"Bride & Prejudice" by Gurinder Chadha

This one stars my favorite Bollywood actress:

Miss Aishwarya Rai (in the middle)

Not to be confused with Pride & Prejudice, kids! Though actually, it's exactly the same story, just with Hindi-filmi flair! (Deal with it, Mike.) I am referring of course to the song & dance routines, the replacement of actual love scenes with women-in-saris-drenched-with-water, the over-the-top acting, the bright and elaborate costumes and sets, etc., etc.

Now, I am definately a fan of most things Bollywood and just Indian in general, however, even I have to say that some parts of this film were just too much to stomach! 2 major things come to mind:

1) Ok, the songs in Hindi films work *because* they are IN HINDI!!! Songs are one of the primary vehicles in traditional Indian story-telling and even religious instruction! This tradition has made it's way into the Hindi film industry and Indians (and some Americans such as myself) absolutely love it! But it goes without saying that the meaning that is *so clear* to them in their own language and sing-song style is COMPLETELY lost in the translation...hence our endless hours of amusement during our Friday nite meals @ India Garden. ("You've stolen my heart under various pretexts", or something like that...) So when I saw that Gurinder Chadha thought it would be a good idea to have a Bollywood-style market place song & dance number with ENGLISH lyrics (rather than in Hindi with our beloved English subtitles), I wanted to absolutely die. It just did not work AT ALL and it made me feel very awkward--which takes an awful lot in my case. (I am referring to the "Marriage Has Come to Town" song from early in the movie.)


2) Now this 2nd one is going to be more difficult to explain, but I will try my best. It also has to do with language and translation problems. Ok, when speakers of *any* other language (so I'm not just picking on Indians here) try to use English slang, it often just does not work. In "Bride & Prejudice's" case, I was having a very hard time figuring out whether the use (or misuse rather) of such words as "killing" for example (as a slang for cool--like Lalita's sister's "killing" outfit--I have heard "killer" but NEVER "killing") were intentional and meant to be funny, or whether no one on the set was entirely sure if this was right or wrong and therefore said nothing. I wish I could remember more instances of this, but Brad Frank and I both picked up on it several times with several different words & phrases. Now if it *was* intentional, then bravo! Cause she really nailed a hysterical cross-cultural faux pas in that case!

Now for some positives...because of the Indian tradition of arranged marriages, as well as the ever-present caste system, not only in modern-day India, but still very much alive in Indian-Great Britain and Indian-America today as well, the jump from Jane Austen's time to today went off without a hitch! It was entirely believable and really worked.

Second, I enjoyed the acting and loved the diversity of the cast! (Naveen Andrews is in this film...he's my buddy from "The English Patient", but most know him from his role on "Lost".)

But this next guy completely made the movie for me!!! Meet Nitin Ganatra:

aka Mr. Kohli Sahib...wowwww

This guy had some of the worst/best lines ever!! My favorite was, "You know, actually, I prefer American Hip-Hop, but as Gloria Estefan says, 'The rhythm is going to get you', so, bring it on!" UGGGGHHHHHHH. Why GLORIA ESTEFAN??!!! hahaha But, I totally loved it!

This guy is everything there is to love about awful.

And now, just for fun, a bit of trivia: Gurinder Chadha was also the writer/director for 2002's "Bend it like Beckham" which featured none other than Keira Knightley--who also just so happened to star in the other recent adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice! "Beckham" was actually the first movie I ever saw Keira Knightley in...I liked her, but hated her hair.

I will now leave you with one more fabulous quote...this one is referring to Indian dancing, and I will dedicate it to Jason & Emily. Enjoy!

"It looks like you just screw in a lightbulb with one hand and you pet the dog with the other...will you teach me?" ~The Darcy character to Ash Rai's Lalita