Bride & Prejudice
review by Agnieszka Tennant | posted 2/11/2005
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She had already successfully matched opposing cultures in the delightful sports comedy Bend It Like Beckham. In her most recent musical comedy Bride & Prejudice, the plucky director Gurinder Chadha attempted an equally winsome matchmaking. And, if you don't expect too much of her, she succeeded.
Aishwarya Rai plays the role of Lalita
As far as arranged marriages go, the union of modern-day small-town India and Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, set in 19th century rural England, is a suitable match. True, in Austen's times, no drag queens openly danced in the streets, as they do in Amritsar, India—and lovers sent their letters by couriers, not by e-mail. But in both worlds mothers of pretty young women with meager dowries bank on "a truth universally acknowledged"—namely, "that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife," as Pride and Prejudice puts it. Or, as the film's heroine translates it, "Anyone who's got big bucks is shopping for a wife." Or, as the pajama-clad sisters sing to an annoying melody, horsing around in a silly dance and hinting at their feminist aspirations, there's just "no life without wife." You get the theme of their prayers.
Lalita and Will (Martin Henderson) fall for each other … or not
In the book's loose and wackiest cinematic adaptation, the officious Mrs. Bakshi nervously searches for rich suitors for her four daughters. Much to her consternation, Lalita, the most beautiful daughter—played with endearing ease by Aishwarya Rai, former Miss World and the most expensive actress in Bollywood—wants to marry for love. This is not to say that she cannot argue in defense of arranged marriage. Come to think of it, her brains get in the way of whatever her beauty accomplishes. "Don't say anything too intelligent" is the advice Lalita gets from her mother in a scene that has the vibe of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, before a wealthy but dim-witted Indian from California (played hilariously by Nitin Gantara) joins the family for dinner.
Enter Will Darcy, an American hotelier played stiffly by Martin Henderson. It's not entirely clear why the clever Lalita would fall for the guy who was given almost no depth and verve by the scriptwriters. Oh, well, character development has never been a strength of Bollywood musicals. The two fall in love almost at first sight. In a musical number so sappy it's laugh-out-loud funny, they run through shooting fountains, fly over the Grand Canyon, and gaze into each other's eyes on Santa Monica beach, giving words to their hearts' desires in the song "Take Me to Love," helped by a gospel choir that appears on the beach out of nowhere. Soon, of course, per Austen's plot, Will Darcy and Lalita become suspicious of one another need to overcome pride and prejudices in the form of silly misunderstandings before they know if they were meant to be together.
Will and Lalita on the dance floor
The other marriage arranged by Chadha in the movie—that of Hollywood and Bollywood—feels a little awkward at first. I mean, drag queens in saris dancing with the conservative girls on the streets of Amritsar? The Indian mother encouraging her daughter to show herself off in a bathing suit to a prospective catch? And who can explain the American pop star Ashanti singing "The Goa Groove" on the beach in India? The unlikely coupling of Hollywood and Bollywood survives in the end, thanks to the filmmakers' self-deprecating, zany sense of humor and to Bollywood's exuberant flamboyance.
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