Written by Linda
December 27, 2008
Aishwarya Rai is the most famous actress that most Americans have never heard of. Among the tidbits you can find out about her on the IMDB: She has over 17,000 websites dedicated to her; She was Miss World in 1994; She was listed in Time magazine as one of 100 most influential people in the world; She's the first Indian actress to be immortalized in Madame Tussaud's in London; and she has been called The Most Beautiful Woman in the World. Wow. Now that's a resume! Now, she is poised to break through to Hollywood for world domination. Will Bride & Prejudice be her ticket to Western fame? Well...
After Gurinder Chadha had a suprise indie smash with the cute, culture-clash soccer film Bend It Like Beckham, she apparently decided to do something completely different for her follow-up. The idea to update Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice into a Bollywood musical full of song-and-dance explosions is a fine one. Whether it is entirely successful is debatable.
Aishwarya Rai plays Lalita, a modern, gorgeous, intelligent, unmarried Indian woman living in a household of marriageable sisters. Like Austen's Elisabeth Bennett, she has little tolerance for the traditional men after her hand, and the expectations of her family. She just wants to find the right guy. Into her life comes American hotel heir Will Darcy (Martin Henderson), who is tagging along with his British Indian pal Balraj Bingley (Lost's Naveen Andrews) to see the old country. His first (and second and third) meeting with Lalita doesn't give the best impression, as she thinks he is a bit of a pretentious, cultural snob. But their paths keep crossing, and when she falls for the charming but caddish slacker-type Johnny Wickham (Daniel Gillies), Darcy may have something to say about it.
The problem with this adaptation is that Martin Henderson as Will Darcy has about as much charisma as a wet beach towel lying discarded in the sand. Sure, we all know that Darcy is supposed to be pompous and a callous snob, but Henderson portrays that mainly by looking like a fish out of water, with a blank deer-in-the-headlights expression. Unlike the unmatched Colin Firth in 1996's BBC Pride and Prejudice, "haughty" does not equal "hottie". He is simply no match for the stunning Rai who domitates the screen with her movie-star radiance.
The musical sequences are fun and colorful, though at full-song length, they may try the patience of audiences who aren't used to them. This isn't simply soundtrack music; these scenes have the characters breaking into song and dance, looking flirtatious and/or poignantly at each other, usually surrounded by a dozen of their closest dancing friends. Rai is obviously in her element in these moments, with her green eyes flashing and her hair blowing back, even when she is indoors.
Pride and Prejudice fans may get a kick out of seeing this modern update. Others may find its fluffy, vibrant spirit a lot of fun. But others, like myself, will be checking their watch. Even at two hours, the movie seems long. As the crowded plot jumbled along, I was reminded why the BBC took six hours to tell the same tale, with much better results. Bride & Prejudice is an admirable experiment, but I can't wait to see Aishwarya Rai in a better cross-over film.
