This film will not make any sense to someone who had not seen the prequel The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which fortunately I had. My friend Ramesh with who I had gone to see the sequel had not and I had to explain quite a few things. His two loves, Jaipur and Mumbai featuring in the film mollified him somewhat but some DVD seller will now benefit by selling him the prequel.
I had wanted to see how Richard Gere would fit in into the cast and I was quite pleased with the way his role developed. From some comments made earlier by friends who had seen the film overseas, I did not expect his role to be more than a cameo and I was very pleasantly surprised.
Judi Dench and Maggie Smith give their usual top notch performances, and Dev Patel, if somewhat hamming at places, is very credible.
Despite my date for the afternoon having decided to choose a siesta over her ancient escort, I am glad that I went. More so, because I drove after a long time. All in all a great afternoon, with the movie being the icing on the cake, but I caution my readers to see the prequel before you see the sequel to understand the story better. I have no hesitation in giving it [rating=6] rating.
Incidentally, there is a little monologue delivered at the end of the story by a cameo actor which came in handy as things are wont to in my life to offer a comment in a blog post by another reader.
“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”
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