Bride and Prejudice

About the film

Bride and Prejudice (also known as Bride and Prejudice: The Bollywood Musical) is a 2004 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Gurinder Chadha. The screenplay by Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges is a Bollywood-style adaptation of Jane Austen's 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice. Shot primarily in English, with some Hindi and Punjabi dialogue, the film was released in the United Kingdom on 6 October 2004 and in the United States on 11 February 2005 to mostly positive reviews from critics.

Plot

Lalita Bakshi, a young woman living in Amritsar, India, is invited with her family to a friend's wedding. There Lalita meets Will Darcy, a handsome and wealthy American, long-time friend of the Indian-British barrister Balraj and his sister Kiran. Balraj is instantly attracted to Lalita's eldest sister Jaya; likewise, Darcy is attracted to Lalita. Considering Darcy culturally rigid for disparaging the quality of the luxury hotel where he is staying and declaring arranged marriages backward, Lalita dislikes him. When a smitten Balraj invites Jaya to Goa, Mr. Bakshi asks Lalita to go along. In Goa, Lalita and Darcy clash over their ideas on men and women and India's economic future. Later that night on the beach, Lalita meets Johnny Wickham, from London, son of Darcy's former nanny, and Wickham validates her low opinion of Darcy.

The Bakshi family is visited by Kohli Saab, a relative of Mr. Bakshi’s sister’s husband, living in Los Angeles, who has come to India to find a "traditional woman" to marry. When Kohli Saab is attracted to Jaya, who Mrs. Bakshi considers destined for the wealthy Balraj, she steers Kohli instead towards Lalita, making Lalita uncomfortable. Despite Mrs. Bakshi's disapproval, Wickham is invited to join the family and Kohli at the Garba. Ignoring Darcy’s and Kiran’s warnings against becoming involved with Wickham, Lalita happily accepts a dance from him. When Kohli proposes to Lalita, she angers her mother by refusing him.

Balraj, Kiran, and Darcy are invited to the Bakshi house for dinner, where younger sister Maya performs a vulgar snake dance for the guests. Mrs. Bakshi furthers her guests' discomfort by commenting loudly on Balraj and Jaya's impending engagement and future babies.

Soundtrack

The songs were composed by Anu Malik. The lyrics were written by Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar.

Production

Bride and Prejudice received funding from the UK Film Council with the stipulation that a majority of filming had to take place in the UK. Locations used include Halton House, Stoke Park Club, Turville, and Cobstone Windmill in Buckinghamshire, and Southall, Somerset House, Little Venice, the London Eye, and the National Film Theatre in London. Other locations include the Golden Temple of Amritsar, the beaches of Goa, the Grand Canyon, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and Santa Monica Beach.

Ashanti sings "Touch My Body" and Gayatri Iyer sings "Take Me to Love" in the film. According to director Gurinder Chadha in "making-of" extras on the DVD release, Ashanti's appearance is an homage to the tradition of a celebrity making a cameo appearance to sing an "item number", a song that has no direct involvement in the plot in Bollywood films.

Critical reception

The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 64% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 134 reviews, with an average rating of 6.10/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A colorful and energetic adaptation of Austen's classic." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

Peter Bradshaw from The Guardian reviewed, "Bride and Prejudice could be any unremarkable Bollywood picture". Stella Papamichael at the BBC noted that "swapping corsets for saris, and polite pianoforte for the bhangra beat, director Gurinder Chadha reinvigorates Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice with fun and flamboyance".

Key details