The very British sensibilities of Jane Austen are introduced to the exotic flavors of the Bollywood musical in this romantic comedy with songs from the director of Bend It Like Beckham, Gurinder Chadha. Lalita Bakshi (Aishwarya Rai) is the lovely and eligible daughter of her socially ambitious mother and father (Nadira Babbar and Anupam Kher). Mother and father want to be sure that Lalita, the most beautiful of their four daughters, settles down with a man worthy of her, but she has proven
resistant to matchmaking, announcing that she will choose her own husband, and will choose him for love. While mother is keen on the profoundly annoying Kholi (Nitin Chandra Ganatra), Lalita has had her head turned by a handsome vagabond from England, Johnny Wickham (Daniel Gilles). But while attending the wedding of a friend, Lalita meets Will Darcy (Martin Henderson), a college buddy of family friend Raj (Naveen Andrews) who is the son of a wealthy hotel magnate. Lalita finds that Will makes a strong impression on her -- she can't stand him, but she also can't get him out of her mind. Will feels the same way about her, and as they inadvertently chase one another over three continents, will morbid fascination grow into true love? Bride and Prejudice marked the first English-speaking role for Aishwarya Rai, who had firmly established herself as India's leading female star when this film was made. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Every so often, the unseen managers of the galaxy bestow on us mere mortals a vision of rare incongruous beauty: a solar eclipse, a streaking comet, a shooting star, Bollywood goddess Aishwarya Rai happily riding a tractor.
By the time two newlywed couples lumber toward their honeymoons atop bejeweled elephants, the movie's frothy excess and good humor can make you say 'I do,' too.
Who would have guessed that transposing the Bennet family of Netherfield Park in 1790s Britain to a middle-class home in contemporary Amritsar, India would require so little forcing?
...anyone going into this film knows pretty much what it's going to be about, how it's going to end, what it will look like, and what to expect. There are no surprises.
I'm not a huge fan of Bollywood films (I've seen quite a few, back in the late 90's they used to show them at about midnight on channel 4, I had insomnia back then and used to watch them as there was nothing else on) neither am I a big fan of Jane Austen but I gave it a go anyway. I didn't like it. Gurinder Chadha was
a good director, Bhaji on the Beach was a brilliant British/Indian film but nowadays she seems more interested in making money by churning out soul-less crap like this. It's a complete mess. The editing is dodgy, the direction is shakey, there is no character development, the acting wooden (Martin Henderson is a cardboard cut-out) and no amount of bright colours can make up for that and for a musical the music was pretty poor too! Don't get me started on the stereotypes. Avoid.
No quotes approved yet for Bride and Prejudice. Logged in users can submit quotes.
Submit a Quote from 'Bride and Prejudice'
A quote can be a single line from one character or a memorable dialog between several characters. Please make your quotes accurate. Quotes will be submitted for approval by the RT staff.
Example:
Luke: Alright. I'll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
Top Critic
