Bride And Prejudice

I love wordplay. Bride And Prejudice is director Gurinder Chadha`s loosely Bollywoodized spin on Jane Austen`s classic battle of the social classes, Pride And Prejudice. The beautiful and headstrong Lalita Bakshi (Aishwarya Rai) and her three equally hot sisters live in a small town in India, their mother desperate for at least one of them to receive a marriage proposal. A local wedding party with out-of-town guests throws life into a comical mess for the Bakshis. For those familiar with the novel, Chadha chose to retain the basic structure, going as far as retaining the Darcy, Wickham, and Bingley monikers from the original novel--but this being a Bollywood romp, the Bennets are now the Bakshis.

So, here we go again: it`s also another twist on the old story of the Asian girl hooking up with a suave white guy, Will Darcy (the poorly cast Martin Henderson--he`s as fascinating as a doormat). And not just any white guy, but a totally loaded white guy who travels the world buying up hotels so that Westerners can be comfortable in any part of the globe. The requisite antagonist, Wickham (Daniel Gillies, who looks like an underwear model), forms the third corner of the love triangle--yup, yet another white guy. Chadha`s trademark celebration of diversity seems negated by the loathed stereotype of Asian men as being romantically inferior; with the wrong frame of mind, this screams hypocrisy and could`ve derailed the movie. Though that decision is key to the globetrotting nature of the film, it`s nonetheless a curious decision and it`s too bad she stopped short of potentially making a truly empowering story while still having fun with it. The message Bride sends is the opposite of 2003`s similar (in spirit, anyway) but offensively bad (yet well meaning) The Guru, starring Jimi Mistry.

Providing comic relief and almost stealing the movie is the kind-hearted "American Desi" buffoon Kholi (Nitin Gantara), who travels to India and tries to woo one of the Bakshi sisters. The character is hilarious, sort of a cross between Peter Sellers and Robert Carradine circa Revenge Of The Nerds.

Take away the diversity factor and, Chadha`s filmmaking sadly falls into profoundly trite, mediocre, and sappy fare. Unfortunately, even with her Benetton vibe, she flirts dangerously with that judgment. That said, Bride still somehow manages to be an adequately enjoyable diversion despite being irritatingly predictable throughout. The film is extravagant, visually opulent, and unabashedly festive. It also has several funny moments and moves along at a frenzied pace, maintaining a consistent energy, the only lulls being a couple of lame musical scenes. Remarkably, Chadha completes the Bollywood checklist: it has romance, comedy, musical numbers, and even a little action. By going for a faux-Bollywood epic, Bride plays like a Technicolor collision of a musical, a soap, "Soul Train," "The Amazing Race," and a box of Jelly Bellies--we`re talking all 50 official colors...er, flavors.

Musicals, by default, employ the device of convenience ("Hey, where`s that music coming from? Let`s sing what we want to say and dance with all these strangers!"). In Bride, the musical numbers are a mixed bag. Some are lavishly and cleverly choreographed (mariachis and Gospel singers!), some are just plain lame, and annoyingly abrupt and unimaginative. Obvious is Chadha`s usage of playback singers (in true Bollywood style: a common practice of using professional singers; you know, like what Disney does).

Chadha definitely aimed high to outdo her previous effort, the admirable hit, Bend It Like Beckham (which, come to think of it, also had the Asian girl hook up with the white guy). In the end, Bride is like bubblegum. It`s fun and tastes good until you`re done chewing it, and you can`t swallow it so you spit it out.

One can only wonder what Chadha has in store with her next two projects--both being remakes: I Dream Of Jeannie and the Korean favorite, My Sassy Girl. And, for the record, Chadha`s husband is Japanese American: Paul Mayeda Berges, who co-wrote this film.