Bride & Prejudice

"I'm a hopeless dancer, but this looks like you just screw in a light bulb with one hand and pat the dog with the other."

It's Jane Austen's classic...set in India...as a musical. Are you excited??

Mr. Bakshi (Kher) has a housefull of women: his wife (Babbar) completely focused on getting her daughters married, and his 4 daughters: Jaya (Shirodkar) is the oldest, Lalita (Rai) is the smart one, Maya (Kothari) is weird/socially awkward, and Lakhi (Chowdhary) is the youngest and boy crazy.

The film opens with the Bakshi's attending a local wedding. The big news at this wedding is the arrival of the best man Balraj (Andrews), who is from England and rather wealthy. He also brings along his friend William Darcy (Henderson), who is a wealthy American. Balraj and Jaya have an instant connection, while William and Lalita have a rocky start. The sisters are invited to go on a trip with William, Balraj, and his sister Kiran (Varma), and on that trip Lalita falls for an attractive Brit named Johnny Wickham (Gillies). However Wickham isn't wealthy, and their mother sets her up with wealth, but disgusting Mr. Kohli (Ganatra).


Every time someone came into the room while I was watching this film I kept explaing: It's "Pride & Prejudice" in India big, colorful musical numbers...but apparently no one else was excited. Basically if you've read the book or seen any film version (including Bridget Jones Diary), you know exactly what will happen. I like that they changed some of the characters names, but kept them close to the novel (the last names of some characters and the initials of the Bakshi girls: Jaya=Jane, Lalitha=Lizzie, Meghna=Mary, Lakhi=Lydia). This is my first Bollywood experience and it was great! I couldn't stop smiling. I was very impressed with Naveen Andrews (from Lost). I couldn't figure out who he was for the longest time, and then it hit me...and I was floored. His character is quirky and fun, too bad he wasn't in more of the film. The mother, as usual, was a pain, but the dad had some good lines. The other sisters didn't really have a presence, especially Meghna, but her cobra dance is hysterical...check it out! Lots of dancing, music, and color. Overall a great film!

Dude, it's quotable: there are little one liners laced throughout the film
Rent it multiple times: I'm still thinking about the cobra dance, omg. Also, the opening wedding was pretty sweet!

Bride & Prejudice (2004) 107 minutes
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Starring:Aishwarya Rai as Lalita Bakshi
Martin Henderson as William Darcy
Nadira Babbar as Mrs. Manorama Chaman Bakshi
Anupam Kher as Mr. Chaman Bakshi
Naveen Andrews as Balraj Bingley
Namrata Shirodkar as Jaya Bakshi
Daniel Gillies as Johnny Wickham
Indira Varma as Kiran Bingley
Sonali Kulkarni as Chandra Lamba
Nitin Ganatra as Mr. Kohli
Meghna Kothari as Maya Bakshi
Peeya Rai Chowdhary as Lakhi Bakshi
Alexis Bledel as Georgiana Darcy
Marsha Mason as Catherine Darcy