Bride And Prejudice
Geoffrey Macnab in London 04 October 2004
Dir: Gurinder Chadha. UK-India-US. 2004 111mins.
Bollywood spectacle and British comedy of manners
collide head on in Gurinder Chadha�s Bride And
Prejudice, an entertaining if wildly uneven updating
of Jane Austen�s novel.
Chadha throws Indian, English and American characters
into the mix, cheerfully trading in all available
national stereotypes as she goes. Much grates. The
direction is often surprisingly heavy-handed and some
of the central performances are mannered in the
extreme. The cornball finale is so sentimental that it
would be considered contrived in the most mawkish
B-movie weepie.
Nonetheless, the film is lifted by its own relentless
optimism and energy. Chadha clearly wanted to make a
multi-racial, multi-national crowd pleaser. She has
succeeded, even if it sometimes feels that she is
bullying rather than coaxing us into liking her film.
Commercial prospects are hard to predict: there is a
clear danger of Bride being jilted at the altar. Some
audiences may find the film not brazen enough. Others
may feel its concessions to Bollywood conventions (for
instance, no kissing between the leads) push it into
the realm of the preposterous. Reviews are likely to
be mixed, although this shouldn�t much affect initial
business in the UK, where the film opens on Oct 8 and
where Chadha�s previous film Bend It Like Beckham
grossed $16.5m.
Miramax is releasing the film in the States at
Christmas, where there are possibly less names to
entice US cinemagoers. It will take vigorous and
inventive marketing to position the film with a
mainstream American public to whom the Bollywood
references may prove baffling. But this is broad,
accessible fare. With the right handling, Bride And
Prejudice has a fair chance of reaching a mass
audience.
As the story begins, American businessman Will Darcy
(Martin Henderson) has jetted into Amritsar for an
Indian wedding along with his friend Balraj (Naveen
Andrews.) Darcy is a good-looking but supercilious
sort who is openly contemptuous about Indian customs.
At the wedding, the two men encounter the four
beautiful Bakshi daughters and their impecunious
parents. Mr and Mrs Bashki are on the prowl for
husbands and think Balraj might be the perfect catch.
Right from the outset, it is obvious where the
daughters� affections lie. Lalita (Aishwarya Rai) is
drawn to Darcy while her older sister Jaya (Namrata
Shirodkar) likes Balraj. It is equally apparent that
both men reciprocate. However, there is a huge amount
of pride and prejudice to be overcome on both sides.
Much of the film�s charm lies in the shameless and
often gently parodic way it borrows not only from Jane
Austen but from every movie genre imaginable. There
are several nods in the direction of the prolific
Indian producer-director Yash Chopra. The denouement
takes place in London�s National Film Theatre, during
a screening of Manoj Kumar's Purab Aur Paschim (1970),
a propagandistic Indian movie decrying the corrupting
influence of the west on traditional Indian values.
At times, most notably during the flamboyant song and
dance sequences (brilliantly choreographed by
Bollywood veteran Saroj Khan), the film looks as
lavish as an MGM musical. But certain other scenes,
for instance the LA wedding (reportedly shot in the
grounds of a hotel in England�s home counties for
budgetary reasons), have the production values of a
cheap TV soap opera.
The knockabout humour rekindlles memories of Chadha�s
earlier film, Bhaji On The Beach (a comedy about
Indian women on a daytrip to seaside resort
Blackpool).
Bride And Prejudice makes fitful attempts to broach
such issues as American cultural imperialism and
western misconceptions about the east. In one scene,
we hear Lalita lecturing Darcy that he ought to escape
the gilded world of Goa holiday resorts and
investigate the "real India." Given that the film
itself trades in picture postcard imagery, this sermon
has a hollow ring.
The narrative lurches along in often confusing
fashion. Between musical interludes, we�re whisked
from Amritsar to Goa and then off to LA, via London.
What glues the film together is the characterisation.
Chadha may be dealing in stock types, but at least
they are full-blooded. There is an archetypal British
"cad" in the shape of Wickham (Daniel Gillies). (In
Jane Austen�s day, he might have been a young soldier.
Here, he is cleverly re-imagined as a backpacker.)
There is a buffoon in the shape of the LA-based Kholi
(a wonderful comic performance from Nitin Ganatra),
who is in love with western gizmos but clings
stubbornly to patriarchal Indian ideas about marriage.
There is an ingenue in the shape of Lucky (Peeya Rai
Chaudhary), the youngest Baskhi daughter, soon to be
lured astray by Wickham. Anupam Kher and Nadira Babbar
play the Bashkir parents as if they�re Amritsar�s
answer to Charles Dickens� Mr and Mrs Micawber.
Henderson is a little bland as Darcy but Aishwarya Rai
makes a spirited and very likable romantic heroine.
Bride And Prejudice isn�t going to win prizes for
subtlety or sophistication, but this is a very easy
film to warm to. It is also one of the most ambitious
yet attempts to combine western filmmaking with
Bollywood. If it succeeds, it is bound to inspire a
small army of imitators.
Prod cos: Bend It Films, UK Film Council, Inside
Track, Kintop Pictures, Pathe Pictures
Exec prods: Francosi Ivernel, Cameron McCracken
Prods: Gurinder Chadha, Deepak Nayer
Int�l sales: Pathe Pictures Int�l
UK dist: Pathe
US dist: Miramax
Cine: Santosh Sivan
Ed: Justin Krish
Scr: Gurinder Chadha, Paul Meyeda Berges
Prod des: Nick Ellis
Mus: Anu Malik
Main cast: Aishwarya Rai, Martin Henderson, Naveen
Andrews, Namrata Shirodkar, Indira Varma, Nadira
Babbar
(Screen Daily Reviews)
- Forwarded by AlmeidaG(ji)
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