The Wedding Guest(2019)

IFC Films

R
Rated R for language, some violence and brief nudity
1h 36m
- Action
- Thriller

Release Date: Mar 1, 2019 | Limited

A story centered on a mysterious British Muslim man (Dev Patel) on his journey across Pakistan and India.

Official Website

Releases

Original Release | Mar 1, 2019

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Box Office Results

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$18,266
Total US & Canada:
$386,166
Total Worldwide:
$386,166

Current Showtimes

Your Location or

(U.S. Only)

Director & Top Cast

Michael Winterbottom
Director

Trishaan

Gallery

Technical Specifications

Aspect Ratio: 2.35 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States,United Kingdom

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

Jay (Dev Patel), a young British man, packs a stash of passports and arrives in Pakistan, travelling to Younganabad. Jay lands in Lahore and hires a car using his fake British identity documents. He purchases 2 guns from an arms shop. He travels to Faisalabad where he hires another car to travel to Younganabad. He also buys duct tape, a suitcase and other supplies in Faisalabad. Despite only speaking English, he carries out a careful plan, sneaks inside a home prepared for a wedding. Jay introduces himself as a friend of the bride's brother Hasan, with whom he studied at University. Jay uses his cover to scout the entire locality and the wedding house. He also looks at the security arrangements and exactly how they have been deployed. He enters the bride's house late at night when everyone is asleep. Jay kidnaps the bride, Samira (Radhika Apte) but is intercepted by a guard while coming out the house. The guard threatens to shoot and thus Jay shoots him dead. Jay puts Samira in the trunk of his car and escapes before an alarm is raised. As it is the middle of the night, Jay has no trouble driving a long distance in a very short time. At Faisalabad Jay again changes into his first car, but this time he puts Samira in the back seat.Jay offers Samira a choice: return to her family and arranged marriage, or continue to Lahore and join her boyfriend Deepesh (Jim Sarbh), who hired Jay to rescue her for 15,000 pounds. Unwilling to be married, Samira chooses the latter. The plan is that Jay will be Faisal, and Samira is his sister Mariam Zaman. They are from Karachi, but both were born in London and speak almost no Urdu. Their cover is that they on a trip to visit the Golden Temple in Amritsar. Once they enter India, they will travel to Delhi and Rajasthan, before meeting up friends from London in Goa. Jay gets Samira to change clothes at a highway hotel. They catch a taxi from the airport to the Wagah border. They cross the border into India with fake passports and drive to Amritsar, where Deepesh fails to meet them at the designated hotel as planned. Jay purchases 5 phones and 10 international SIM cards and reaches Deepesh, who says that he will be in India the following day and asks Jay to meet him in Delhi. Samira says that she trusts Deepesh.Taking a train to Delhi, Jay meets with Deepesh and demands his payment. Media attention on the kidnapping and the guard's death have changed Deepesh's mind, and he offers Jay a further 20,000 pounds to abandon Samira back in Pakistan. Deepesh argues that the police are looking for Samira and it won't be long before she is found. Jay informs her (Jay had recorded the entire conversation with Deepesh and plays it for Samira) and she reveals that they had planned to live off of diamonds Deepesh had stolen from his family's business.Jay asks Deepesh to meet him in Jaipur. Jay finds that the media in Pakistan already knows that Samira was Deepesh's girlfriend. Samira's family was against Deepesh as he is not a Muslim, he is not a Punjabi and he is an Indian. Jay picks a new fake passport and ID documents for Samira. Meeting in Jaipur, Deepesh gives Jay half of the money, promising to have the rest the next day. Jay asks Deepesh to meet Samira insisting that she won't go back to Pakistan without meeting him. In the morning, Deepesh drives the two to a hotel at the outskirts of Jaipur and refuses to stop the car when Samira asks to speak in private. Jay pulls out his gun, forcing him to pull over and give him the remaining money. The area is very isolated with not much traffic. Arguing with Samira, Deepesh hits her, and Jay drags him out of the car. Jay asks Deepesh to hand over the diamonds. Deepesh warns him not to trust Samira, but Jay demands the diamonds, and beats Deepesh to death after he attacks Jay with a rock.Unsure whether to trust each other, Jay and Samira agree to split the diamonds and go their separate ways. She finds the diamonds hidden in Deepesh's shoe, and Jay burns the body. They check into the hotel using Deepesh's passport. The plan is to advertise loudly that Deepesh and Samira are going to Nepal, and instead head South to Goa. Samira sews the diamonds into the hem of her dress. Jay's contacts lead him to a fence who provides them with fake identities and a buyer for the jewels. The jeweler refuses to handle the sale after appraising one of the stones at over $100,000. Samira is clear that she does not want to return home, so they head to Goa.In Goa, Jay and Samira rent a house on the beach and give in to their mutual attraction. Samira asks him for his real name; he replies "Aasif" but she knows this is not true. She later slips away with her fake documents and most of the money, and he awakens in the morning to find her gone. She calls to apologize, saying that while he can go home, she never can. Jay tells her to call if she ever needs anything as she rides a bus toward her new life.

Storyline

Jay is a man with a secret who travels from Britain to Pakistan to attend a wedding--armed with duct tape, a shotgun, and a plan to kidnap the bride-to-be. Despite his cold efficiency, the plot quickly spirals out of control, sending Jay and his hostage on the run across the border and through the railway stations, back alleys, and black markets of New Delhi. All the while, attractions simmer, loyalties shift, and explosive secrets bubble to the surface.