Review
BRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Starring Aishwarya Rai, Martin Henderson and Daniel Gillies
Directed by Gurinder Chadha
Opens Friday, February 25
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Although Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice has been adapted to both the big and small screens numerous times, the Bollywood-meets-Hollywood Bride & Prejudice is a refreshing, vibrant and original take on Austen’s classic love story of misunderstandings and first impressions.
Directed by British-Indian director Gurinder Chadha (Bend it Like Beckham), Bride & Prejudice tells the story of the Bakshi sisters as they contend with social conventions and societal pressures on the path to finding love in India, London and Hollywood.
The talented Aishwarya Rai plays Lalita, the second oldest of the four Bakshi girls. When a haughty, snobbish American, Will Darcy (Martin Henderson), meets Lalita at a wedding in her working-class community of Amritsar, India, she is incensed at his seeming lack of respect for women and her home country. A battle of the sexes ensues as familial pressures, interracial issues, miscommunication and flirty sexual tension ignites. But, this couldn’t be based on Pride and Prejudice without a complicated love story, right?
Once described by Julia Roberts as "the world’s most beautiful woman," Rai is absolutely captivating onscreen. Although her beauty is almost ethereal, she convincingly portrays the down-to-earth Lalita. Her feminist, pro-love (not financial security) ideals and outspoken nature fly in the face of her mother who would rather Lalita sit quietly, find a husband and be a good Indian girl.
The film’s narrative subscribes to standards of India’s hyper-productive and madly popular film industry, Bollywood, infused with entertaining and elaborate song-and-dance scenes. Although based on traditional Indian song and dance, Bride & Prejudice fuses East and West to create catchy-pop musical sequences that are somewhat familiar, yet delightfully divergent to Western ears.
Bride and Prejudice sets itself apart from any other movie engineered by Hollywood’s movie-recycling machine. With its grand dance sequences, comic relief, musical numbers and elaborate, colourful costumes, the film itself is not subtle. But, what sets it apart from other love stories is the subtlety in the relationships that develop between both Lalita and Darcy and Lalita‘s older sister, Jaya (Namatra Shirodokar), and Balraj Bingley (The English Patient’s Naveen Andrews). Indian censors and moviegoers strictly forbid kissing and sexual contact. Although my mantra typically consists of "the more sex, the better," there's an idyllic quality to watching love unfold sans gratuitous gyrating. And, unlike the Lara Flynn Boyle's of Hollywood, the women of Bollywood are naturally beautiful, healthy and revered for their curves.
This may not be everybody’s cup of Earl Grey – or chai, for that matter– but if you’re looking for a movie that’s an escapist, fanciful, original good time, Bride & Prejudice is a cinematic carnival – minus the creepy carnies. |
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