The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel comes alive with engaging perforamce by renowned veteran actors, writes Sukanya Verma.The splendour of travel lies in discovery. Not just of a location but of the self, it's a relentless process and shouldn't be limited by age or circumstances. But in an ageist society, which is conditioned to treat the elderly as someone whose journey is drawing to a close, the resolution is rest not tour. John Madden's The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel sets itself around the possibility of the latter when seven British senior citizens embark towards their second coming-of-age in a country known for its soul and insight -- India.
Adapted from Deborah Moggach's novel These Foolish Things, the narrative with Evelyn (Judi Dench) as its nucleus revolves around Graham (Tom Wilkinson), Douglas (Bill Nighy), Jean (Penelope Wilton), Muriel (Maggie Smith) whereas Norman (Ronald Pickup) and Madge (Celia Imrie) lend the proceedings its lightest moments.
They're all attracted to the possibility of spending their retirement in an eponymous palatial abode in Jaipur (it's Udaipur, really) run by an ambitious young lad Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel's idea of passionate is woefully high-strung), which like most promising catalogues turns out to be a rundown memory of its purported version.
While the soft spoken Evelyn is still coming to terms with the loss of her husband and seeking her own independent identity in a manner most restrained and unaffected, Graham seeks a long lost love from his growing up years in India, Douglas, the calm one and Jean, paranoia personified are not quite the married couple they used to be, the wheel-chair ridden Muriel is averse to everything that's not British while
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