Bride and Prejudice

Cast: Martin Henderson, Aishwarya Rai, Namrata Shirodkar
Language: Hindi
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Producer: Deepak Nayar and Chadha Nayar
Camera: Santosh Sivan
Music: Anu Malik
Year: 2004

Jane Austen's classic tale of love and misunderstanding finds its spiritual heirs amongst the North Indian urban middle classes in Bride and Prejudice.

The Director Gurinder Chadha (of Bend It Like Beckham fame) has made a Bollywood film for a Western audience. She flings us straight into Bollywood spectacle with that staple sub continental ingredient: a wedding song.

The news of the arrival of a British Asian from London sparks off a flutter of activity in the Bakshi household in Amritsar. They are desperate to marry off their four daughters, notably the eldest and most beautiful Lalita (Aishwarya Rai) followed by Maya, Lucky and Jaya. But, Lalita is as outspoken as she is beautiful, and most of the men presented to her find her too presumptuous to be considered as a spouse. When Mr. Balraj (Naveen Andrews) arrives from London for a local wedding, Mrs. Bakshi rejoices at this wonderful opportunity, she faces stiff competition from a surprising number of fellow mothers with similar motives!

Mr. Balraj is smitten by Jaya. Lalita Bakshi (Aishwarya Rai) meets Californian blueblood Will Darcy (Martin Henderson) and it's hate at first sight. Will Darcy is Mr. Balraj's good friend. She accuses him of being an imperialist snob and he brushes her off as a coddled village girl, blinkered to the ways of the world. Still they find themselves drawn together in a series of fractious but increasingly flirtatious encounters. Lalita later meets a couple of other suitors, including the conniving Mr. Wickham (Daniel Gillies) and a hilariously terrible American Desi (Nitin Ganatra). Its selection time and Lalita faces increasing pressure to pick her groom.

Gurinder Chadha has done a good job of handling the story. The film however fails to delve too deeply into the characters and leaves a lot unexplained. The cinematography is excellent and Santosh Sivan is brilliant once again.

The beautiful Aishwarya Rai is sublime as Lalita Bakshi. But this isn't quite a break-through performance from her. Perhaps this is the reason why she was unable to cast an impression that was expected of her. She breathes life into the character and her facial expressions are impressive in the movie. Martin Henderson has done a decent job. He deserves points for being sporting enough to do the garba, but lacks the arrogance associated with Jane Austen protagonists.

The movie, Bride & Prejudice is an eyeball-bashing riot of colours and melodrama that goes way beyond the borders, which define Bollywood entertainment.

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