Kandukondain Kandukondain

Having watched Bride and Prejudice and being an Austen fan, I was more than curious to see how this adaptation of Sense and Sensibility would turn out. What a treat! This film takes the basic plot line of two sister's and their journey with love. There is an older sister who longs for love, yet puts family above her own needs, and the younger one, who nearly misses true love because of her inability to see past her romanticized ideas. The opening battle scenes are definitely not Austen, and neither are all the MTVized song and dance numbers. BUT, that's what makes this movie a unique screen experience. It's the blending of Western and Eastern ideas of a universal plot: love lost and love regained. There is comedy, romance, even action in this one. We are becoming definite fans of Bollywood films. They bring a new twist to the old Hollywood musicals of yesteryear, and subtitles don't get in the way of the entertainment. Very colorful, fun, and even enchanting.

I think the fact that this movie has a 5.9 is really sad. This movie is incredible. It is based on a great tale and is an all-out production, so it has to be great. The fact that it features a former Miss World doesn't hurt either. But really, this movie is awesome. I am white, so you can't call me biased. Everyone i know that has ever seen it has loved it. My 10 year old sister and mother are planning to buy it. And if you like the songs in Indian movies, this has some of the best. I would say more, but i don't even think i need to. Just see it. You will see.

Indian movies are unlike any other movies I have ever seen--and I've seen a lot of foreign films! I was initially surprised to see some very odd clichés--even in a drama like this reworking of Jane Austin's Sense and Sensibility the actors periodically break into MTV-like music video songs! The first couple times, this movie really surprised me--as out of no where, groups of dancers magically appeared and the main characters suddenly appeared in such diverse locales as Scotland and Egypt! However, once I got past the oddness of this and the music, I found I actually liked the musical numbers--they were strangely endearing.

But, the best thing about this story was the script. It started off weird--with a group of Indian soldiers being ambushed while on a peace-keeping mission. I certainly did NOT remember that when I read the book!! Try to look past this and the singing and you will find a very vibrant script with characters you really care about and that will touch your heart. I found myself getting quite misty-eyed near the movie's conclusion!

The few Bollywood films I've seen have usually thrown me for a loop - I have trouble holding on to all of the plot points when the music videos interrupt - but this one grabbed me and wouldn't let go. When the dancing happened, the story wasn't destroyed. The constant gorgeous visuals helped carry me through, and the actors were completely engaging. It was great to be able to enjoy Jane Austen again, without knowing quite what would happen next.

Someone must have misunderstood the system when rating this movie. It's far better than the 6.1 it has right now. The only trouble I noticed was that Miss World kept outshining her surroundings, and occasionally drew my attention away from the story. No complaints, though.

I liked this movie a lot - the characters were engrossing & the music wonderful. But.. and it's a big one, the DVD version that I saw is horribly subtitled. The sentence structure is garbled, words are misspelled and worst of all the subtitles flash by on the screen and sometimes cannot be read even with the speed set at slow plus often times they are way behind the action on the screen. It's really a shame because it is a contemporary & culturally interesting adaptation of Sense & Sensibilty if you can see your way clear of the subtitles. This is actually one time I would have preferred a dubbed version. Perhaps with the success of Bride and Prejudice someone will see fit to release this movie with the subtitles it deserves.