BRIDE & PREJUDICE

A fun blend of Austen and Bollywood ...

By Abbie Bernstein     February 11, 2005

English writer Jane Austen probably never imagined her 18th-century novel PRIDE AND PREJUDICE as the basis of a musical set in 2005 Amritsar, India and Los Angeles, California (with a couple of stops in London). However, it turns out that the novel's concerns about young women trying not to get glued to the wrong men for the wrong reasons fit pretty seamlessly with the Bollywood-lite mood set by director Gurinder Chadha and her co-screenwriter Paul Mayeda Berges in BRIDE & PREJUDICE.

Lalita Bakshi (Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai) is the second of four daughters in the Bakshi family in Amritsar, India. Lalita would rather help her father (Anupam Kher) run the modestly successful family business than think about marriage, much less cooperate with her matchmaking mother (Nadira Babbar). At a party for a friend who's about to marry, Lalita crosses paths with wealthy American hotelier Will Darcy (Martin Henderson), whose wariness of India annoys her. However, Will's best friend Balraj (Naveen Andrews), an Oxford-educated businessman, falls hard for Lalita's older sister Jaya (Namrata Shirodkar), resulting in several visits. Lalita actually finds herself falling for Englishman Johnny Wickham (Daniel Gillies), a disgruntled former employee of Will's family. Meanwhile, Mrs. Bakshi is trying to hook the utterly unwilling Lalita up with Mr. Kholi (Nitin Ganatra), a gauche expatriate who is now a Beverly Hills accountant. As the action unfolds, individuals and crowds spontaneously burst into song and dance.

Followers of Bollywood films won't be surprised to see Rai's musical chops (she has a good voice, even if the looping is awkward here), though fans of the series LOST may be unexpectedly delighted by Andrews' assured singing and dancing. Chadha's eye for spectacle is highly enjoyable she color-coordinates the costumes on her singing crowds into rainbows and organizes one number that incorporates a gospel choir and singing SoCal surfers. Unfortunately, the song lyrics are a bit lackluster, though the jaunty number "No Life Without Wife," sung by the four Bakshi sisters, is pretty catchy, like one of the better numbers from GREASE.

The script impressively incorporates Austen's themes about snobbishness and class, giving them a global update at the same time as they put good observations about how one person's tolerance is another person's condescension. Rai is properly spunky, though Henderson is perhaps a touch too reserved as the cautious Will. Andrews is very dashing and Gillies is suitably charming. Kher is a most likable patriarch and Babbar is broad but works very well in context. Ganatra does a fine job of eliciting sympathy for his comic buffoon there's a delicate dance with Kholi's situation that we come to appreciate as the film progresses. Marsha Mason, Alexis Bledel and Kim Cattrall all show up in small roles.

While BRIDE & PREJUDICE doesn't quite sweep us off our feet romantically or musically, it is still likable, smart and eye-catching, bringing becoming freshness and energy and nifty dance moves to Austen's timeless issues.