''Bride and Prejudice'' (also known as ''Bride and Prejudice: The Bollywood Musical'') is a 2004 romantic

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by

Gurinder Chadha Gurinder Kaur Chadha, (born 10 January 1960) is a Kenyan-born British film director of Indian origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in England. The common theme in her work showcases the trials of Indian women residing ...

. The screenplay by Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges is a

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

-style

adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

's 1813 novel ''

Pride and Prejudice ''Pride and Prejudice'' is the second published novel (but third to be written) by English author Jane Austen, written when she was age 20-21, and later published in 1813. A novel of manners, it follows the character development of Elizabe ...

''. Shot primarily in English, with some

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

and Punjabi dialogue, the film was released in the United Kingdom on 6 October 2004 and in the United States on 11 February 2005 to mostly positive reviews from critics.

Plot

Lalita Bakshi, a young woman living in

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

, India, is invited with her family to a friend's arranged marriage ceremony. There Lalita meets Will Darcy, a handsome and wealthy American, long-time friend of the Indian-British

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

Balraj and his sister Kiran. Balraj is instantly attracted to Lalita's eldest sister Jaya; likewise, Darcy is attracted to Lalita. Considering Darcy culturally rigid for disparaging the quality of the luxury hotel where he is staying and declaring arranged marriages backward, Lalita dislikes him. When a smitten Balraj invites Jaya to Goa, Mr. Bakshi asks Lalita to go along. In Goa, Lalita and Darcy clash over their ideas on men and women and India's economic future. Later that night on the beach, Lalita meets Johnny Wickham, from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, son of Darcy's former nanny, and Wickham validates her low opinion of Darcy. The Bakshi family is visited by Kohli Saab, a relative of Mr. Bakshi’s sister’s husband, living in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, who has come to India to find a "traditional woman" to marry. When Kohli Saab is attracted to Jaya, who Mrs. Bakshi considers destined for the wealthy Balraj, she steers Kohli instead towards Lalita, making Lalita uncomfortable. Despite Mrs. Bakshi's disapproval, Wickham is invited to join the family and Kohli at the Garba. Ignoring Darcy’s and Kiran’s warnings against becoming involved with Wickham, Lalita happily accepts a dance from him. When Kohli proposes to Lalita, she angers her mother by refusing him. Balraj, Kiran, and Darcy are invited to the Bakshi house for dinner, where younger sister Maya performs a vulgar snake dance for the guests. Mrs. Bakshi furthers her guests' discomfort by commenting loudly on Balraj and Jaya's impending engagement and future babies. Balraj comes to the house the following day to bid farewell to Jaya, promising to write to her from

. Much to Jaya’s and especially Lalita’s surprise, youngest sister Lakhi Bakshi announces that Lalita's friend, Chandra, is marrying Kohli Saab. The same night, Wickham announces that he is leaving and promises to write to Lalita. Neither Balraj nor Wickham writes to the two older sisters, but Wickham secretly writes to Lakhi. The Bakshi family is invited to the wedding ceremony of Kohli and Chandra in Los Angeles. The family accepts, and Jaya is excited to stopover in London, hoping to see Balraj again. In London, Kiran informs them that Balraj is in New York to meet potential brides, devastating Jaya, Lalita and Mrs Bakshi. At

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

, Lakhi, Jaya, Lalita and Mrs Bakshi coincidentally run into Darcy, also enroute to Kohli and Chandra's wedding. On board the plane, Darcy graciously offers his First class seat to Mrs. Bakshi so he can sit next to Lalita in Economy class for the remainder of the flight. During their stay in California, Darcy sets out to please Lalita on dates, her opinion improves, and the two fall in love. At the wedding, Lalita meets Darcy's younger sister, Georgina, who tells Lalita that Balraj and Darcy are not speaking because Darcy persuaded Balraj not to marry an Indian girl with a "

gold-digger A gold digger is a person, typically a woman, who engages in a type of Transactional sex, transactional sexual relationship for money rather than love. If it turns into marriage, it is a type of marriage of convenience. Etymology and usage ...

" Mother. Lalita furiously realizes that Darcy is the reason why Jaya never heard from Balraj. Darcy's condescending mother, Catherine, introduces Lalita to Anne, Darcy's supposed girlfriend, who mispronounces Lalita's name as "Lolita". Privately disclaiming any interest in Anne, Darcy passionately proposes to Lalita, acknowledging that he was unable to forget her though the "crazy" marriage will displease his family. Lalita angrily refuses, spurning his insulting proposal as well as blaming him for Jaya's unhappiness. Back in London, Lakhi uses the family's layover as an opportunity to sneak away and meet Wickham. Darcy apologizes to Balraj for interfering with his relationship with Jaya. Apologizing to Lalita for his arrogance, Darcy explains in confidence that Wickham got Georgina pregnant at age 16, tried to marry her for their family's money, and ran away when his plan did not work. Realizing that Darcy was right about Wickham, Lalita asks for his help to find Lakhi, who they both rescue. Seeing Darcy’s participation and respectful attitude toward Indian customs at Jaya and Balraj’s engagement celebration, Lalita accepts Darcy's renewed proposal. The film ends with the double wedding of Jaya to Balraj and Lalita to Darcy.

Cast

Names in parentheses are the characters in the original Austen novel. *

Aishwarya Rai Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (; Rai; born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress who is primarily known for her work in Hindi and Tamil language, Tamil films. Rai won the Miss World 1994 pageant and later established herself as one of the most-popu ...

as Lalita Bakshi/Lalita Darcy (

Elizabeth Bennet Elizabeth Bennet is the protagonist in the 1813 novel '' Pride and Prejudice'' by Jane Austen. She is often referred to as Eliza or Lizzy by her friends and family. Elizabeth is the second child in a family of five daughters. Though the circ ...

) * Martin Henderson as William "Will" Darcy ( Fitzwilliam Darcy) * Anupam Kher as Mr Chaman Bakshi ( Mr Bennet), Lalita's Father * Nadira Babbar as Mrs Manorama Bakshi (Mrs Bennet), Lalita's Mother *

Naveen Andrews Naveen William Sidney Andrews (born 17 January 1969) is a British-American actor. He is best known for his role as Sayid Jarrah in the television series '' Lost'' (2004–2010), for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a Primet ...

as Mr Balraj Uppal (Mr Bingley), Will's best friend * Namrata Shirodkar as Jaya Bakshi/Jaya Uppal (Jane Bennet), Lalita's older sister * Meghna Kothari as Maya Bakshi (Mary Bennet), Lalita's younger sister * Peeya Rai Chowdhary as Lakhi Bakshi (Lydia Bennet), Lalita's youngest sister *

Indira Varma Indira Anne Varma (born 27 September 1973) is a British actress and narrator. Her film debut and first major role was in '' Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love''. She is known for her television roles, such as playing Niobe in the BBC and HBO series ''R ...

as Kiran (Caroline Bingley), Balraj's sister * Daniel Gillies as Johnny Wickham (George Wickham), Will's former friend * Sonali Kulkarni as Chandra Lamba (Charlotte Lucas), Lalita's best friend * Nitin Ganatra as Kohli Saab (Mr William Collins) *

Alexis Bledel Kimberly Alexis Bledel ( ; born September 16, 1981) is an American Actor, actress and Model (person), model. She is best known for her roles as Rory Gilmore on the television series ''Gilmore Girls'' (2000–2007) and Emily Malek in ''The Handm ...

as Georgina "Georgie" Darcy (Georgiana Darcy), Will's sister * Marsha Mason as Catherine Darcy (Catherine de Bourgh), Will's mother * Shivani Ghai as Bride, Lalita's and Chandra's best friend *

Georgina Chapman Georgina Rose Chapman (born 14 April 1976) is an English fashion designer and actress. She was a regular cast member on ''Project Runway All Stars'' (2012–2019) and, together with Keren Craig, is a co-founder of the fashion label Marchesa (bra ...

as Anne (Anne de Bourgh), Will's former girlfriend * Harvey Virdi as Mrs Lamba (Lady Lucas), Chandra's mother * Mellan Mitchell as Bijili, Bakshis' servant * Rick Warden as Neighbor * Ashanti as herself in a special guest appearance

Soundtrack

The songs were composed by Anu Malik. The lyrics were written by Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar.

Production

''Bride and Prejudice'' received funding from the UK Film Council with the stipulation that a majority of filming had to take place in the UK. Locations used include Halton House, Stoke Park Club,

Turville Turville is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, west of High Wycombe, east-southeast of Watlington, north of Henley-on-Thames and 2 miles (3 km) from the Oxfordshire border. The name is Anglo- ...

, and Cobstone Windmill in Buckinghamshire, and Southall,

Somerset House Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...

Little Venice Little Venice is an affluent residential district in North West London, England, around the junction of the Paddington Arm, Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, the Regent's Canal, and the entrance to Paddington Basin. The junction, also k ...

, the

London Eye The London Eye, originally the Millennium Wheel, is a cantilevered observation wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London. It is the world's tallest cantilevered observation wheel, and the most popular paid Tourist attractions in the ...

, and the National Film Theatre in London. Other locations include the

Golden Temple The Golden Temple is a gurdwara located in Amritsar, Punjab, India. It is the pre-eminent spiritual site of Sikhism. It is one of the Holy place, holiest sites in Sikhism, alongside the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Kartarpur, Pakistan, ...

, the beaches of Goa, the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a mile (). The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon Nati ...

, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and

Santa Monica Beach Santa Monica State Beach is a California State Park operated by the city of Santa Monica, California, Santa Monica. The beach is located along California State Route 1, Pacific Coast Highway. It is long and has parks, picnic areas, playgrounds ...

. Ashanti sings "Touch My Body" and Gayatri Iyer sings "Take Me to Love" in the film. According to director Gurinder Chadha in "making-of" extras on the DVD release, Ashanti's appearance is an homage to the tradition of a celebrity making a cameo appearance to sing an "

item number In Indian cinema, an item number or special song is a musical number inserted into a film that may or may not have any relevance to the plot. The term is commonly used within Indian films ( Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu c ...

", a song that has no direct involvement in the plot in Bollywood films.

Critical reception

The review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported that 64% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 134 reviews, with an average rating of 6.10/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "A colorful and energetic adaptation of Austen's classic." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Peter Bradshaw from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' reviewed, "''Bride and Prejudice'' could be any unremarkable Bollywood picture". Stella Papamichael at the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

noted that "swapping corsets for saris, and polite pianoforte for the bhangra beat, director Gurinder Chadha reinvigorates Jane Austen's ''Pride and Prejudice'' with fun and flamboyance".

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2004 romantic comedy films 2004 films Films scored by Anu Malik British Indian films Films about Indian Americans British romantic comedy films British romantic musical films 2000s English-language films English-language Indian films Films about Indian weddings Films about interracial romance Films about weddings Films based on Pride and Prejudice Films directed by Gurinder Chadha Films set in Amritsar 2000s Hindi-language films 2000s Punjabi-language films American romantic musical films Films with screenplays by Paul Mayeda Berges Films with screenplays by Gurinder Chadha Comedy films about Asian Americans Asian-American romance films Pathé films 2000s American films 2000s British films English-language romantic comedy films