Bride & Prejudice DVDs
Reviewed by Rosie
March 2, 2006
I had read a lot about the UK version of the DVD and so I got curious to see what are the deleted scenes that were included in the UK version and not the US version, so I purchased the UK version as well. Actually, I guess they were fair; there are two deleted scenes in the US version that are not included in the UK version. They are the yoga segment and the market segment. UK version on the other had has one scene that I am curious why it was deleted from the movie to begin with, not why it was not included in the deleted scenes of the US DVD. But you know, actually you can download it from Aishwarya Rai's site.
It is called Kiran insults Jaya. What I thought was interesting in this scene is Darcy's transformation. Kiran says something to the effect of first generation Indian who immigrants to UK live in certain area of London, I believe close to the airport or something, including Jaya and Lalita's uncle. She continues that she does not understand how come when these families find jobs with good income and basically make it in UK they do not move to areas that Kiran considers better. Jaya leaves without commenting. Balraj follows her while getting really mad at Kiran, and then Lalita joins another group at the beach. That is why we see Darcy and Kiran sitting at the beach by themselves and Lalita is sitting with another group playing guitar.
Anyhow, Darcy then asks Kiran why did she have to rub their noses in the fact that their uncle has not opted to live in areas that Kiran considers upscale. I thought this scene showed Darcy's transformation. In the wedding scene when talking to Lalita he complains about his hotel room and its lack of basics necessity for the guests, and later on says that people who can afford it want the best and there is no problem with having a high standard. So I thought, basically in this deleted scene he is saying what Lalita told him in that earlier scene, that one should not force his/her standards on others. If Kiran thinks those areas where supposedly the first generation Indian live are not trendy, it does not mean that she has the right to look down on them.
The other deleted scene is the scene at the top of the mountain where Darcy is holding Lalita and in the end credit we see AR got distracted there while filming and started laughing. In the delete scene Darcy and Lalita are singing. I did not think it was anything special. So nothing gained by including it in the deleted scenes.
Also missing from the US version is the outtakes, which can also be downloaded from AR's site. There is a scene in the Mexican restaurant where MH cannot hold on to his stare and starts laughing. That was fun to watch. They show it at the end, but the one in the outtakes is much longer. You know, I think when MH laughs all the muscles in his face laughs. I suppose that requires talent, don't you think so? LOL.
And of course there is the "Arrogance, Pride and Vanity" song that was deleted from the movie, where both Lalita and Darcy sing. I actually bought the DVD just to see this song, and I did not think it was anything special, LOL. First of all, I thought it was so obvious that MH did not sing this song. The voice was so different, and was very noticeable. Other songs, I think, since more than one person sings them, or maybe the music in those are stronger, I did not feel that it was not the voice of the actors, but here I thought it was very obvious. Actually, you know I take it back, LOL, I think, the song by itself (just hearing it) is tolerable, watching the scenes without the song is also tolerable, but put two of them together and Rosie (referring to myself in a third person, priceless of course) has to excuse herself to leave the premises, LOL, in short NOT tolerable. Anyhow, there is a scene that Belraj with Jaya and Darcy with Lalita are riding motorcycles. Jaya is holding Balraj to keep her balance, but Lalita is holding to the back of her seat refusing to hold on to Darcy, LOL, I thought that was funny. Then Darcy gets a phone call and stops, Lalita yells for Jaya and Belraj to wait for them when Darcy signals her to be quite, that is a cute scene. And I have to confess that I thought MH looked really hot with sunglasses and white shirt in that scene, LOL.
And lastly there was a one-minute or so missing from MH's interview in the US version of the DVD, where he is explaining that he does not understand when the Indian crew shake their heads left and right what do they mean, are they saying yes, or are they implying no. And then he laughs, again with all the muscles in his face. That was fun to watch too.
So anyhow, these are the differences that I noticed in the US and UK versions of DVD. There is also a Hindi version of the DVD that seems to be 8 minutes longer (US and UK are 112 minutes, and Hindi version is 120 minutes), but so far, I have refused to buy it, LOL, I have reasoned with myself that once I actually learned Hindi, I will buy the DVD as congratulatory present for myself, LOL.