Bride & Prejudice (2004)

Directed by: Gurinder Chadna | 111 minutes | comedy, romance, musical | Actors: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Martin Henderson, Naveen Andrews, Namrata Sirodkar, Nadira Babbar

‘Bride & Prejudice’ is intended to be a mix between American musical, the classic British drama “Pride and Prejudice” and the innocent Indian Bollywood film. With song, dance, humour, romance and drama, all these categories are captured, but the film still feels mainly Indian. To make this Bollywood production an internationally accessible film, director Gurinder Chadha shot scenes in London and LA and recruited Western actors. And above all, he bases the story on Jane Austen’s book Pride & Prejudice. The themes of Austen’s book, the emphasis on money and marriage, false pride and nobility, are easy to apply to the current position of women in India. The pride he replaced for bride, because everything in the film revolves around marriage and the turtledoves in question keep bumping into each other at other people’s weddings.

Chadna has increased its international accessibility even more by adapting the singing voices of Indian actresses, often cringingly high to Western ears, and some dance steps also betray Western influences. He has therefore specially set up a team of Eastern and Western specialists. For the dance, the director collaborated with Saroj. She started choreography when she was thirteen and since then she has choreographed hundreds of Indian songs. One of India’s most famous music composers Anu Malik was used for the music, who together with Craig Pruess (who also provided the music for Chadha in ‘Bend it like Beckham’), created a mix of Eastern and Western music, whereby of Bollywood music.

The whole thing is very contagious. The energy that radiates off the screen throughout the film is amazing. The exaggerated facial expressions and typical tempo dances are enchanting and the protagonists are also a treat for the eye. Aishwarya Rai was Miss World in 1994 and Namrata Shirodkar was Miss India in 1993. Martin Henderson, also not unattractive, is affectionately referred to by the director as the Kiwi Cary Grant. And we remember Jaya’s suitor, Balraj (Naveen Andrews), from his small role in ‘The English Patient’. His dance performance in this movie is exceptional, knowing that he has never danced in a movie.

To get the two bickering turtlenecks, Lalita and Will, together, Chadha uses the ancient technique of attracting and repelling. And he does this by citing all possible prejudices about the various cultures that pass in review. This ensures that ‘Bride & Prejudice’ is very recognizable for a large audience. Moreover, the prejudices are so exaggerated that it becomes extremely funny, but sometimes just a bit too long-winded. In any case, it makes the tension between the two lovers grow palpably, just like the longing in the hall for the moment when the two will finally fall into each other’s arms. But don’t expect a smashing tongue party, because that’s not done in Bollywood.

Yet it is difficult to avoid sitting with a smile from ear to ear when you leave the room. There are a lot of comedic moments in the film, in which mr. Kholi (Nitin Ganatra), the marriage partner nominated by mother for Lalita, takes the cake. ‘Bride & Prejudice’ is by no means a pompous film, actually a lot in the film is quite flat and concise, but it is very comical and entertaining.