Review of Bride & Prejudice (2004) by Dannielle A — 13 Oct 2009

I've always had a strange affinity for "Bollywood" pictures. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this musical take on Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." All of the traditional elements are here (save the language; it's one of the few good "Bollywood" movies that's entirely in English, and works just as well as it does in Hindi); large-scale dance numbers (one of which reportedly took six full days to shoot!), the likes of which even Busby Berkley could never have imagined, a "guest star" singer (in this case, Ashanti) with which the rest of the cast never interacts, clever comedy, and (of course) color, color, color! But fans of the Austen novel can rejoice; even though the story has been adapted to the times and the genre, all of the essential themes are here (as are most of the characters, who are given similar Indian names, such as "Lalita" for Lizzy, "Kholi" for Mr.

Collins, "Jaya" for Jane, etc.). The result is a match made in cinema heaven. If you love "Bollywood" films, grand musicals, colorful cinematography, intricate love stories (though it's too bad that Indian taboo prevents us from seeing anybody kiss), the beautiful Aishwarya Rai, or would just like to see the actor who plays Sayid on "Lost" sing and dance (both of which he does very well, actually), then I can fully recommend this film.