Bride And Prejudice DVD > Reviews > A failed marriage of adaptations

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Disliked it
Characters / Performances	Weak
Soundtrack	Weak
How does it compare to similar films?	Weak

Advantages:	some performances, gives a flavor of Indian life
Disadvantages:	Falls far short of the complexities of the original

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I love Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice.’ I’ve read the book numerous times, and I’m addicted to the BBC/A&E version with Colin Firth. Two years ago, when I was studying the novel in English class, my teacher told us that the director of “Bend it like Beckham” was planning on doing an Indian-ized version of the story – set with Indian and American heroes and heroines, and adapted to Indian customs and traditions. I loved “Bend it like Beckham,” and I couldn’t wait for the movie to come out.

Sadly, as a broke college student, I was convinced I wouldn’t have a chance to see the movie, at least not for a while. Luck would have it that BA was showing it onboard my flight back home as part of a “Best of Britain” showcase, and I happily settled down to watch the movie. Suffice to say, I was disappointed by what I saw.

Adapted from Austen’s classic novel by director Gurinder Chada and Paul Mayeda Berges, the film transplants Austen’s story from England to Amritsar. The movie tells the story of the Bakshi family and their four daughters: Jaya, Lalita, Maya, and Lucky. As is true of most Indian families, one of the Bakshis’ central concerns is finding suitable husbands for their daughters. Enter Will Darcy, scion of an American hotelier family, and his best friend, Balraj Bingley, a rich British-Indian. The two are in town for a wedding, and this sets the scene for the meeting between Darcy and Lalita and Jaya and Balraj. Darcy appears interested in Lalita, but the affections are definitely not returned, especially after Darcy makes a few remarks that Lalita takes great offense to. Her dislike of him only increases when she accompanies Jaya to Goa with Balraj and Darcy, but the trip is rescued when she meets the charming Wickham and flirts away happily with him as Darcy unhappily looks on. Gradually though, some sort of change of attitude begins to occur on Lalita’s part. This is helped by her cousin, Mr. Kohli, who has come to Amritsar in hopes of finding a bride amongst his cousins, but goes away with Lalita’s friend Chanda instead. The upcoming nuptials has the Bakshi family go to LA for the festivities, and wouldn’t you know it, the wedding is to be held at one of Will’s hotels, and sparks begin to fly more noticeably between him and Lalita, until he upsets her once again. In the meantime, Lucky, the youngest sister, runs away with Wickham, and Lalita is horrified to learn that the rake had impregnated Will’s sister, causing her to have an abortion at the age of 16. Finally though, Lucky is returned safely, Jaya and Balraj are reunited, and Lalita and Will fall in love with each other, and presumably, live happily ever after.

The sad thing is, the movie sounds great on paper, but in reality, it falls far short of expectations. The script should work marvelously well with the Indian setting, but that gets lost in the East-meets-West conflict that drives the script instead. Chada doesn’t explore the fact that even considering a white man in a place like Amritsar would have tongues wagging, portrays the fixation with marriage as something quaint and strange rather than normal (seriously, you should hear the talk in my family about the unmarried 30 year old cousin), and doesn’t acknowledge that Lucky’s behavior could cause problems for the other sisters, just as Lydia’s behavior does in the original novel. She doesn’t even take the time to delve into the class issues that compromise the core of Austen’s original work.

She also seems overeager to portray the stereotypical ‘color’ and ‘vibrancy’ of Indian life, and stuff as much of it into the movie as possible. As a result, we have bhangra dancing at the sangeet (engagement ceremony), townspeople that look like villagers dressed in every hue of the rainbow in the market scene, and dandiya at the wedding. I don’t know if it’s just me, but as a Punjabi, I have NEVER seen dandiya done by other Punjabis. Dandiya is a dance from Gujrat, and I am puzzled as to why Chada, as a Punjabi, would stick that in a Punjabi wedding. Perhaps her reasons for doing so are to give foreign viewers a taste of ‘the real India,’ that Lalita quite rightly accuses Will of shutting out in his luxury resort, but the goal fails and winds up as trite exoticism instead.

If this weren’t bad enough, the acting leaves much to be desired. Aishwarya Rai has confirmed my belief that she is essentially a pretty face and not much else, for her acting skills are minimal and leave a lot to be desired. She also looks absurdly old to be playing a 21 year old. Martin Henderson is stiff and unlikable as Will Darcy, and Naveen Andrews as Balraj is never really introduced to the audience. The two highlights of the movie are the performances of Anupam Kher, quietly solid in his role as Mr. Bakshi, and Nitin Chandra Ganatra as Mr. Kohli, who gives a hysterical performance (the scene where he is on a bed in little undies is to die for).

The music is also terrible. Farhan Akhtar is a fabulous director, but he should consider giving up his aspirations of being a songwriter. The lyrics to his songs are awkward and childish, and the music is cheesy beyond belief. I know this film was meant to be a fusion between Bollywood and Hollywood, but music is central to any good Bollywood movie, and this soundtrack falls flat.

The movie had so much potential, especially given the success of ‘Bend it like Beckham.’ The story of the Bennett family fits almost like a glove to what could be a modern-day equivalent, but Chada has failed utterly in her attempts to create a Bollywood version of the tale. She is a talented director, no doubt, but this movie falls far short of expectations. It could have been incredibly good, witty, and intelligent in it’s observations on the absurdities and realties of societal traditions, but it fails to come even close.

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Director: Gurinder Chada
Script: Gurinder Chada and Paul Mayeda Berges
Starring: Aishwarya Rai, Anupam Kher, Daniel Gillies, Martin Henderson, Naveen Andrews