Bicycle Bride

Bicycle Bride is an independent film full of life, love and laughter. The story takes place in scenic San Francisco where Beena, an Indian-American girl (played by Melanie Kannokada) falls for James Dean (Andreas Wilson), a Swedish man. Although Beena and James deeply care for one another, Beena's family has other plans for her. Beena's mother has arranged for her to marry an Indian man named Bubba. The conflict between Indian tradition and western feminism sets the table for this riotous comedic gem.

However, Bicycle Bride is much more than a romantic comedy - it is also a social commentary about gender roles in the Indian culture and the tradition of arranged marriage.

So go see Bicycle Bride! It will make you smile, it will make you laugh and it might even make you think!

Bicycle Bride is a combination of traditional-modern, fun-serious, nice-naughty (but still PG), colorful-gray scale!!! Nice polish by writer-director-producer Hassan Zee--illuminating his zest for life, his verve to create, and his endless reservoirs of energy! Great job by cast and crew!!! The flavor of East is portrayed very well even though the movie is set in the West, and is conveniently represented in the English language. Night of Henna was Hassan's first film--and it was a superb delight in cinematography, and yet Bicycle Bride is no less of a visual confection. Bicycle Bride indeed enhances the theme that is Hassan Zee's passion--one of showing how unity can be achieved. Unity is indeed Hassan's Mantra--peaceful unity of East and West, Traditional and Present day. He attempts successfully to fight ignorance and superstition with wisdom and compassion. Love has to win over Hate. Cross-cultural bounds have to be broken. The Bride must arrive on the eastern bicycle tradition, but not to be Man's chattel, but to win the marathons of the world!

Bicycle Bride is a smart, witty and educational film that sheds a much-needed positive light on Muslim culture in the United States. It features a pretty girl, a handsome boy and an overbearing mother that would give Darth Vader a run for his money! Americans have the benefit of freedom when picking a husband or wife. Some do it online while others do it the old fashioned way. For Muslims, dating is about as acceptable as drinking alcohol or noshing on a little pork. They just don't do it. Parents pick their children's spouses, like American girls buy clothes. Shocking I know, but that's the reality. Bicycle Bride is a clash of cultures, east vs. west, tradition vs. modernity and liberty vs. servitude. This film covers a lot of ground in both an entertaining and touching way. Most importantly, Bicycle Bride gives us a refreshing window into one of the world's most important religions.

I thought the film was very well written. I remember laughing throughout the movie. If I had to critique it, I would say the story could have moved a little faster. I felt that it was crawling along at times. Perhaps speeding the end up would move the story along and keep the entertainment value high throughout the entire film.

Overall though, I think Bicycle Bride is a fun and delightful movie. I would recommend it to anyone wants to learn a bit about Indian culture, but still wants to find a few laughs along the way. This movie definitely succeeds in intertwining relevant issues with comedic anecdotes and romantic undertones.

"She who succeeds in gaining the mastery of the bicycle will gain the mastery of life." So said Susan B. Anthony, one of America's best-known feminists of the 19th century. Twenty-year-old Beena is a product of America and not just any America but the one in San Francisco, California, a traditional spot for self-reinvention. Beena is now twenty and her Indian immigrant mother Billo has decided that she's ripe to be a bride, as Shakespeare might put it. Like many a first-generation American, Beena has other ideas, one of which is to master the unstable and highly metaphoric contraption known as a bicycle while another is to attend college and yet another is to become better acquainted with James Dean, a dishy student from Sweden who probably endures the inevitable jokes about his name with Nordic stoicism. It's a traditional immigrant's tale with a comic and lighthearted touch, not to mention some exceptional costumes and a wedding dance scene both joyful and mildly erotic, a celebration of human life and its presumed continuance.