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Bride and Prejudice - Posted October 17, 2004
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Cast: Aishwarya Rai, Martin Henderson, Daniel Gillies, Naveen Andrews, Namrata Shirodkar, Indira Varma, Nadira Babbar, Anupam Kher, Meghna Kothari, Peeya Rai Chowdhary, Nitin Chandra Ganatra, Sonali Kulkarni
Music: Anu Malik
Director: Gurinder Chadha
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'Bride and Prejudice' starts in Amritsar and ends in LA. We are talking about the love story of Lalita (Aishwarya Rai) and (William Darcy) Martin Henderson. This explains the Hindi title, 'Balle Balle Amritsar to LA'.
The film with the Bakshi daughters, Jaya (Namrata Shirodkar), Lalita (Aishwarya Rai), Meghnaa and Lakhi (Peeya Rai Choudhuri) getting ready for the neighbour's marriage. The mother (Nadira Babbar), like all mothers is hopeful that her daughters will find suitable matches at the wedding.
Balraj (Naveen Andrews), a close friend of the bridegroom, arrives from the US with his sister, Kiran (Indira Verma), and his American friend, Will Darcy (Martin Henderson) to attend the wedding.
Balraj is the cynosure of all (mothers of young girls') eyes, for he is an eligible bachelor. However, he falls in love at first sight with Jaya. Will too is attracted to Lalita at first sight but is not aware that it is love. Ditto for Lalita. Sparks fly between the two and they share a hate relationship. Lalita misunderstands him to be a pompous and self-centred person. Her opinion is strengthened by the slimy Daniel Gillies (Johnny Wickham), poisoning her mind. She imagines herself to be in love with Wickham. On the sly, Wickham is also encouraging Lakhi (who is veryabout her attraction to him) to fall for him.
Soon the men leave the women behind in distress and in comes a distant relative of the Bakshis, Mr. Kohli (Nitin Ganatra) from the US. The determined mother decides to get him hooked to Lalita who turns him down at the first opportunity. On the rebound, he proposes to Lalita's best friend, Chandra (Sonali Kulkarni), who agrees. So the Bakshi women are invited to LA to attend the wedding. Here they run into their respective men and after a bit of hedging and hawing, their lives are sorted out.
Gurinder likes to refer to the film as 'a British musical' when it is actually a typical Bollywood masala film in the garb of a crossover film. There is romance, heartbreak, songs, and of course a predictable but happy ending. The musical bit, especially in the first half is very noisy but great fun nonetheless and is definitely worth a watch.
But the film does raise a few questions. Why does Jaya try to meet Balraj in the US when he hasn't bothered to keep in touch with her as promised? That makes her comes across a little desperate! Doesn't Lalita (like any elder sister would) realize that something is brewing between Wikham and Lakhi from the latter's behaviour towards him? While the older sisters (Jaya and Lalita) are close, there is no communication at all with the other two. Even those two do not interact with each other at all!
On the positive side again, brilliant casting by Gurindher. Aishwarya has never looked so beautiful before on screen. She puts in a confident performance and is well in control. Nadira Babbar is superb. Martin Henderson is handsome and charming. Anupam Kher, as Mr. Bakshi, is competent. Nitin Ganatra raises genuine laughs. Santosh Sivan's cinematography is great. Anu Malik's music sounds good.
While the English version, 'Bride and Prejudice', is for the multiplex audience, its Hindi version will be a sure hit with the Punjabis as well as the audience up North.
*** (THREE STARS) |
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