Review of Bride & Prejudice (2004) by Alex Z — 23 Apr 2018

The best of both worlds. That is what you think of when you hear Bride and Prejudice. The film displays an Indians families hopes for the search in marriage for the daughters. The movie starts off with two men, Darcy and Balraj, that come to India in hopes of finding Balraj a wife. They search the country and end up in the Bakshi home. Balraj instantly falls in love and Darcy doesn't take too long to follow. The rest of the movie goes on a crazy ride for love and marriage. Overall, Bride and Prejudice is a very well developed film that has a great balance between Hollywood and Bollywood.

This was my first experience with a Bollywood film and it was a very interesting, but amazing experience. Usually when I watch an American film, the film has something for everyone, but when I see Bollywood films, they are directed more for one type of audience because of all the Indian culture. Also, when I watch an American film I am always ready for the excitement, and the action, and suspense but with bollywood films, they are mostly singing and dancing. Bollywood films are filled with at least 5 songs, which to me is completely different than the movies I am used to watching. Another experience I had with Bollywood genre is the fact that the characters in the films never kiss or have any sexual interactions. The only thing that happens in Bollywood films is the implication that something happens. To me, this is very different, because in American film, there are scenes in the movies that show sexual interactions instead of having the view guess about what happened. Overall, I still believe that Bride and Prejudice was a great combination of the Hollywood and Bollywood genre. The film had lots of singing and dancing, but yet it was able to relate to many different cultures because of the American and Indian characters.

One major thing I learned about the culture elements in the film is how important family is. In the movie, Mrs. Bakshi wanted everything to be perfect for her daughters. She wanted them to find a husband and get married. When her daughters were at first not able to find the right husband, she was sad because she wanted the family to be together, and for the family to continue to grow. Also, in the film when the Bakshi family was talking with Darcy, Darcy spoke about how nice it was for their family to always be together. He also mentions how his family is never together anymore because his mother is always traveling and staying at their hotels. This shows that family is a very important element to the Indian culture. Another important culture element I learned about that relates to this is how important marriage is. In the film, marriage was what the daughters were all searching for. To the mother, she felt that the daughters should find a man and marry him and then form a relationship, while the daughters wanted to make sure that they truly loved them before getting married. Lalita was a great example of this. Her mother was trying to set her up with a rich man just so they could be wealthy too, but Lialita didn't want to get married to just anyone. She wanted to find the person she truly loved and cared for. This shows how important marriage is to the Indian culture and how it brings together the family throughout the whole process.