Bride & Prejudice is a musical rom-com adaptation of Pride & Prejudice starring Aishwarya Rai, Martin Henderson, Naveen Andrews, Namrata Shirodkar, Daniel Gilles, Nitin Ganatra, Anupam Kher, Nadira Babbar, and Peeya Rai Chowdhary.
The Bakshi family is a supposedly non-rich Indian family living in Amritsar. Chaman (Kher) and Manorama (Babbar) have five daughters, so of course Manorama is trying like crazy to marry them off. Things start looking up when her eldest daughter Jaya (Shirodkar) meets Balraj (Andrews) and the two are immediately smitten. The story really focuses on the second-eldest, Lalita (Rai), however, and her burgeoning relationship with Will Darcy (Henderson), a rich American hotel magnate.
Darcy and Lalita initially dislike each other, Lalita meets Darcy's former chum Wickham (Gilles) and takes a shine to him, Wickham winds up seducing the youngest sister Lakhi (Chowdhary), though "seducing" in this movie is a really tame thing, eventually Darcy apologizes for being a dick and proposes to Lalita, finale, ride on elephants.
It's basically beat-for-beat Pride & Prejudice. Our Lady Catherine analog, Will's mother Catherine (Martha Mason) doesn't get much screen time and her influence isn't really felt the same way - his sister Georgie (Alexis Bledel) actually moves things along more. But that's fine, we stay anchored on Lalita and her family as they navigate a culture that wants them married yesterday, and adds a Bollywood vibe to the whole thing as people break into song and dance (and, even as someone with no particular appreciation for dance, I have to say the choreography here was impressive). The movie is visually beautiful and colorful, but I like the way it transitions from the vibrant, busy chaos of Amritsar to the bright but boring sameness of the Los Angeles suburbs, with occasional stop-offs in London (which just kinda looks like London).
Henderson and Gilles do OK. Henderson doesn't really do Darcy justice - he nails the stiff, arrogant bit, but I think goes a bit too far into boring. Gilles is so obviously a scumbag from his first scene that it's amazing that Lalita, who's otherwise pretty sharp, ever saw anything in him (though it makes perfect sense for Lakhi). Babbar as the Bakshi matriarch is perfectly nosy and controlling, but I enjoy that Mr. Bakshi has his daughters' backs.
I actually enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would, especially as someone who doesn't know much about Bollywood (for instance, it was very confusing to me that couples weren't kissing, which is apparently a no-no). I do like musicals, and the music here is fun and upbeat, but doesn't make the movie drag on forever like some movie musicals (that's mostly adaptations of stage shows, though).
My Grade: B
Rewatch value: Medium
Next up: Conclave
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