Digital Johnny, Real Johnny

Bollywood Film Review: Bride and Prejudice (2004)

There's nothing better than a Jane Austen remake. I'm a huge Austen fan - I've read all six of her novels and I've read Pride and Prejudice at least six times. I'm also a huge Aishwarya Rai fan and an insane Bollywood freak, so you can imagine how excited I was when I heard Bride and Prejudice was coming soon to a theater near me.

Aishwarya and Jane - a match made in heaven

When the movie actually came out, I heard that Gurinder Chadha, the director of Bend It Like Beckham, directed it and that Martin Henderson was in it, too, which made me want to see it more. A little over a week ago, I finally got to see it. Did I like it? Well... yes and no...

Looks like fun to me!

If you know the story of "Pride and Prejudice," you know the story of "Bride and Prejudice." In this film, the Bennets are still a respectable country family but they're the Bakshis, a middle class Indian family from Amritsar in northern India. Jane is Jaya, Elizabeth is Lalita (Aishwarya Rai), Mary is Maya and Lydia is Lucky. The Bingleys are still called that, but they're Balraj and Kiran (only one sister) instead of Charles and Caroline. Balraj and Kiran are fabulously rich and come from India to attend the wedding of Lalita's friend. Balraj and Jaya hit it off right away during the first song sequence, which is very colorful and very Indian.

Balraj, of course, brings his best friend, Will Darcy (Martin Henderson) with him to Amritsar (the character in the book is actually named Fitzwilliam). Darcy, whose family owns fancy hotels all over the world, doesn't dig Amritsar and wants to get back to civilization, so he's very short with the beautiful and strong-minded Lalita. George Wickham is Johnny Wickham (Daniel Gillies), who Lalita meets when Balraj invites Jaya to Goa. Ashanti does a hot dance number.

When they get back to Amritsar, Mr. Kholi (Mr. Collins from the book), an annoying accountant who lives in LA, comes to the house to check out the girls and consider one for his future wife. All the girls are disgusted and Lalita just can't bring herself to accept him, especially since Johnny shows up. Lalita and Will fight some more, mostly over the things that Johnny has told Lalita about Will. Just when it looks like Jaya and Balraj are going to get together, the mother says something embarassing and Balraj, Kiran and Will all return to the west and cut off contact.

Mr. Kholi gets engaged to Lalita's best friend, so the girls and the mom head to LA to attend the wedding. On their way to America, they stop off in London where they see Kiran, but Balraj is not there and Kiran tells them he's gone to New York to see girls. Poor Jaya.

In LA, Lalita and Will become friends and sparks fly. If you've read the book or have seen the movie you know how it ends. If you don't know how it ends, I highly recommend you see it... it's actually shorter than the A&E Pride and Prejudice, which is the definitive film version of this great story.

Although I love this story and the movie is upbeat, funny and very colorful... this just isn't Bollywood. It's almost entirely in English, so the songs are in English, which makes them sound more like show tunes than Bollywood songs. Also, it's very short (only 111 minutes) so it's devoid of the classically complex and deeply moving story lines that make Bollywood films epic. I also have to (sadly) say that this isn't Aishwarya's best acting performance, she doesn't get to dance in the movie very much and she just doesn't look as good as I know she can. I have a feeling it's because the story is so upbeat and she's speaking English that it just doesn't give her a chance to show what she can really do.

Lastly, it just doesn't feel Indian... which isn't surprising because it wasn't made in India by people from India. Sure, it's colorful and fun and has Indian actors, but it left me wanting more and feeling like it could have been great but fell short because it was trying to shove all of the fabulousness that is Bollywood into a western-style, western-length straight jacket. Like Bollywood/Hollywood and Bend It Like Beckham, this movie is a good Bollywood starter-film and is DEFINITELY worth seeing, but it's just not the real deal.

Rating: B-

Strengths:

• It's in English
  
• It's only 1.5 hours long
  
• Upbeat, easy-to-follow retelling of "Pride and Prejudice"
  
• Aishwarya Rai is always a plus in my book

Weaknesses:

• It's in English so the songs sound kind of cheesy
  
• The music isn't memorable
  
• It's only 1.5 hours so the plot isn't as involved and emotional as most Bollywood
  
• It doesn't do Aishwary or Bollywood justice

Don't cry, Aish, it can't be as bad as Kyun! Ho Gaya Na...

Posted by Kristina at March 2, 2005 08:30 PM