WHY A BOLLYWOOD VERSION?
How did Chadha, who directed Bend it Like Beckham, come up with this interesting idea? In an interview at Handbag.com Chadha says that she wanted to make a British Bollywood movie. She then thought of making such a movie based on a familiar story likely to be popular with people who liked Bend it Like Beckham. According to Chadhi: "...the more I looked into working on that and breaking down the novel to see how we would make it work in this Indian setting, the more I thought man, this Jane Austen, she must have been a Punjabi in a previous life...The cultural morals and values that she was writing about in the late 1700s fit exactly small town India today."
THE PLOT
Mrs. Bakshi, like Mrs.Bennet, determined to marry her four daughters seizes on the arrival of Mr.Bairaj (Mr. Bingley), the family's new neighbour, as a prospective suitor for her eldest girl Jaya. However Lalita, based on Elizabeth, the second eldest, will only marry for love.
When she meets American hotelier, Will Darcy, sparks fly, but there are many cultural conflicts to contend with. These conflicts replace the problems of class distinction in the novel.
Another problem is caused by her father's poverty. He is unable to afford to pay the wedding dowry.
Apparently the villain of the piece is an Englishman, Mr. Kholi, an odd accountant, who travels back to India to search for a wife. Making the enemy an Englishman I think is somewhat clichéd.
Perhaps the hero's American nationality is designed to appeal to that huge market.
REVIEWS
Bride and Prejudice has received extremely mixed reviews. Phillip French of The Observer, writes that the movie is 'ultimately trite and banal, rather than poised'. In his very acerbic review he also declaims that Bride and Prejudice is '...not even a baby Austen. It's Mills and Boon, which we know to have been the favourite reading of Ray's friend, Indira Gandhi." (Ray is the Indian director, Satiyajiit Ray.)
Raja Sen, however, in Rediff.com, writes that: "Reassuringly funny and cleverly scripted, Gurinder helms a magnificent ride, the feel-good-est of recent Indian fare."
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