DVD
REVIEW: BRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Starring:
Aishwarya Rai, Martin Henderson, Namrata Shirodkar
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Cinematography: Santosh Sivan
Music: Anu Malik
Lyrics: Farhan and Zoya Akhtar
Radio
Sargam DVD Rating: 6/10
INTRODUCTION:
‘Bride and Prejudice’ received plenty of attention following
its launch last year. This is hardly surprising considering the adaptation
of Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice is directed by Gurinder Chadha,
who gained International box office success with ‘Bend It Like
Beckham’. The acclaimed British Asian filmmaker has daringly transferred
the classic characters from the novel into a Bollywood setting, complete
with regular song-and-dance routines, beautiful locales and over-the-top
performances.
SYNOPSIS:
Mr. and Mrs. Bakshi (Anupam Kher and Nadira Babbar) are the proud parents
of four beautiful daughters. The rather dominating Mrs. Bakshi becomes
completely preoccupied with finding suitable partners for each girl,
starting with the eldest, Jaya (Namrata Shirodkar). News soon spreads
about an eligible bachelor, Mr. Balraj (Naveen Andrews) arriving from
London for a local wedding. Whilst Mrs. Bakshi rejoices at this wonderful
opportunity, she faces stiff competition from a surprising number of
fellow mothers with similar motives! Luckily Mr. Balraj ignores the
others and becomes immediately smitten by Jaya. The instant attractions
continue when Mr. Balraj’s good friend Will Darcy (Martin Henderson)
who spots Jaya’s sister Lalita (Aishwarya Rai). His good looks
and charm initially attract Lalita, although one or two conversations
later, she decides he’s arrogant and snobbish. Fate keeps bringing
the two together but their apparent pride and prejudice continue to
pull them apart. During this process Lalita meets a couple of other
suitors, including the conniving Mr. Wickham (Daniel Gillies) and a
hilariously terrible American Desi (Nitin Ganatra). Its selection time
and Lalita faces increasing pressure to pick her groom.
REVIEW:
Gurinder Chadha is the captain of the ship and does an admirable job.
She handles the story well and effectively uses stereotypes without
going overboard. However the film fails to delve too deeply into the
characters and leaves a lot unexplained. This makes it a little harder
to truly relate to the characters. Gurinder does score extra points
for showing a more real India rather than the fairy tale palaces often
used by Bollywood. However the country’s beauty still shines in
the film. There’s no denying a large number of scenes in Bride
and Prejudice look absolutely stunning. The cinematography is fantastic
and Santosh Sivan once again excels.
Aishwarya
Rai does a great job as the female lead. This isn’t quite a break-through
performance, but the Bollywood superstar should certainly get noticed
on a more global level now. Despite the weaknesses in the personality
of her character, Aishwarya manages to make Lalita very likable. She
breathes life into the character and some of Aishwarya’s facial
expressions (particularly during emotional scenes) are impressive -
the reaction shot during Chanda's (Sonali Kulkarni) wedding is first
rate! Martin Henderson is adequate. He does a decent job and his performance
is sound, although he won’t have the critics raving. Namrata Shirodkar
does well although her role doesn’t demand huge amounts. Meghna
Kothari was almost forgettable – until her entertaining nagin-style
snake dance, which raises quite a few smiles! Peeya Rai Chowdhry is
natural in front of the camera although she doesn’t get too much
scope. As the Bakshi parents, Nadira Babbar has a much, much better
role compared to Anupam Kher. She does a great job too and provides
plenty of humour. Poor old Anupam Kher is hardly around. From the remaining
cast, Indira Varma and Nitin Ganatra are particularly good and the rest
offer able support.
‘Bride
and Prejudice’ gives a friendly nod to Bollywood by featuring a
number of song-and-dance routines. The visuals of the songs look fantastic.
The actual compositions by Anu Malik are quite decent too. However the
effort falls flat for a couple of reasons. Some of the songs negatively
affect the narrative’s smooth flow and aren’t needed. Also
the English lyrics by Farhan and Zoya Akhtar are pretty terrible. They’re
cliched, lame and simply don’t work. Whilst the song and dance
routines might be more acceptable to the Bollywood audience, how will
others react? On a more positive note, Ashanti’s item number is
quite fun! The American singing sensation looks sexy and the visuals
for her special appearance are great. She tries her best with the Hindi
lyrics but struggles. It’s sometimes hard to understand what she’s
saying but top marks for effort!
DVD
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