Bride and Prejudice

Bride and Prejudice (also known as Bride and Prejudice: The Bollywood Musical) is a 2004 romantic 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". It was filmed 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. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics.
Plot.
Loosely based on Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", Lalita Bakshi (Aishwarya Rai), is a young woman living in Amritsar, India with her father (Anupam Kher), her mother (Nadira Babbar), her older sister Jaya (Namrata Shirodkar) and her two younger sisters, Lakhi (Peeya Rai Chowdhary) and Maya (Meghna Kothari). Mrs. Bakshi is determined to marry off all her daughters to respectable and wealthy men.
The family is invited to a friend's (Shivani Ghai) wedding ceremony along with Lalita's best friend Chandra Lamba (Sonali Kulkarni) and her Mother (Harvey Virdi), where Lalita meets Will Darcy (Martin Henderson), a handsome and wealthy American who is a long-time friend of the Indian-British barrister Balraj (Naveen Andrews), and Balraj's sister Kiran (Indira Varma). Balraj is instantly attracted to Jaya and likewise, Darcy is attracted to Lalita. During the wedding reception, Lalita takes a disliking to Darcy but when Balraj invites Jaya to Goa, Mr. Bakshi asks Lalita to go with and she reluctantly agrees to do so.
In Goa, whilst Jaya and Balraj enjoy themselves in the pool, 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 (Daniel Gillies), Darcy's former friend from London, and he validates her low opinion of Darcy.
When Jaya and Lalita return from Goa, Mrs. Bakshi announces that they will be hosting Kohli Saab, an obnoxious distant relative living in Los Angeles who has come to India to find a "traditional woman" to marry. When Kohli Saab is attracted to Jaya, Mrs. Bakshi steers him towards Lalita, making Lalita uncomfortable. At night, Lalita fantasizes about moving to England to marry Wickham over Kohli Saab. In her dream, Wickham transforms into Darcy at the altar, scaring Lalita away.
Wickham later arrives, stays at the Bakshi's home, and is invited to join the family and Kohli Saab at the Garba, despite Mrs. Bakshi's disapproval. At the Garba, Lakhi shows Wickham around and Lalita is surprised to see Darcy, who attempts to warn her that Wickham is not a good person. Lalita dismisses his concerns and happily accepts a dance from Wickham much to the disliking of Darcy. This also concerns Kiran.
Kohli Saab formally proposes to Lalita, but she rejects him, angering her mother. As Kohli Saab leaves, Balraj comes to the house to bid farewell to Jaya and promises to write to her from London. Lakhi later announces that Chandra is marrying Kohli Saab much to the surprise of Jaya and especially Lalita. Wickham also announces that he is leaving and promises to write to Lalita. Neither Balraj nor Wickham writes to the two older sisters, but Wickham is shown secretly writing to Lakhi. Kohli Saab and Chandra phone to invite the Bakshi family the wedding ceremony in Los Angeles. The family accepts and Jaya is excited to stopover in London hoping to see Balraj again.
In London, Kiran invites the Bakshi family to tea and informs them that Balraj is in New York with their parents to meet potential brides, devastating Jaya, Lalita and Mrs Bakshi. At Heathrow Airport, Lakhi, Jaya, Lalita and Mrs Bakshi coincidentally run into Darcy, who is also a guest at Kohli Saab and Chandra's wedding. On board Darcy offers his First class seat to Mrs. Bakshi so he can sit next to Lalita in Economy class for the remainder of the flight. During their stay in California, Lalita's opinion of Darcy slowly improves, and the two fall in love.
At the wedding, Darcy's condescending mother, Catherine (Marsha Mason) introduces Lalita to Darcy's former girlfriend, Anne (Georgina Chapman) who mispronounces Lalita's name as the movie "Lolita". Jaya and Lalita also meet Darcy's younger sister, Georgie (Alexis Bledel), who tells Lalita that Balraj and Darcy are not in contact because Darcy convinced Balraj not to marry an Indian girl with a "gold-digger" Mother. Lalita furiously realizes that Darcy is the reason why Jaya never heard from Balraj. Georgie waves Darcy over who runs to Lalita and confesses his feelings for her and asks her to marry him. Lalita angrily refuses, blaming him for Jaya's unhappiness, and validates her low opinion of him once again.
Back in London, Lakhi uses the family's layover as an opportunity to sneak away and meet Wickham. Darcy apologizes to Lalita, telling her that he has gotten Balraj to reconcile with Jaya. Lalita later realizes that Darcy was right about Wickham and calls for his help to find Lakhi. Darcy explains that Wickham got Georgie pregnant at age 16, tried to marry her for their family's money, and ran away when his plan did not work. They both rescue Lakhi and Lalita accepts Darcy's proposal. The film ends with a double wedding of Jaya to Balraj and Lalita to Darcy.
Cast.
Names in parentheses are the characters in the original Austen novel.
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 "Take Me to Love" and "Touch My Body" 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 6.09/10. 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 "positive 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".