An old story with a new, colorful twist, "Bride & Prejudice" takes Jane Austen's classic novel "Pride and Prejudice" and places it in current-day Amritsar, India.
Director Gurinder Chadha keeps much of the original story line intact, introducing the four Bakshi sisters, primed for marriage by their mother. Lalita (Aishwarya Rai) is Austen's Elizabeth, a strong-willed woman who refuses her mother's frequent arrangements and declares she will only marry for love. She meets her match in wealthy Will Darcy (Martin Henderson), a seemingly pompous, ethnocentric American with whom she shares a quick temper and wit.
Chadha relies heavily on the fusion of Eastern and Western culture in this film. The Bakshi sisters are modern women living in a modern world; frequently dressed in blue jeans and ponytails, they seem embarrassed by their mother's old-fashioned attempts to find them wealthy suitors. In the same respect, their country town in India is considered much too crowded and underdeveloped in Darcy's mind, as he initially judges it according to his own affluent Western worldview.
Moreover, as further testament to Chadha's interest in cultural amalgamation, "Bride & Prejudice" includes a cameo of U.S. singer Ashanti as herself, performing in Hindi at an Indian resort town.
Adding a great comedic ingredient are characters such as Mr. Kholi (Nitin Chandra Ganatra), an Indian suitor from Los Angeles whose wealth woos Lalita's mother. It is painful to listen to Kholi's laugh and self-conscious use of American slang; yet somehow, easy to feel for him.
The bright colors and song and dance in "Bride & Prejudice" also are products of a typical Bollywood movie. A wedding scene at the beginning particularly employs these elements well: Rather than rely on individual dialogue, Chadha has wedding guests - dressed in loud yellows, pinks and reds - dance and sing their thoughts about love and courtship. Such musical numbers are not at all distracting. Without its song and dance, "Bride & Prejudice" would lack a good deal of color and entertainment.
