THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL [2015] [Blu-ray + Digital HD ULTRAVIOLET] [UK Release] At Any Age, Life Can Be An Adventure! Heart-warming and Hilarious! Irresistibly Entertaining!
Check in again for more love and laughter as new arrival Richard Gere joins an all-star ensemble cast – including Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy and Dev Patel –returning for this heart-warming sequel to ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.’ Now that his first venture has been proven successful, ever-confident Sonny [Dev Patel] is busy juggling plans for a second resort... as well as his own wedding. But his efforts are constantly hampered by hilarious complications, and in order to pull it all together, he'll need a little help and encouragement from his resident friends.
FILM FACT No1: Awards and Nominations: 2015 Golden Trailer Awards: Nominated: Best Foreign Comedy Trailer for Searchlight Films and Create Advertising Group. 2015 Gran Premio Internazionale del Doppiaggio: Nominated: Film Award for Best Leading Voice Actress for Marzia Ubaldi for the dubbing of Dame Judi Dench. 2016 International Film Music Critics Award: Nominated: Best Original Score for a Comedy Film for Thomas Newman.
FILM FACT No2: On the 29th October, 2012, Vulture reported that screenwriter Ol Parker was consulted to deliver a treatment to Fox Searchlight Pictures executives for a sequel titled ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 2.’ Most of the cast agreed to come back. On the 28th October, 2013, Radio Times revealed that the cast would be flying to India to shoot the sequel film in January 2014. On the 2nd December, 2012, Showbiz411 stated that Colin Firth and Helen Mirren might join the ensemble cast of the film (they ultimately did not). On the 28th October 2013 Radio Times stated that Penelope Wilton confirmed the cast, including Dame Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Dame Maggie Smith, Ronald Pickup and Celia Imrie, would return for the sequel, set to start filming in January 2014. On the 30th October, 2013 Deadline reported that Richard Gere was in talks to join the ensemble cast of the sequel. Later on the 10th January, 2014, Richard Gere confirmed his new role in the film; other newcomers added to the film included Tamsin Greig and David Strathairn.
Cast: Dev Patel, Dame Maggie Smith, Danny Mahoney, David Strathairn, Dame Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie, Ronald Pickup, Diana Hardcastle, Subhrajyoti Barat, Fiona Mollison, Zachary Coffin, Jayesh V. Kardak, Tina Desai, Shazad Latif, Avijit Dutt, Denzil Smith, Ashok Pathak, Poppy Miller, Rajesh Tailang, Atul Tiwari, Seema Azmi, Lillete Dubey, Tamsin Greig, Richard Gere, Neeraj Kadela, Sarvesh Vyas, Lateesha Dorik, Vikram Singh, Avantika Akerkar, Shishir Sharma, Sid Makkar, Claire Price, Penelope Wilton, Lokesh Rai, Atul Kale, Sufiyan Khan, Dinesh Pradhan, Anita Pradhan, Ansh Rathore, Eddie Bagayawa (uncredited), Christy Meyer (uncredited) and Gary Tantony (uncredited)
Director: John Madden
Producers: Denis Pedregosa, Graham Broadbent, Jeff Skoll, John Madden, Jonathan King, Michael Dreyer, Peter Czernin, Pravesh Sahni and Tabrez Noorani
Screenplay: Ol Parker (screenplay/screen story) and John Madden (screen story)
Composer: Thomas Newman
Cinematography: Ben Smithard (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio,
English Descriptive Audio: 5.1 DTS-HD Audio
Spanish: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
French: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Português: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Czech: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Hungarian: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Polish: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Thai: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
Turkish: 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish, Português [Brazil], Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Bahasa Indonesia, Malaysian, Chinese [Traditional Mandarin], Polish, Português, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Thai, Turkish and Vietnamese
Running Time: 117 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and most of the remaining cast of ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ are reunited for this follow-up film also featuring Richard Gere. As the sequel to a film that hinted at a follow-up in the first outing's final scenes, John Madden's ‘THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL’ [2015] offers just as much joy, heart and chuckles as its hugely successful predecessor. With director John Madden once again at the helm, the core cast is back to once again wend their way through a bustling Jaipur, dealing with new careers, young love and fresh beginnings in their twilight years. The audience is dragged into a world even more technicoloured than before; one brimming with light and music, designed to evoke the eternal charm of India more prominently than ever.
Set against the impending nuptials of lovebirds Sonny Kapoor [Dev Patel] and Sunaina [Tina Desai], the septuagenarian quintet, find themselves eight months into their new life in Jaipur and keeping on its sunny side. Muriel Donnelly [Dame Maggie Smith] is helping Sonny Kapoor run the hotel; Evelyn Greenslade [Dame Judi Dench] works for a textile import company; Douglas Ainslie [Bill Nighy] plays roustabout tour guide, patiently waiting for Evelyn to return his romantic advances. Madge Hardcastle [Celia Imrie] and Norman [Ronald Pickup] run the affairs of The Viceroy Club, still playing fast and loose in matters of the heart. Yet again, they all face the tribulations and pleasures of their newly carved niches. In this second go-round, there is stability for all involved; it's maintaining it that proves tricky.
In the midst of the fireworks, an enigmatic American arrives at the Marigold Hotel in the form of Richard Gere [Guy Chambers] arrival sends Madge Hardcastle [Celia Imrie] into a swoon, by saying, “Lordy lord, have mercy on my ovaries!” But at the same time brings out the slight clumsiness of the situation as he immediately gets attracted to Mrs. Kapoor [Lillete Dubey], but she is also a mother and going for a relationship is not meant for her in the Indian society. Their values are different, and they keep clashing. However, these things don't happen to generate any sense of pity, but they dig out the basics of human nature. In another scene, a character Madge Hardcastle talks to her unmarried, 40-something driver and goes to visit his home. She has not decided on her best suitor yet and that keeps her mind occupied with negative thoughts, but then she gets into a conversation with her poor driver, who can't quite speak in fluent English, but is very charming in the process and his is the most charming scene in the entire film, where the conversation goes as follows: Madge: “Why didn't you marry?” Driver: “Never fell in love.” Madge: “Didn't stop me though.” Another poignant part in the film is when Dame Judi Dench says, “it was meant to be about the end, but now it's about the beginning,” you immediately get the resolution.
‘THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL’ succeeds in its moments of comedy: Dev Patel once again rouses with his performance as the eternally optimistic and determined young entrepreneur. Dame Maggie Smith, while giving her best iteration of English-bred directness, is given some of the best one-liners to date. John Madden expands the world of the hotel further outside its walls to give more of a travelogue vibrancy to the staging; this new iteration of the city pulses and shimmers under the glimmer of the Indian sun.
Ol Parker's screenplay has quite a lot to juggle when you think about it: Not only does it have to integrate the wedding into the plot; it also has to perform this movie's version of fan service: Give each member of its cast of heavyweights something meaty to do. These are, after all, some of the finest actors in the known universe, and you can’t just have them stand around. It also has to handle the introduction of a new character: a somewhat enigmatic author played by Richard Gere, who Sonny is convinced is a hotel inspector despite all appearances to the contrary (a subplot that recalls the classic Fawlty Towers episode). It could have easily become a total disaster, but with the help of the occasional subplots and wacky-old-person shenanigans, the proceedings remain dignified and smooth, thanks to the game cast, some decent romantic tension, particularly between Bill Nighy and Dame Judi Dench, as well as Richard Gere and Lillete Dubey, as Sonny’s mother, and John Madden’s elegant, patient camera. The title says it all, especially by calling it ‘The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,’ it could of course come second best, but for those who adored the original, and you will love and embrace this wonderful magical film, with heaps of wonderful colourful characters.
But the film is, at its core, is a meditation on the sacred final years of one's life. The foolish belief is that just because someone is of a certain age and again supposedly signals the end of pleasures like love, friendship and careers is continually disproved within the boundaries of each character's respective storyline. This renewal of life is saccharinely optimistic but, then again, this is the just the sort of film that should be allowed to revel in that. Time feels more precious now and each character is allowed more space to explore and grow out of the pasts that have shaped them, letting them come to empowerment for the future. This film is shamelessly, unapologetically sentimental, but that’s just fine because we’re rooting for everyone here. The multiple storylines spin off the whirlwind that is Sonny who juggles both his upcoming wedding to Sunaina [Tina Desai] and his ambitious plans to open a second hotel for which he requires the blessing of an American finance company. His expansion plans provide a clever raison d’être for the sequel and add a bit of mystery and surprise to a plot that opts for gentle laughs and tender moments over heavy dramatics or heartache. The relationships don’t all ring true and accommodating so many storylines rather bloats the running time but it’s heart-warming and hilarious, directed with a fine eye for local colour by John Madden. Above all, it’s another terrific showcase for the distinguished cast. But the absolute star of this show, the reason anybody might enjoy it, is because Dame Maggie Smith is Dev Patel’s assistant and a very wise counsellor, because Muriel Donnelly’s sour deflations of all this afflatus being what makes the entire package tolerable.
John Madden directs this sequel ‘THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL’ by paying close attention to the fragmented nature of the story which involves so many different characters. In total, they offer a kaleidoscopic view of the many forms of love as this improvised family comes together to support Sonny Kapoor and each other. The drama concludes with a festive Indian wedding with lively music, dance, and song. Dame Maggie Smith's touching coda in a letter from Muriel underlines the themes of the film and proves to be good medicine for the soul. ‘THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL’’ delivers the same winning formula of laughter and tears, eliciting strong performances from Dame Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and Dame Maggie Smith at her acid-tongued, indomitable best. The course of true love, even in twilight years, never runs smooth and Parker composes variations on a theme of amour, while peppering his script with pithy one-liners. “There is no present like the time,” professes one wise soul. John Madden's film is certainly a gift: you get everything you expect, plus enjoyable enthusiastic moments, but one sad moment at the end of the film, what that is, you will have to view this brilliant film to find out. This film gets the gold standard in my opinion and all those critics out there, who have given it nasty sarcastic reviews, especially on the negative side, should be totally ashamed of themselves, in writing such misogynous dinosaur critical drivel.
THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL MUSIC TRACK LIST
MOVE IT ON OVER (Written by Hank Williams Sr.) [Performed by George Thorogood & The Destroyers]
DEATH BY LIFT SHAFT (Written by Mike Reed and Tony Lewis) [Performed by Mike Reed and Tony Lewis]
YE ISHQ HAI (Music Composed by Pritam Chakraborty) (Lyric by Irshad Kamil) [Performed by Shreya Ghoshal]
PLASTIC BUBBLE (Written by Steve Adams, David Brogan, Zach Gill and Dan Lebowitz) [Performed by ALO]
SHWAS-UCHHASHWAS/THE BEGINNING (Written by Zakir Hussain) [Performed by Zakir Hussain, Shujaat Hussain Khan and Pandit Bhawani Shankar]
BALMA (Music composed by Himesh Reshammiya) (Lyric by Sameer Anjaan) [Performed by Shreya Ghoshal and Shriram]
WEDDING MANTRA (Traditional)
STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT (Written by Bert Kaempfert, Charles Singleton and Eddie Snyder)
MEHNDI THARO (Traditional)
AILA RE AILA (Music composed by Pritam Chakraborty) (Lyric by Nitin Raikwar) [Performed by Khatta Meetha]
JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM (Written by Gulzar, Shankar Mahadevan, Aloysuis Peter Mendonsa and Ehsaan Noorani) [Performed by KK, Sukhwinder Singh, Mahalakshmi Iyer and Shankar Mahadevan]
JBJ (Written by Gulzar, Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa) [Performed by Zubeen Garg, Shankar Mahadevan and Sunidhi Chauhan]
* * * * *
Blu-ray Image Quality – The film has an extremely stunning 2.39:1 theatrical aspect ratio that is faithfully reproduced in this awesome 1080p encoded image. Sharpness is superb throughout the presentation, and colour is so totally vibrant and supremely full-bodied without ever blooming. Flesh tones are deeply saturated throughout. Contrast has been applied spectacularly well to give the picture a consistent sheen while black levels are rich and deep.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mix offers a lively audio presentation with the dialogue beautifully recorded and placed in the centre channel. Thomas Newman’s background score gets an immersive presentation through the fronts and rears and really delivers the goods during the two dance sequences, especially at the engagement and wedding parties. Likewise, sound effects are effectively split when necessary and pan through the soundstage occasionally to great effect.
* * * * *
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Promotional Features: With this particular feature, is that you get is six brief vignettes feature film clips and sound bites from the cast and crew about the making of the film and they are as follows:
STORY [2015] [1080p] [2.39:1 / 1.78:1] [3:06] This first promotional feature starts at what you view at the beginning of the film with Dame Maggie Smith doing her bit to promote the Marigold Hotel for the investors. But them we go to John Madden [Director] giving us the lowdown on the story of ‘THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL.’ We get even more clips from the 2015 film, but with nice little interviews slotted in with the main actors Dev Patel [Sonny Kapoor]; Dame Maggie Smith [Muriel Donnelly]; Dame Judi Dench [Evelyn Greenslade]; Tina Desai [Sunaina]; Richard Gere [Guy Chambers] and Bill Nighy [Douglas Ainslie], despite them calling these features “Promotional,” they are really more like a long advert for the film, but despite this, they are all very nice little features.
CAST [2015] [1080p] [2.39:1 / 1.78:1] [3:38] Next up we get more clips from the 2015 film, plus some behind-the-scenes from the film, as well as more contributions from people like Graham Broadbent [Producer]; John Madden [Director]; Diana Hardcastle [Carol Parr]; Dev Patel [Sonny Kapoor]; Dame Maggie Smith [Muriel Donnelly]; Celia Imrie [Madge Hardcastle]; Penelope Wilton [Jean Ainslie]; Dame Judi Dench [Evelyn Greenslade]; Tamsin Greig [Lavinia Beech] and Richard Gere [Guy Chambers]. Although, again this is a another small “Promotional” film, at least you get to get some intimate view from the main actors heaping great praise on everyone involved with the 2015 film.
RETURNING TO THE MARIGOLD HOTEL [2015] [1080p] [2.39:1 / 1.78:1] [2:52] Once again we get short excerpts from the 2015 film, plus also again behind-the-scenes of shooting the film. But we also get more short little interviews and comments from the likes of Dame Judi Dench [Evelyn Greenslade]; Dame Maggie Smith [Muriel Donnelly]; Dev Patel [Sonny Kapoor]; Celia Imrie [Madge Hardcastle]; John Madden [Director]; Bill Nighy [Douglas Ainslie]; Ronald Pickup [Norman Cousins]; Richard Gere [Guy Chambers]; Graham Broadbent [Producer] and Ol Parker [Writer]. But what is nice about this little feature, is that everyone was so pleased to be back in India, also praising the brilliant scriptwriter Ol Parker, plus the wonderful colourful India and all the wonderful people of that country.
BLOSSOMING RELATIONSHIPS [2015] [1080p] [2.39:1 / 1.78:1] [2:45] With this particular short promotional film, we again get short excerpts from the film, but this time the contributors talk intimately about the romance that happens throughout the 2015 film, and the views we hear are from the following contributors, like Dame Maggie Smith [Muriel Donnelly]; John Madden [Director]; Dame Judi Dench [Evelyn Greenslade]; Ol Parker [Writer]; Bill Nighy [Douglas Ainslie]; Richard Gere [Guy Chambers]; Lillete Dubey [Mrs. Kapoor]; Celia Imrie [Madge Hardcastle]; Ronald Pickup [Norman Cousins] and Dev Patel [Sonny Kapoor]. What is really nice about this short little film is that they talk about all of the ups and downs with the rollercoaster emotions of the film and about the blossoming romance of the older generation in the film and they all say that they are disappointed that they don’t make these sorts of films anymore.
THE MARIGOLD WEDDING [2015] [1080p] [2.39:1 / 1.78:1] [2:35] Once again we get plenty of clips from the 2015 film, plus again more behind-the-scenes of the makeup sessions. But we also get the inner thoughts from the people involved with the film, especially leading up to the final climax of the film with the spectacular wedding ceremony and again we get contributions from the following: Dame Judi Dench [Evelyn Greenslade]; John Madden [Director]; Dev Patel [Sonny Kapoor]; Tina Desai [Sunaina]; Daniel Phillips [Hair and Makeup Designer]; Martin Childs [Production Designer]; Louise Stjernsward [Costume Designer]; Longinus Fernades [Choreographer]; Graham Broadbent [Producer]; Ol Parker [Writer]; Richard Gere [Guy Chambers] and Tamsin Greig [Lavinia Beech]. Again, what a joyous little film this is, especially hearing all about the wonderful time everyone had on making this fabulous and fantastic 2015 film, especially witnessing the process that went into filming the explosive and spectacular wedding sequence at the end of the equally spectacular and wonderful film.
FILMING IN INDIA [2015] [1080p] [2.39:1 / 1.78:1] [2:34] here we have the last of the special “Promotional” films and here we get to see the cast and crew talk about their experiences of filming in India for the 2015 film and telling us also their personal experiences and those particular contributors were John Madden [Director]; Dame Judi Dench [Evelyn Greenslade]; Richard Gere [Guy Chambers]; Richard Gere [Guy Chambers]; Tamsin Greig [Lavinia Beech]; Celia Imrie [Madge Hardcastle]; Ol Parker [Writer]; Graham Broadbent [Producer] and Bill Nighy [Douglas Ainslie]. But what came out of their experiences in India, is how the people of that country welcomed them back and was so pleased to see all the actors again, also the original actors had their own rooms back again at the Marigold Hotel, and again telling us that their whole wonderful experience in ‘THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL’ was the most joyous time of their lives.
Special Feature: GALLERY: You get to see a selection of 26 wonderful and stunning 1080p images from the 2015 film, which is composed of still intimate images of the main actors of the film, plus images from the different parts of the film. You can select two options, one is the Manual Advance, but I preferred the Auto Advance, because you get to launch the slideshow, where the images change every five seconds. Happy viewing!
Theatrical Trailers: Here you get to view two Theatrical Trailers of the same film, but with different lengths and they are as follows: ‘THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL’ [2015] [1080p] [2.39:1] [1:47]. ‘THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL’ [2015] [1080p] [2.39:1] [1:54].
Sneak Peaks: Here you get a Blu-ray promotion advert for ‘The Sound of Music’ [1965] [1080p] [1.78:1] [2.20:1] This starts to play as soon as your Blu-ray disc loads up.
Finally, ‘THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL’ is another rare film that's neither condescending nor perversely sentimental about the process of growing old. At the same time, the sharpness of its writing and the universality of its themes, especially love, guilt and regret, make it enjoyable for just about any adult audience. And then there's the cast, which, performance for performance, might be the best ensemble of the year, with the emotionally acting from especially in particular Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie and Ronald Pickup and I must confess to getting very emotional at least twice throughout the film. The film looks and sounds totally wonderful especially on this awesome stunning Blu-ray and definitely making the most out of the colourful, frantic Indian setting, with an equal amount of nice little film features to add to the enjoyment of the Blu-ray disc, which makes the whole experience of viewing ‘THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL’ a joyous and wonderful experience. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
