Bride and Prejudice: A Review
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Bride and Prejudice
Runtime- 2hr 2min
Air date- March 11th, 2005
Director- Gurinder Chadha
Writers- Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges
Filming locations- Punjab, India, Goa, India, England, UK, California, USA
Where to watch- steam on Pluto or rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video
Starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as Lalita Bakshi and Martin Henderson as William Darcy
A Brief Summary
Lalita and her three sisters spend their days being pressured by their mother to get married. All is changed when they attend a wedding where they meet Balraj, (who also brings along his American friend) where the pressure for marriage now becomes a frenzy. In this modern day musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, Bollywood collides with Hollywood. Will these two worlds be a love match?
“First Impressions”
This is one of those films where I love it even more every time I watch it. Full of color, dancing, and music, Bride and Prejudice captures the beautiful culture of India and ties it with Jane Austen’s most beloved novel. It is not easy to take a story with all the moving parts centered around Regency English society and adapt it to a modern tale. But Bride and Prejudice succeeds in that while keeping the plot and characters consistent in the movie as in the novel.
Musical
Yes, this is a musical, but a good musical. My reservations with musicals are that they can get very campy. Yes, campy can be fun, but campy can also get really goofy and silly and it can make it hard to see it as respectable.
This film does a good job of making it balanced. The music is pleasing to the ears, and one of their songs “No Life Without Wife” does get occasionally stuck in my head.
Characters
Probably the best part of this adaptation is how the essence and core personalities of the characters in Jane Austen’s novel are translated into this movie. The film and characters were written so well that it almost feels like a translation of Regency English to modern India.
For Mr. and Mrs. Bennet you get Chaman and Manorama Bakshi, the actors, Anupam Kher and Nadira Babbar. Jaya Bakshi, played by Namrata Shirodkar, for Jane Bennet. Balraj, played by Naveen Andrews, as Mr. Bingley. Our George Wickham is Johnny Wickham played by Daniel Gillies. We have our Miss Bingley as Kiran, played by Indira Varma. Also, Lydia as Lakhi played by Peeya Rai Chowdhary.
Then we have our Mr. Collin character. His name in the film he goes by Mr. Kohli, played by Nitin Ganatra. The most silliest character in the film. But we also know Mr. Collins to be a foolish character as well. Not to mention after seeing ‘Pride and Prejudice’ 2003, Mr. Kohli looks incredibly tame in comparison to the characters in that film.
Elizabeth
Lalita Bakshi is the Elizabeth Bennet character played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The actress has absolutely stunning and striking eyes. They are not the dark fine eyes as a reference to the novel, but they are captivating, making them fine eyes in their own right. Maybe the word ‘fine’ is an understatement.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is more than beautiful in this film. She has wit, charm, and a bold attitude that makes you want to be her. Giving a fresh and modern Elizabeth Bennet character.
Darcy
Martin Henderson plays William Darcy, THE Mr. Darcy. Kind of a bit awkward and quiet, but he did a good job playing the Darcy character. His rudeness in the beginning was mostly focused on his ignorance and insensitivity. Lalita did not tolerate it and he quickly shaped up and opened his mind. It doesn’t hurt that he is a very good-looking man as well.
Final Thoughts
I would like to be able to add more insight like criticism or even an excerpt on modern Indian culture.
I don’t really have anything that particularly irked me or anything I feel warrant to mention. The the reviews I see are mostly all positive, and with not much negative feedback where I think is worth discussing.
As for India, I did take an Eastern Literature class that did have some focus on Indian literature and society, but nothing about modern India where I can make an educational or insightful connection.
Either way, I love this movie, and hope you do too!
What are your thoughts on the film? Share your comments below!
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