“The key to a good marriage is to find a man who will give you the space to grow,” 19-year-old Lata (Tanya Maniktala) is advised in a new trailer for “A Suitable Boy.” Based on Vikram Seth’s global bestseller of the same name, the six-episode series tells the story of Lata, a strong-willed university student who is coming of age in North India in 1951, “at the same time as the country is carving out its own identity as an independent nation and is about to go to the polls for its first democratic general election,” its official synopsis details. “A Suitable Boy” marks film director Mira Nair’s first TV project.
Not everyone is so invested in Lata marrying a man who will give her the space to grow. “You too will marry a boy I choose,” Lata’s mother, Rupa (Mahira Kakkar), is quick to remind her at her sister’s wedding. Rupa is determined to find her daughter a “suitable” husband, whereas Lata is drawn to “the excitement of romance and inspired by rebellious Western writers and daring new ideas.” She’s “determined to embark on her own journey of love and self-discovery as she decides her own future against the turbulent backdrop of post-Partition India. Over the course of the series, three very different men try to win Lata’s heart: the dashing, yet mysterious university student and star cricket player Kabir Durrani (Danesh Razvi), self-made shoe salesman Haresh Khanna (Namit Das), and lawyer-turned-writer Amit Chatterji (Mikhail Sen).”
“A Suitable Boy” made history as the first series to close out the Toronto International Film Festival. It marks the BBC’s first-ever all-Indian lead cast and was shot entirely on location in Northern India.
Nair most recently directed “Queen of Katwe,” Disney’s biopic of Phiona Mutesi, a Ugandan girl who learned how to play chess while living in a slum. She went on to compete at the World Chess Olympiads. “Monsoon Wedding,” “Mississippi Masala,” and “Salaam Bombay!” are among her other credits.
“A Suitable Boy” will make its debut in the U.S. and Canada on Acorn TV December 7.
