Monsoon Wedding takes place in a slice of upscale India where cell phones and hip-hop coexist noisily but comfortably with arranged marriages and elaborate, centuries-old rituals. But globalism is only background music here. A more telling Western influence on this wedding story is Father of the Bride, though neither of that film’s incarnations included a potentially derailing subplot about child molestation. It’s a testament to director Mira Nair, whose earlier films include Salaam Bombay! and Mississippi Masala, that Monsoon Wedding handles such subject matter with the same grace that infuses the rest of this generous and openhearted comedy, which is at its best when it backseats plot and simply lets its large cast bicker, sing, drink, and dance. Like real family, they rub one another the wrong and right ways with an effortlessness that suggests decades, if not generations, of shared history—an acting trick that’s got to be harder than it looks. One standout, playing the bride’s harried dad, is Naseeruddin Shah, who is one of India’s most respected stage and film actors. When he stands over his sleeping daughter and says, sighing, with a mixture of awe, tenderness, and defeat, “I feel love I almost cannot bear,” you too feel all the weight of that exquisite oppression. A wonderful performance. (Rating: ★★★1/2)