As an aspiring writer, I can only imagine the reward a novelist would encounter, seeing their work published and/or watching it come to life on the big screen.
‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ is based on the book ‘These Foolish Things’ by Deborah Moggach. The movie is a highly entertaining comedy/drama, where the stunning cinematography captures the essence of Jaipur – India, perfectly. And despite the crowded melee, the plight of the seven retirees anchors this energetic romp, as they tentatively embark on a new adventure…finding that life can begin again when you let go of the past.
I loved it. And, if you’re struggling to reach a comfortable and meaningful place, or straining against the limits of your own personal race against the clock, then this film is for you too!
Judi Dench plays Evelyn – A newly widowed housewife. Her home must be sold to pay off her husband’s debts and despite her son’s protests, she decides to make her home in India. There she records her new life through a blog.
Bill Nighy plays Douglas and Penelope Wilton plays Jean – They’ve been married for 39 years. Douglas invested and lost all their savings in their daughter’s internet business. They can’t afford a home, so they make the move to India.
Maggie Smith plays Muriel – An ex-housekeeper with a head for figures. She has no family of her own, having devoted her life to the care of another family and had unwittingly trained her own replacement. Living in a flat, she’s alone, bitter and racist. And, when her doctor tells her that the only alternative to a six-month wait for a hip replacement is to be ‘outsourced’ to India where her hip can be replaced almost immediately, she agrees to go.
Tom Wilkinson plays Graham – A high court judge. He’s been retiring ‘any day now’ for many years. During his retirement speech of a colleague, he decides that ‘today’s the day’. He grew up in India until he was eighteen, and in returning is his way to redemption.
Ronald Pickup plays Norman – An aged lothario. He’s constantly on the look-out for a new woman and is unable to face up to his own age. He seeks a new start with new possibilities in India.
Celia Imrie plays Madge – She’s had many unsuccessful marriages and, like Norman, wants fun, adventure and a new man. Tired of her daughter’s attempts to keep her at home, she flees to India.
Dev Patel plays Sonny – The ever optimistic hotel owner. He struggles to get monetary support from a local businessman. He also defies his mother to keep the hotel, and in wanting to marry the girl he loves.
For a disparate group of English pensioners, retirement takes an unconventional turn when they abandon their homeland, enticed by advertisements for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a luxurious sanctuary for ‘the elderly and beautiful’ in Jaipur, India.
The group arrive in Mumbai to find their connecting flight has been cancelled. Graham organizes an overnight bus ride, followed by tuk-tuks to the hotel. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, falls somewhat short of the romantic idyll promised in the brochure. Its phones are out of order, the building is dilapidated and the food isn’t what they are used to. But they’re gradually won over by the ever optimistic young manager.
Jean is reluctant to explore the new culture. She takes a shine to Graham, mainly because of his position as a former high court judge. Douglas takes to exploring the city, visiting the sights that Graham recommends. Graham disappears each day, although no-one’s quite sure where.
Muriel has her operation almost immediately, as promised, and is told that as soon as she can walk she can return home. Despite her racism she is grateful to her doctor. Back at the hotel, she recognises the care and kindness of the hotel cleaner. She tries to be kind and help her, but Graham tells her that the girl speaks no English.
Evelyn finds herself a job as cultural adviser to a call centre, helping her colleagues to bond with their callers, and to appear less rude and robotic. This is the first job she’s had in her life, a fact which she shares with Douglas; she also tells him that without the money she couldn’t afford to stay at the hotel.
Sonny finds himself in financial trouble as he struggles to get the monetary support from a local businessman. Slowly he tries to improve the hotel, starting by getting the telephones working again.
Madge decides the way to find herself a rich boyfriend is to join an exclusive club, and after failing to pass herself off as Princess Margaret, she is introduced to a rich single man by the bartender. The man turns out to be Norman, who has been a little more successful with his subterfuge.
Graham continues to disappear each day, and he eventually reveals to Evelyn that he goes to the records office, in hope of finding an old friend with whom he shared a gay relationship as a young man. Jean, who is still dismissive of Indian culture, follows him to the office; she tries to make a pass at him, and is humiliated when he tells her that he is gay. With the support of Douglas and Evelyn, Graham tracks down his old friend and the two are able to talk for the first time since Graham left India. The next morning, having returned to the hotel, Graham dies of a heart attack. Evelyn writes in her blog that he had ‘a heart condition’, and came to India knowing he would not be returning home; he had come to put to bed his old life as a young man.
Having been invited to the home of the hotel cleaner, Muriel and her doctor-cum-translator spend an awkward afternoon in the woman’s house. Muriel is forced to eat some Indian food for fear of offending the woman, but manages to upset the whole family after she shouts at some children playing with her wheelchair.
Frequenting their club, Norman and Madge encounter Carol, an English woman who has lived in India her whole life. When Norman finally admits that he is just old and lonely, she says that she is too, and they begin a relationship.
Sonny has his own problems. His two more successful brothers each own a third of the hotel and want it knocked down, while his mother wants him to return to Delhi to meet his bride-to-be. But Sonny is madly in love with the beautiful Sunaina, who works for her brother at the call centre.
Trying to make amends for her outburst, Muriel and her doctor return to the woman with chocolate biscuits as a peace offering. Muriel pours out her life story to the woman, telling how she lost her job, and how she came to be alone.
Jean and Douglas have a row after she sees him hugging Evelyn. He admonishes her for her negativity and tells her how little respect he gets from her, despite how much he gives; in so doing he reveals the emptiness of their marriage. As the two leave the hotel in a taxi for the airport, Evelyn hides in her room; she cannot bring herself to say goodbye to Douglas to whom she has become very close.
The hotel is going to close due to lack of funding, but Muriel, hearing of Sonny’s troubles, sneaks onto his computer for a look at the accounts, which she then takes to the businessman who has cut his funding. The residents are told that they must relocate – Norman decides to move in with Carol, while Madge and Evelyn decide to leave. Caught in a carnival-induced traffic jam, Jean and Douglas find a cycle rickshaw to take them to the airport, but are told that it can take two people and no luggage, or one person and luggage. Jean takes this as a sign and leaves India without Douglas, who returns to the hotel.
Next morning Sonny and Sunaina confront his mother. Sonny tells her that he will marry Sunaina no matter what, and she finally concedes. Muriel announces that having looked over the accounts and spoken to the businessman, she finds that the original plan for the hotel is very good; it simply requires better management. She suggests herself for the role of Assistant Manager and says that together she and Sonny can run the hotel well. Douglas returns to the hotel and arranges to meet Evelyn after work for tea. Madge, Evelyn, Norman and Carol decide that they will stay in the hotel with Muriel helping Sonny to run it.
The film ends with Sonny and Sunaina riding a moped along the street, passing Douglas and Evelyn riding one together too. Madge is in her club being wined and dined by an Indian man; Norman washes socks as Carol reads the Kama Sutra in their room. Muriel is seen behind the desk of the hotel as Assistant Manager, welcoming some guests.
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Everything will all work out fine in the end, and if it’s not yet fine, it is not yet the end.’
