Noiva e Preconceito

A fun movie. I watched it twice, once at the theater and once on DVD. The DVD has extended versions of the song and dance sequences which were also great.

What I like about this movie: Well, first of all, the fun factor. The pretty stars, the toe-tapping music, the dance sequences, the scenery of India, England and the US. These things all added up to pretty tasty eye-candy.

I also liked the international flavor and themes of the film. As was pointed out in the DVD commentary, it was a British film with a decidedly non-Eurocentric point of view. It was this while being a populist film at the same time. There are Indian actors from India, as well as British Indians and US Indians. Of course, there are white folk too.

The movie handles conflict between "Western arrogance" and native defensiveness without making one side more righteous than the other. And, of course, in the end, love conquers all. Well, love and wealth conquers all... Which leads me to what I didn't like about the film.

I have to admit, one reason I liked the film was because I loved looking at the beautiful, young actresses. So, maybe it is a tad hypocritical of me that the biggest turn-off was that the main appeal of the male protagonists (to the female characters) was their wealth and power.

Anyway. I thoroughly enjoyed the film and recommend it highly.

Inspired by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, this Western-style Bollywood musical can't possibly achieve the heights that a union of the best of East and West movie making and English literature might suggests, but it manages to fulfil a delightful couple of hours of song and dance that Western cinema these days struggles to accomplish.

Like the novel, Bride and Prejudice uses the ideas that that first impressions are often wrong, and that a person can mature if he or she keeps an open mind. The unlikely courtship of Mr Darcy and (in our movie) a beautiful Indian girl starts with mutual contempt, but moves forward as they become wiser and learn that their first instincts, based on pride, prejudice and illusions, were wrong.

The scene moves between Amritsar and Goa to London and Beverley Hills, all in brighter-than-bright super-saturated colour, with an assortment of equally colourful characters, wonderful costumes, lavish dance pieces and heavenly bollywood-style ballads. While almost everything is in English (except for a few subtitled songs), nearly all the characters are top Indian performers.

In the golden age of musicals, stars such as Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire had a whole sub-industry to draw on for good dancers who could also sing and act well, plus the technicians used to producing high-end musicals. As demand waned, so did supply, and the West is now hard pressed to produce song and dance films that don't rely on snappy editing to suggest good dancing from top actors, or heavy coaching to suggest top dancers can act. Bollywood, on the other hand, has no such shortage, and Bride and Prejudice is the sumptuously choreographed musical with Indian dancing that has become nigh impossible with western dancers.

Admittedly it's a bit cheesy at times - but it's self-consciously so, and as endearing as warm, gushy Indian hospitality. The sets and dialogue give authentic, if stereotypical, glimpses of Indian life and values. Like many east-meets-west movies, the stereotypes are a handle to allow easy assimilation of foreign ideas, and the heavy Indian involvement wards off any tendency to patronise (which is one of the themes explored in the film).

This is not high drama or high art, but it's an accomplished romantic comedy / song-and-dance film, and one that warms the heart and makes you want to wave your arms in the air Indian-dance-style for the sheer joy and exuberance of happy endings.

Well, it's pretty hard, isn't it, to write a spoiler for a film which is based on such a well-known, well-loved novel! I will show my hand here and say that I am a Janeite. However, I am not a purist and I like many Jane Austen adaptations that many Janeites don't (for example I like 'Mansfield Park'). I enjoyed 'Bride and prejudice' for its colour and fun. The attempt to update 'P&P' to a contemporary Indian setting worked well most of the time, with the translation to India being effective because it is a society where arranged marriages are still an accepted way to go. The script did a pretty good job of capturing the essence of the story whilst playing around with some of the details eg cutting out the fifth daughter whose role in the story is pretty minimal, and making the 'tyrant' in Darcy's life his mother not his aunt (a more realistic situation in its modern setting). I loved the 'no life without a wife' song and dance routine though it reminded me at times of the 'Matchmaker' song in 'Fiddler on the roof'. However, the film suffered a little, for a number of reasons, the main ones being that it left the Bollywood- style when it went to Hollywood (which changed the tone of the film), it didn't really find a good way to make Wickham as wicked as he is in the original, and there did not seem to be the same desperate need to be married as there was for the Bennet sisters in 'P&P'. These modern Indian women had jobs and could, it appeared, be independent without having husbands, removing the urgency that drives its 'P&P' original. Despite this, though, it does manage to incorporate some of the satire against pomposity and the arrogance of the moneyed class that makes 'P&P' more than a simple romance. Overall, then, I found it a fun film and an entertaining take on my favourite novel.

well what can i say i went to this movie expecting it to be really bad as i am not a big fan of the actress aishwarya rai but i was surprised . one must look at this movie from the point that it was made more like a bolly wood movie that is dramatic , has songs (as all Hindi movies are incomplete with out) and a dash of Indian culture yes the movie is based on pride and prejudice so a lot of people will go expecting it to be like the book and hence will be surprised. the whole point to having an Indian girl who is from a different culture, background,class and country fall in love with a rich ,snobbish American boy is to make it romantic almost i would say like a mills and boons romance. and this is where the movie gets a thumbs up. martin henderson as will darcy looks smashing and plays his role well . this movie is funny as well as emotional and has all the stuff required in making a good movie one must go and see this movie and expect it to be like a bollywood film and the person will not be disappointed.this is a truly different movie and is worth a watch.

OK, if you don't like people breaking into song unexpectedly, don't go see this movie - let me just say that upfront!

I went to see this re-work of my favourite novel and thought it would be atrocious and envisaged walking out of the theatre in disgust in advance. What I got was an explosion of colour and music, Bollywood style, and sure some of the songs were pretty awful, but hey, there were a few terrible numbers in Grease too, and I still love that movie!

The lead players were all virtually unknown to me but they were perfect in their roles. The role of Lalita (the Elizabeth role in the original book) was perfectly cast - she was beautiful and she really held the whole movie together. And Martin Henderson was perfect as the American version of the disdainful Mr Darcy, this time Mr Will Darcy.

Go and see this film if you are open to something new - it really is quite a faithful re-work of the story, and it is very entertaining.

The only people who won't enjoy this are people who hate musicals with a passion, or people who are purists to the original.

If you liked Chicago, then you can definitely enjoy this one too. (That also had some dodgy old songs, but the story carried you past those parts!)

Bring on the Bollywood!