CAST: Pallavi Sharda , Suraj Sharma , Arianna Afsar , Sean Kleier, Rizwan Manji, Veena Sood, Manoj Sood, Ari Afsar

DIRECTED BY: Tom Dey

If you are a rom-com lover, this is your feel good movie for the summer because it re-arranges all the Indian American community tropes for you.

But don’t tell us your hearts don’t melt when two hot people, who decide to fake-date, actually end up feeling something for each other.

That mushy feeling of love sits at the end of the quick 1 hour 39 minutes of Wedding Season but not before all the aunty drama has been seen and done.

Satisfaction. Netflix style.

Take “Proposal” , “To All the Boys I have Loved Before” , the recently released “Purple Hearts” and “The Perfect Date” and put it in the Indian American community of Newark, New Jersey contextually , add the shimmying, the food, the festivals, the aunties and the edge of living between Indian and American identities – and yes. that one white guy who wants to be Indian so much that he puts you to shame – and you have the plot..

But oddly, its funny, its lighthearted and its deeply satisfying.

WATCH OUR REVIEW HERE

Two people who are not dating, and apparently not interested in dating, decide to pretend to be dating for vague plot reasons. Lo and behold, by spending lots of time together and perhaps even a “fake” kiss or two, they fall in love for real.

Why do we love this predictable trope?

There’s just something infinitely captivating about the unresolved sexual tension of a relationship in which people go through the motions of dating without any physical affection. It’s kinda like forbidden love, but it’s also much vacuous, and the spiral of it is the fun of it.

Sure, they want to kiss, but they can’t! They have an agreement and we want to see how their attraction unravels their resolve.

Directed by Tom Dey (Shanghai Noon) with a screenplay by Shiwani Srivastava, Wedding Season stars Pallavi Sharda (Indian Australian Actress who has worked in a few Bollywood movies) as Asha who is an economics badass but a total human disaster in all things girl stereotyped by Indian Americans. But despite her fancy job, she’s been down on her luck. She recently called off an engagement, and now her Indian mother won’t stop trying to set her up with Indian guys.

HERE IS THE TRAILER

Panicked that her daughter will be single for her younger sister Priya’s (Arianna Afsar) wedding to Nick (Sean Kleier), a white man trying embarrassingly hard to ingratiate himself to Indian Hindu traditions, Asha’s mother, Suneeta (Veena Sood), poses as Asha online and sets up a date.

It’s starting to interfere with her badass routine at work especially when a date (Subash Santosh) turns up in the middle of her fund-raise presentation, so, to get her mom off her back, she agrees to go on a date with an MIT grad named Ravi (played by Life of Pi star Suraj Sharma). They don’t exactly get along, but the rumor of their date spreads fast in the gossiping Indian-American community, helped by nosey aunties ( what’s an Indian American movie without them).

It gives Asha an idea: Pretend to date Ravi, so all the aunties will leave her alone about her love life. Plus, then they both have a date for “wedding season,” and can avoid more awkward setups.

The plot is a blend of cliches and truly done in Bollywood style with choreographed song and dance routines to put the cherry on the cake.

There are various deceptions and reveals – Ravi’s resume is not the IRL Ravi but is he not a success just because ? Asha is torn between who she thinks she is and who she really is and of course the invariable burden of parental expectations – but all is headed in a clear happily ever after direction and that’s the breeze of it. It is fun to watch Ravi and Asha fall in love; Sharma can carry a whole scene with his eyes , he Life of Pi star is a pro– while Sharda is us in a household that burdens a girl with too many expectations.

Surja and Pallavi have a magnetic chemistry that makes the various deceptions seem trivial and the absolute Indian decorum to their romance seems a bit out of whack with that impeding chemistry. You almost involuntarily ask yourselves – Did they go to the next base?

Is it a great movie? Not spectacularly!

But is it fun to watch? You bet.

It doesn’t really matter how many times Netflix makes this rom-com trope,we know deep down in our mushy hearts that it will never get old.