Bride and Prejudice -A review
By- Deepa Nair

Producer: Kintop Pictures and Bend it Films Director: Gurinder Chadda Starring: Martin Henderson, Aishwariya Rai, Anupam Kher Nadira Babbar, Namrata Shridokar, Naveen Andrews Indira Verma, Megna Kothari, Sonali Khulkarni and Peeya Rai Chaudhary Music: Anu Malik

Literature has always been an inspirational factor for many filmmakers, who have generously adapted Literary masterpieces. Gurinder Chadha embarks on such a mission with Bride and Prejudice, an indianized version of Jane Austen's much loved classic Pride and Prejudice. As Chadha says," It's a very British Asian movie that incorporates India, England and America," The film, sadly is an awfully bad interpretation of Austen's classic.

Synopsis:

'It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.' - Jane Austen

Just as Austen's novel throws us directly into the 18th century England, preoccupied with the game of husband hunting,Chadha's film begins with the arrival of the rich NRI Balraj(Naveen Andrews) with his pretentious sister kiran (Indira Verma) and their multi millionaire, snotty American friend Darcy to Amristar for a wedding.

The middle class Bakshi family -Mr and Mrs Bakshi (Anupam Kher and Nadira Babbar ), and their four daughters- Jaya (Namrata Shirodkar), Lalita (Aishwarya ), Maya (Megha) and lucky (Peeya) also attend the wedding function. Sparks fly as Balraj sees Jaya and Darcy too is attracted to Lalita, (though he ends up offending the headstrong Lalita with his condescending attitude).

Desperate to get her daughters married to rich men, Mrs Bakshi is overjoyed at Balraj's interest in Jaya. She even packs off both Jaya and Lalita on a Goa trip with Balraj and party. In Goa, while Balraj and Jaya have a ball, Lalita's dislike for Darcy deepens as she gets into an argument with him. She meets Darcy's sworn enemy Johnny Wickham (Daniel Gillies), a carefree globetrotter and starts liking him. Wickham tells her the reason behind Darcy's dislike for him and this further deepens her hatred for Darcy.

Soon they are back home and meet Mr kohli, the presumptuous, comical NRI relative, looking for a bride. "No life without wife" he maintains. Mrs Bakshi is overjoyed at the prospect of getting Lalita married to Kohli. Much to her mother's horror, Lalita rejects Kohli's proposal as she would only marry for love. Rejected and insulted Kohli leaves in a huff only to propose and later get married to Lalita's friend Chandra.

In the meantime Johnny also lands up at the Bakshi residence and is permitted to stay with them(!!!). Lucky with her "animal spirits" shamelessly flirts with Wickham and Lalita too finds herself getting more and more attracted to him. Johnny leaves in few days and promises to write to them.

Balraj too heads back to London after promising to write to Jaya.

The party is soon over as Balraj doesn't contact Jaya. Everybody is heartbroken, Jaya for obvious reasons and Mrs Bakshi as she has lost a rich catch. Chandra is now in LA with her husband Kohli. She invites the Bakshi family to LA to attend her American style wedding. Mrs Bakshi with Jaya, Lalita and Lucky head to LA via London. Once in London, anxious to know about Balraj, Jaya and Lalita meet Kiran. Kiran receives them coldly and tells them that her parents are looking for a good match for her brother. Jaya is left heartbroken at this news.

On the way to LA the Bakshis bump into Darcy at the airport. Darcy gallantly offers his business class seat to Mrs Baskhi(who grabs the offer) and sits next to Lalita(in the economy class). He reveals the truth about Wickham's nature. Lalita softens towards Darcy and she nows realises that she was wrong about him.

Lalita's romance is short lived as she soon finds out from Darcy's sister that Darcy had prevented Balraj from getting married to Jaya. This infuriates Lalita and the moment Darcy avows his love for her, Lalita confronts him and accuses him of ruining her sister's life.

Darcy accepts his fault and tells her that he was indeed mistaken about Jaya's real feelings for Balraj.

Meanwhile lucky, who had been in touch with Wickham (email correspondences) elopes with him. It is Darcy, who in a typical bollywoodish dishshoom dishshoom style saves her. He also sets things right between Balraj and Jaya.

The scene shifts to Amristar. It's Jaya and Balraj's wedding .There is an air of gaiety all around. Lalita searches for Darcy and finds him, changed and indianised. The hero and heroine chastely embrace. The film ends with both the pairs getting married.

Review:

If reading the summary tired you, think what the movie did to me. Chadha claims "It is very true to Jane Austen and the spirit of the book, and I think if she came down and went to see it in her local Odeon (cinema), she would like it".

Well, I am positive Austen must have turned a couple of times in her grave!!!

Gurinder chadha's Bride&Prejudice, after the much acclaimed Bend it like Beckham has come as a huge disappointment.

Bride and Prejudice is a faithful version of Austen's novel as so far as adhering to the story line of the source material is concerned but Chadha fails to retain the essence of the original work. The film is a flippant interpretation of a masterpiece as the characters are changed into shadowly figures.

To begin, Martin Henderson is no way the haughty, class conscious Darcy. Even if this humbler version of Darcy is accepted, one wonders what happened to the vivacious sparkling lizzie(Austen's elizabeth ). Lalita, is such a disapponitment. Her supposed intellectuality is restricted to mouthing platitudes about the "real India". Unlike Elizabeth Bennet, Chadha's Lalita never grows in the course of the film. The viewer hardly comprehends her transition from a prejudiced woman to a more perspicacious one, who learns to appreciate Darcy. It's almost impossible to decipher the changes(if any) in Lalita's attitude towards Darcy. The multilayered themes of "pride" and "prejudice" could have been worked out in a better manner.

Some of the best moments in the novel are either missing or are distorted in the film. The classic scene where lizzie enters Bingley's house in a muddied dress, looking wild with fatigue after having walked 4 miles to meet her ailing sister is strangely left out.

Moreover, Darcy's proposal in the novel is a very effective scene which simply loses its charm in the film.

Bride and Prejudice, manages to bring out(though weakly) some very novel ideas. If it was Darcy's aristocratic class concerns that prevents him from acknowledging his love for Elizabeth in Austen's novel. Here, it is Darcy's orientalism. He looks at India from his coloured western eyes. Finally, it is his love for Lalita that teaches him understand the Real India. One sees a changed Darcy(Indianised complete with the tilak and drums) in the last scene.

Pride and Prejudice has always been a favourite with the Indians. For Austen's world is not much different from the middle class Indian homes. Like the 18th century England of Austen's novel, the world in Chadha's film is primarily concerned with the question of matrimony. Marriage for Bakshi sisters and their friends offer the sole mode of escape from the small town they were born in. The craze of getting NRI grooms for daughters is also something quite real in India.

There are ample number of song and dance sequences. But despite the opulence of sound and colour, they simply fall flat. The initial wedding dance is too chaotic even for the Indian taste. Some of the songs are so bad that you feel like tearing your hair out

Star Fare:

Aishwarya Rai(one wonders why she was given Elizabeth's role),is all glamour and nothing else. In some scenes the furnitures emote better than her. She fails to display the sparkle in Elizabeth's character. Martin Henderson fares better than Aishwarya, though he is too stiff in certain scenes. Who knows Bride and Prejudice might do the same that Bend it did for Keira's career. Nadira Babbar was a delight to watch as the groom hunting Mrs Bakshi. Anupam Kher, remains a shadowy character throughout the film. All the three sisters did their part well especially lucky (Peeya) and Mr Kohli provided the much needed comic relief.

Rating:

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