has arrived in India to a mixed response. Mira Nair’s mini-series for BBC Studios was first broadcast in the United Kingdom in July and August and is now being streamed on Netflix. The English-language show has been criticised for its stilted dialogue and sketchy characterisation and its divergence from its source material. But there is unanimity on one of its brightest spots – Arjun Bhasin’s gorgeous costumes.
The reputed costume designer has dressed every single one of the characters in the sprawling cast. Bhasin’s clothes display fidelity to the story’s period setting as well as judicious anachronism – a fashionably mismatched blouse-and-sari ensemble, for instance, or a daringly low-cut blouse to bring out a character’s flamboyant personality.
Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy is a coming-of-age novel set against the backdrop of newly independent India’s first general election in 1951. As the country gets ready to vote for the first time, Rupa Mehra hunts for a groom for her daughter Lata. There are other, unsuitable suitors before Lata finds her match.
Two other families, the Kapoors and the Mehras, feature prominently in the novel. In the series, the desire of Maan Kapoor for the vastly older courtesan...
