The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a 2011 film starring Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Ronald Pickup, Celia Imrie, Tom Wilkinson, Maggie Smith, and Dev Patel. Its seven main characters are retired British people, who are all staying at the eponymous hotel for varying reasons.


 * Arranged Marriage: Sonny's mum wants to marry him off to a wealthy girl from Delhi.
 * Bollywood Nerd: Subverted. Sonny tries to present himself as a precocious business genius, but he is horrible at running the hotel and seems to have problems with maths.
 * Cool Old Guy and Cool Old Lady: Simply put, it's their movie.
 * Dirty Old Man: Norman.
 * Incompatible Orientation: Why Jean's attempt to make a move on doesn't work out too well.
 * Invisible to Gaydar:.
 * Large Ham: Of all people, Dev Patel!
 * Meaningful Name: Sonny (see directly below).
 * Mistaken for Gay: Madge, briefly, by Sonny's mother.
 * My Beloved Smother: Played with. Sonny's mother is over-controlling and insensitive to her son's dreams and feelings - but, given Sonny's inability to properly manage the hotel, her actions are at least partly justified.
 * Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Douglas spends the night getting high at a brothel. We only learn about this after his night-traveling montage; but the scene would have been spectacular as acted by Nighy.
 * Operator From India: Sonny's girlfriend works in a call center, and Evelyn also takes up a job coaching Indian operators in English culture.
 * Polish the Turd: The decrepit hotel is advertised as a dream holiday spot.
 * Racist Grandma: Muriel.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Jean gets a spectacular one after constant criticism of Douglas and his growing closeness to Evelyn.
 * Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: A Running Gag: Sonny speaks English using overblown, florid vocabulary, even when he's being personal and not simply shilling his hotel.
 * Took a Level In Kindness: Muriel.
 * Type Caste: Indian caste stratification is specifically addressed in the movie.
 * Wide-Eyed Idealist: Sonny. Though unlike how this usually goes, he actually doesn't have all the skills he needs to achieve his dream.