“Bride & Prejudice” is about to test an old-fashioned movie idea: whether a stunningly gorgeous fresh female face can carry a picture all by itself.
This Bollywood adaptation of the classic Jane Austen tale of matrimony and misunderstanding needs a firm “yes” to the question. The dancing is uninspired, the lyrics are thin, the singing is suspect, the silly humor common to Indian farces is unlikely to inspire crossover audiences.
But don’t bet against Aishwarya Rai, who can barely hear her line cues over the loud thunks of jaws hitting the floor everywhere she turns. The major star of the subcontinent surley will find her way into more mainstream movies here. She has the “What-was-the- plot?-I-forget” power of a young Michelle Pfeiffer or a Julie Christie, her visage lingering long after the projector runs out of film.
Where was I? Oh yes, at the movies. Director
Gurinda Chadha finds her stories where East meets West and teenagers flee their parents. She gently guided “Bend It Like Beckham” into an arthouse smash, exploring the rich territory of immigrants struggling for both family security and generational independence in modern Britain.
Bollywood-style continent hopping may be the only way left to tell the familiar “Pride and Prejudice” story, which depends on anachronistic views of scandal to propel the plot. At the climax, the arrogant Darcy must rescue our heroine’s flighty little sister from the arms of a cad to win the day and the bride. In America, a teenager fleeing home for a one-night stand with a cute bad boy would hardly ruin a family.
In the straddling culture of India, however, where arranged marriages, dowries and bridal chastity retain their symbolism, words like “cad” and “bounder” and “ruin” still carry weight.
The burden of guiding her family around these traps falls to sensible sister Lalita (Rai), who must help older sister Jaya (Namrata Shirdokar) land her husband while keeping younger sister Lakhi (Peeya Rai) from eloping. American business tycoon Darcy (Martin Henderson) alternately courts Lalita and dismisses her as too headstrong.
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The Bollywood treatment means injecting bright colors, garish costumes, frenetic musical numbers and Dickensian fools every few minutes, whether it makes the movie better or not. In this case, often not, but the mood is harmless enough.
The least believable thing is Lalita, or at least her allegedly perilous marriageability. If Darcy gives her up, surely the next knock at the door would be Hugh Grant, or Johnny Depp, or Jamie Foxx. This woman is not in danger of spinsterhood, no matter how often shrewish mother Kiran (Indira Varma) goes into convulsions.
The fantasy moves forward on the strength of Lalita’s glorious countenance, and a few sweet conversations she shares in her better moments with Darcy. Henderson is literal and figurative vanilla next to Rai, but he has a pleasant blandness.
The misunderstandings and social commentaries of Aus-
ten’s original fall into place like familiar treasures. There need be no spoiler warnings for this happy ending.
“Bride & Prejudice” is a fun family movie, with eye candy for everyone in the audience. It will eventually be an interesting decoration on what promise to be long rsums for Rai and Chadha.
Staff writer Michael Booth can be reached at 303-820-1686 or mbooth@denverpost.com.
“Bride and Prejudice”
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PG-13 for some mature themes|1 hour, 50 minutes|BOLLYWOOD|Directed by Gurinder Chadha; written by Paul Mayeda Berges, from “Pride and Prejudice,” by Jane Austen; starring Aishwarya Rai, Martin Henderson, Anupam Kher, Naveen Andrews and Nadira Babbar|Opens today at the Esquire.
