JLRVancouver Gurinder Chadha does an admirable job of transferring Jane Austen's famous characters and story to modern day India. There are four daughters in the Bakshi family, which lives in a grand, but somewhat rundown home in Amritsar (a bit of an Indian backwater I gather). Handsome and successful London based lawyer Balraj (Naveen Andrews) arrives along with his supercilious sister (Indira Varma, familiar to many as Game of Throne's venomous Ellaria Sand), and handsome and very rich buddy Will Darcy (Martin Henderson). Anyone familiar with Pride and Prejudice will recognize the characters and set-up and know that another couple of men are on the way (duplicitous Johnny Wickham and obsequious Mr. Kohli) and that romance will be in the air, much to the excitement of high-strung Mrs Bakshi (Nadira Babbar). Chadra does a good job of modernizing the classic story, staying true when possible but making changes to scenes that just would not be creditable these days (e.g. the burden of 'debt' is much reduced) and the concept of 'inherited class' and associated opportunity that is central to Austen's Regency England tale is replaced by more generic snobbery and cultural ignorance. While there is still stratification in Indian society, 'caste' never comes into the story: the setting is the sub-continent but the 'values' are very Western (IMO). Typical Bollywood (in my limited experience), the film is unsubtle, bright, flashy and colourful, with lots of spontaneous singing and dancing by good-looking, stylish people. What 19th century spinster Jane Austen would make of the 21st century fashion and dancing is hard (but fun) to imagine. Good, harmless fun that should not upset Austen purists (if it does, they should examine their own pride and prejudice) and may help bring the attention of another generation to a timeless book.

Alexander Schuchardt_4173375 What did I just watch? The movie mainly had to do with a rich American man named William Darcy and a Indian girl named Lalita. The movie started in India where William and his friend were attending a wedding. This is where they first meet, and the first encounter wasn't very good.Following this Lalita didn't have a view of William until the end of the movie. The rest of the movie had to do with their love journey and how the will fall in love. This was one of the least favorite movies I have ever seen. I am a newbie when it comes to watching Bollywood movies. But if they're all like this I think I will stick to Hollywood movies. I thought the acting was OK but most of the scene were just cringe worthy.Also the one actor who sounded like a donkey was not entertaining, he was just very annoying and I wish they realizes how annoying that actually was. The plot was OK but very predictable the two people who don't like each other end up falling in love. Very original. I never want to hear another Bollywood song ever again. All the songs beside my lips are waiting were just awful. No Life without Wife made me want to be deaf. I was like listening to Rebeca black's Friday, that's how bad it was. Also it didn't look like they were trying to lip sync it was very obvious they were not singing. Also they had so many pointless songs that we could have gone without. The dances were pretty cool, I liked them for the most part except the snake dance. That made me want to hit my forehead with my palm. But the opening dance was the best part of the entire movie. It had a good start just to crash land. If only the movie was ten minutes long. The sets were pretty cool they one of the only bright spots in a horrible movie.The costumes look very authentic to what you would see in a Bollywood film. I would call this movie more Bollywood because American movies don't have horrendous songs every ten minutes that are really pointless. And the story line was so predictable, in a American movie there would have been a plot twist.What Cultural elements i learned about Indian parents are they gold diggers who just are looking out for them and don't care about what there kids think. Just about how much money the husband has. Also how bad it must feel to be in the kids situation being forced to marry someone that they barely met and know almost nothing about them. Another thing I learned was how uncommon it is for Indian to marry someone of a different ethnicity. They want their grandchildren to be traditional Indians. Also I learned that if you are younger you can't marry until the eldest has married. So if they don't' want to get married you are out of luck. Overall I learned a lot about Indian culture but It was such a bad movie.

Hafsa Ali The director Gurinder Chadha naturally gravitates toward issues of identity, but her recent work stands as a lesson in the perils of multiculturalism. The movie portrays two different culture and compares the beliefs of different traditions. The culture clash of the two main characters was to show how both sides are very different but similar. The director seems like she put a bunch of ingredients together to have a result of a rich cultural stew, when it's really more like a rotten potato. When two nations come together in this film, both stand to lose something.Bride & Prejudice did not seem like a Bollywood movie at all. There were maybe a few scenes where Bollywood is portrayed but it seemed more western. The crossover of American and Indian culture just made a really bad clash and has people cringe at the scene of it. The two different cultures try to show that they're differences are incompatible for each other but find a way to be together anyway. The awkwardness begins when Aishwarya Rai, Bollywood's most glamorous female star unites with a basic stud Martin Henderson from Hollywood. In the bustling Indian village of Amritsar, the two characters build a relationship with each other. There are aspects of a Bollywood film like the views on class, family, gender equality, and the musicals. However regular Bollywood's are not so much of a musical, but more like a break-out-and-sing-and-dance scene. The mother of the Bollywood films are more melodramatic, more Hindi or other speaking languages, and value the little details in each scene. The Bollywood music shown in this movie seems like a western musical, which changes the whole aspect of the Bollywood genre.The themes on class, family, and gender equality through a colorful Bollywood spectacle isn't such an awful idea, since the lightness and wide-reaching generosity of the work seems perfectly suited to the musical form. The movie is cluttered with stiff choreography and silly original lyrics. The cultural elements of an Indian family is well portrayed however the director makes the two countries and its beliefs below another. The Indian family is all surrounded with values like family, joy, marriage, and love. But the American family was portrayed as rich, all about business, and advancement. The language that the director chose to portray in a culture tradition was very bad. No Indian character would say words that don't sound like it's actual origin.

marspeach The movie follows P&P pretty closely but obviously changes things to modernize it. The "Bennet" family dynamics are much the same. A friend is getting married and at her engagement party, the family meets the friends of the groom- the Bingleys (Indians from the UK) and their American friend Darcy. There is no Kitty, Mr. and Mrs. Hurst, or Colonel Fitzwilliam character. The scene of "Lady Catherine" trying to tell Lizzy not to get engaged to Darcy did not make the final cut but was included on the DVD as a deleted scene. The DVD itself is great. Along with the deleted scenes, there is a "Making of", commentary, and full musical numbers. And possibly something else that I don't remember… The movie is all fun. It's got great funny musical sequences, bright colors, and good-looking actors and actresses. Some of the acting is really good. Only one characterization really bothered me- Lalita, this version's Lizzy.She was biggest problem with the movie! Her character was just plain NASTY to Darcy. I don't know what he saw in her, besides her good looks. He was a little uncomfortable in the beginning but was trying his best and she just snapped at everything he said. I read on IMDb that Rai did not read the book so as not to be influenced by Elizabeth. Bad move, for sure. And the writing and directing was off for her too. Elizabeth Bennet is not a witch! Why did they make Lalita one? Other than Lalita, this is a really fun film. If you're hesitant about watching Bollywood or other Indian films this is a good compromise.