Bride & Prejudice (2004)
Reviewed by Rosie
March 2, 2006
I read about "Bride and Prejudice" in the paper when it was first released in the US. It was written that the people who made "Bend It Like Beckham" were responsible for "Bride and Prejudice", so I thought I should check it out since I liked "Bend It Like Beckham" a lot. But since the storyline did not seem that interesting to me, I sort of forgot to go see it, LOL, and never remembered the movie, until I saw a preview of it earlier this year on cable. I thought I should check it out, but again I never did. Well, not until I got admirable of MH's acting in "Torque" and then I made a note of "Bride and Prejudice" time and date of showing to watch it, LOL, which I did and then proceeded to buy both the US and UK versions of the DVDs, LOL.
Anyhow, "Bride and Prejudice" is an adaptation of Jane Austen's 1813 novel "Pride and Prejudice" set around an Indian family, instead of an English family. Basically, Lalita, played by Aishwarya Rai, meets a rich American named Will Darcy, MH's character, at an Indian wedding in her hometown of Amritsar, and hates Mr. Darcy with passion at the first sight, LOL. Of course it was not too hard not to dislike the guy, LOL, he came across as pure imperialist snob, LOL, good acting on MH's part of course. Mr. Darcy viewed Lalita as just a beautiful village girl! However, beautiful, yes she was, but simple, no she was not. She was actually very well read, very knowledgeable and a straight shooter, LOL. There is one scene when Lalita meets Mrs. Darcy, and she says something to the effect of why should I visit India, everything Indian can be found right here in California, to which Lalita answers, "I do not know about that! People did not stop visiting Italy just because a Pizza Hut opened around the corner. " I loved her in that scene, very polite and to the point, LOL.
Anyway, of course just like any good drama, LOL, that the girl meets the boy, they might not like each other at first impression, but eventually they end up together, LOL, Lalita and Mr. Darcy too, eventually, find their way toward each other, but of course not before series of irritable but increasingly engaging encounters.
I also loved the supporting cast; my favorite character was Mr. Kholi, played by Nitin Chandra Ganatra, he was just so funny and charming, well he tried, LOL. I also loved Mr. and Mrs. Bakshi, played by (Anupam Kher, the same actor who played Jess's father in "Bend It Like Beckham", and Nadira Babbar). They seemed such a great, caring and loving parents.
The one thing about this movie that bothered me, which got nothing to do with MH's performance of course, was the fact that some of the songs were in English. I liked the first song that was in Punjabi, I think, and I liked the "No Life Without Wife" song but the rest I had a hard time digesting, LOL. I lived in the Middle East for a few years as a child and Indian movies were very big there. So I had seen my share of Indian movies and got used to hearing Indian song with Indian words. So I found it pretty annoying to hear Indian music but with English words.
Anyhow, I thought MH did a good job as Mr. Darcy and I thought over all, this was a fun movie. You know, just like "Bend It Like Beckham" this movie is a feel good movie, you turn off the TV all happy and relaxed, but be sure to watch the ending credit, because again, just like "Bend It Like Beckham" the movie experience is not completed without viewing of those credits, LOL.