Bride and Prejudice

Bride and Prejudice

Their take:
"Bollywood meets Hollywood... And it's a perfect match."

My take:
Hollywood smashes into Bollywood, takes its arm off, and stands there awkwardly watching it bleed. Well... it's not that bad.

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
-----Plot: 2.5 stars
-----Dialogue: 4 stars
-----Characters: 3 stars
-----Character development: 2.5 stars
-----Visuals: 3.5 stars
-----Music: 4 stars/1 star (see review)
----------Choreography: 4 stars
-----Personal Enjoyment Adjustment: 3 stars
(5=you're a freakin idiot if you miss this, 4=damn good stuff, 3=enjoyable for a movie night, 2=only on video and only if you're into that sort of thing, 1=pretty damn bad, 0=burn the copy at your local video store)

The wedding scene of Kholi sahib and Chandra is a perfect metaphor for this movie. The goofily ecstatic Indian couple dressed in tradtional garb is being given their vows by an American minister in a lush Los Angeles garden. It's a light-hearted marriage of Indian and Western that comes off a little... awkward.


Bride and Prejudice is a fun, energetic romantic comedy that is the newest and most creative, but also the most disappointing, film adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. When Balraj, a hot young Brit with a stroke of Hindi ethnicity, rolls into town, Mr. and Mrs. Bakshi see the perfect opportunity to arrange a marriage for their eldest daughter, Jaya. Surprise! The two fall for each other instantly on the dance floor at the wedding party for a family friend. But Balraj brought a mate, Will Darcy (one of the only names from the Austen novel carried into the movie), from America, and with his superior financial status and straight up good looks, everyone's pressing the next oldest daughter, Lalitha, to accept his attentions. However, on finding him initially rude, arrogant, and insensitive toward other cultures, she scorns him, much to the dismay of her match-making mother. From then on, the plot takes some very, very interesting twists and turns. Lalitha and Darcy hate each other then warm up to each other then split up again then nearly come back together but split further, then AS WE ALL KNEW FROM THE BEGINNING they fall in love and get married. The end.

If you took out the music, the choreography, and some excellent character work, you're left with the above paragraph. It's been a long time since I read Jane Austen, and I don't think I liked it when I did. (Romantic period authors never really struck a chord with me.) But, it doesn't take an English major to tell that whatever plot and characters this movie cops are a real discredit to the author's classic work.

Actually, the movie does indeed manage to stay upbeat and enjoyable without just a whole lot of substance. The music in this movie is fabulous, and the choreography keeps you glued to the screen. Oh, wait. I forgot that Ashanti makes a totally RANDOM appearance in the movie. Ohh, and then there's that time when the Bakshis are driving up to Mr. Kholi's house in L.A. when suddenly the background music switches to... Nelly? "Hey! Must be the money!" The movie makes no attempt at smooth transitions from one cultural mode to another, so they both end up looking like illegal aliens.

Very sadly, the entire movie encounters this difficulty. It simply cannot reconcile Western with Bollywood film styles in a way that would make it believable and natural. For example, the extent to which the Hindi film music is incorporated into the movie is erratic. Lots in the beginning none in the middle, and a little at the end.

The dialogue and scene styles vascillate from one to the other in the same manner. In the beginning of the movie, the dialogue and action is predominently influenced by Hindi film styles, but during the bulk of the movie, a strange sort of American style of action and dialogue is utilized--very dramatic, introspective, with close-up shots, etc. It clashes with the upbeat musical side of the film, and it never feels natural.

As for actors and actresses themselves, the daughters, not including Lalitha, are excellently girlish and positive with that hint of romantic tension in Jaya and Lakhi that makes the film good and Bollywood-ish. Lalitha (Rai) stays strong through the bulk of the movie, but never quite comes into her own because her emotional responses seem supressed. The parents in the Bakshi family were also examplars, and they helped in keeping the mood of the film bright and the style of the film Eastern. The rest of the characters were merely adequate except for two examples: Kholi and Darcy.

Nitin Chandra Ganatra as Mr. Kholi, with his braying laugh, awkward flirting style, and truly hilarious wanna-be American-ism, was perhaps the best actor of the film. He knew his role, and he not only performed it but also elevated the interactions of the characters around him and kept the tone of the film in its proper place, something that Lalitha and Darcy never managed. He wasn't purely comic relief, but in that role he excelled.

Martin Henderson as Will Darcy, was--and I really hate to say this--dull. Emotions were forced, dialogue was stale, and expressions were shallow. The only reason, the one and only reason, why the character of Will Darcy was dynamic was because the script said so. Henderson fumbled and bumbled his way along without attempting to put together a character or motivations. Truly, truly disappointing.

In the end, Bride and Prejudice is a fun movie to watch, although they could have left out maybe thiry minutes and not lost anything. If you're in the mood for some cool Indian dancing and music, good comic lines, and some lightly sweetend romance, this movie is good for a night on the couch with some popcorn and/or ice cream, depending on your mood. Just don't go expecting the best story or characters in the world. Austen pretty much had that covered when she wrote the thing.