The 'Bride' raises hackles

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal" style="" text-indent:36pt=""><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="0" width="36.5%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" ffffff=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/875296.cms" alt="/photo/875296.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal">The Brit stiff upper lip is curled.Irrevocably. After all, a <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">naach gaana </span>packed Bollywood film, replete with <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">lehengas, mehendi</span>, Amritsar, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">balle balle </span>and one of India''s ''most beautiful'' woman Aishwarya Rai descended on the land of William Shakespeare in a big way on Monday. <br /><br />But the film, based on British classic <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Pride and Prejudice</span> by Jane Austen and juxtaposed in an Indian setting made by non-resident Indian Gurinder Chadha with an Indian star cast has had a section of the country''s media panning it for taking liberties with a strictly British affair.<br /><br />Reuters has reported the premiere as one where "exotic fairy light garlands and Indian drummers in traditional tunics have brought Bollywood to Britain, where stars walked up a pink carpet, rather than the usual red, into the London Palladium, decorated in Indian fabrics and fairy lights and abuzz with the sound of Indian drummers".<br /><br />But British website futuremovies.co.uk in its review has not spared such generous thoughts. “<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Bride and Prejudice </span>is entertaining enough. It has lavish spectacular moments, lots of local colour, gorgeous settings, beautiful actresses, and some terrible songs. But what''s the point of it?" <br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></div> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" center=""><img src="/photo/875300.cms" alt="/photo/875300.cms" border="0" /></div> <div class="Normal"><br />"<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Bridget Jones'' Diary </span>took the bare bones of the story and made it fresh. Andrew Davies and the BBC made it sexy. <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Bride</span>... somehow manages to do neither."<br /><br />"Maybe it’s just that you need to understand the conventions of Bollywood – for instance, the lovers never kiss, just embrace chastely, preferably in front of a massive florid sunset."<br /><br />"This might work better if there was a sense of the overwhelming attraction between the two leads, but there''s no chemistry there. Martin Henderson is terrible – stiff and uncomfortable – while Aishwarya Rai, though gorgeous to look at, does little more than flounce about and play the guitar..."<br /><br />The website further questions the casting of Darcy as an American wooing the <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">desi </span>Lalita (Aishwarya Rai). "Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet came from the same world, the world of the landed gentry. There was no cultural or racial difference between them, only one of degree and connections. Surely it would make more sense for him to be a wealthy Indian?" <br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section3"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></div> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" center=""><img src="/photo/875319.cms" alt="/photo/875319.cms" border="0" /></div> <div class="Normal"><br />Another website tiscali.co.uk has this to say, "Like a supermarket''s own-brand curry sauce, Bride and Prejudice tries to please everyone, but ultimately is not as good as the real thing. This Indian reworking of Jane Austen''s classic novel follows many of the conventions of the Bollywood style, but the attempts to cross over and please Western audiences are only partly successful..."<br /><br />"The script stretches believability in several places, but this can almost be forgiven as the film is a flight of fancy with an ending that is never in doubt. More worrying, however, is the Bollywood factor, which seems to reduce everything to a lowest common denominator. The humour here is broader than broad: if you''re looking for sophisticated laughs then you''re in the wrong place. The rigid adherence to the Bollywood code forces the audience to sit through several songs, some of which work and most of which are painful. Naturally the ensemble pieces feature street urchins with brightly coloured costumes and perma-smiles." <br /><br />so, what''s the logic behind scribes and paparazzi whining about the lack of substance in Chadha''s soon-to-be-released <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Bride and Prejudice</span>? Is it simply bad presentation wanting in cinema aesthetics? Or is it more to do with the fact that an NRI has twisted a puritanical Brit novel and taken cinematic liberties by giving it her own version?<br /><br />Moving away from originality, the <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Bend it like Beckham</span> director has cast handsome hunk Martin Henderson as Darcy. Unlike the novel, Darcy is an American, which has made the hacks draw their own inferences about Indo-US bilateral relations. <br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section4"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script></div> <div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" center=""><img src="/photo/875306.cms" alt="/photo/875306.cms" border="0" /></div> <div class="Normal"><br />With Indians allegedly taking away British jobs, thanks to sprouting call centres, the Brits seem to have got worked up about the threat that outsourcing could possibly pose to their film industry.<br /><br />After pure Hindi masala fare like <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Devdas</span>, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Hum Aapke Hain Kaun </span>and <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Kal Ho Na Ho </span>rocking Britain, <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Bride and Prejudice </span>seems to have raised the hackles of puritanical Brits as it has transformed Austen''s classic in an Indian opening. <br /><br />Elizabeth Bennett becomes Lalita Bakshi (Aishwarya Rai), while thespian Indian actor Anupam Kher plays the subdued father. Although Nadira Babbar replaces Mrs Bennett, the characterisation is pretty much the same, as Babbar retains her ambitious streak.<br /><br />So is the upset caused simply by a loud and fun-loving Indian family, juxtaposing the original strict and puritanical family, with an overbearing mother? Or is it simply a "clash of civilization" that is goading them to proudly claim rights over something that they have contributed to the world?</div> </div>