Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

s-82414 Bride and Prejudice, a roller coaster film, sparked a new fusion between two remarkably different cultures: Hollywood and Bollywood. This movie enthralled its audience by introducing a particularly unique love story among two opposites of the spectrum, a girl named Lalita Bakshi who was raised in a conservative household, and the American businessman, Will Darcy, who was always entailed in a modern lifestyle due to his upbringing. Undoubtedly, these star crossed lovers were involved in the inevitable arguments, judgements, and prejudice-as they encountered each other when the two didn't expect it. As trouble arose, it was clear to see how very different conflicts could be resolved by two types of cultures. All in all, I was indifferent about the movie. Although many types of emotions came from every direction, the film was predictable in many aspects. Furthermore, it was very easy to understand the film as a whole. The plot line was rather common but still original compared to other types of Hollywood and Bollywood movies. Compared to other traditional Bollywood films, there weren't as many scenes that didn't match the plot line. For example, in a classic Bollywood film, a girl and boy would be fighting because they wouldn't be able to get along well; five minutes later, they would be dancing and laughing together. In Bride and Prejudice, the story made sense and didn't falter in a way a classic Bollywood movie would. More specifically, when Lalita met Darcy's secret girlfriend, Anne, she was agitated and didn't speak to Darcy until he apologized for his actions. There was no dance number in between these scenes. Moreover, the acting in this film was very over-dramatized compared to Hollywood films. Though, this is very common among Bollywood films because the audience loves overacting and capturing drama which eventually make scenes more interesting. In the movie, Lalita's mother exaggerated her phrases as if she was always in a distressed state. Usually in a Hollywood movie, a background character wouldn't be as prominent as a main character in their words. Continuing on, the song/dance sequences were amazingly opposite and important for the plot line. In this film, the audience wouldn't have known Darcy and Lalita were on a date unless a song hadn't featured. Of course, Bollywood music was also very different than classic Hollywood. Various types of instruments and sounds were played (fast/slow) respectively to the mood of the scene. Bride and Prejudice was perfectly in the middle of Hollywood and Bollywood. The ending made this perfectly clear since a traditional Bollywood or Hollywood would never feature the different elements presented: a biracial wedding and resolved drama. As for cultural elements, the aspects of Indian norms were extremely distinct from the American norms. Starting out with couples, Mr. and Mrs. Bakshi most likely had an arranged marriage. They expected love to come from within after their partnership was planned. But for couples like Jaya and Balraj, they expected their love to grow and their relationship to bloom from the love they received from their family. On the other hand, Lalita and Darcy expected that their families would only learn to accept the love they wanted to cherish. Without a doubt, these three couples experienced love from three different perspectives. The director of this film, Gurinder Chahad, was most likely trying to convey that cross cultural relationships do not always have to to have something in common, reiterating the fact that, "opposites do attract."

d-82523 The beginning starts out with an Indian family with single daughters. Two men from London, Darcy and Baraj, come to India for a wedding and meet the girls. Baraj falls for the oldest daughter Jaya and Darcy is interested in another sister, Lalita. The story follows these couples as different men try to interrupt the relationships of these girls. A distant cousin, Mr. Kholi, and Darcy's old friend, Mr. Wickham, try to pursue Lalita and her sisters. This story flows between India and America and is a very entertaining story about love and family. The pursuit of the girls was captivating, as it kept you always wanted to see what would happen next. I really enjoyed this movie and the conflicts and resolutions that were shown.Watching a Bollywood movie for the first time, I was pleased by what this movie had to offer. Not only did I enjoy the Bollywood drama and passion, but I also was enthralled by the singing and dancing. When Mr. Kholi arrived, a level of humor was added to the film. I also enjoyed the romantic scenes with long gazes and looking at each other wishfully. Also, toward the end, I was delighted by the action scenes and the guys fighting over the girls. The story stayed true to Bollywood values and Indian culture. There was also a good mix of Hollywood in this movie. A lot of the songs had an American style to them which helped bring the two worlds together. I learned a lot about the culture in India, especially the weddings. It was cool to see married couples riding on elephants after their wedding. I liked watching all the colorful outfits they wore and the style of their parties. The houses in India were very different than houses in America. I liked how the director added many dances and songs, but sometimes the songs were a little too American. I liked watching how involved the families are in India for picking a spouse for their sons and daughters. I think the director did justice to this Bollywood film with an American twist. I would recommend this movie to people who have never seen a Bollywood film before.

f-43131 "Bride and Prejudice" was a poor representation of what a Bollywood film entails, this movie is just Hollywood forcing it's formulaic idea of how a romantic movie should be onto wisps of Bollywood themes. The finished product being a very underwhelming stereotypical cheesy 2000s American film. The movie was about two characters finding each other, initially one disliking the other, an antagonist love interest then introduced to build drama between the characters, ending with the realization that the antagonist truly is as the title "antagonist" entails resulting in the two main characters being together.This film is just a pathetic attempt to bring in a new demographic, the outcome being the alienation of both genre enthusiasts. The character development was shallow failing to build a connection between the protagonists and viewer. Without this connection there is very little investment by the consumer making the experience quite boring over all. The characters also fell into many cliché roles, the imperfect, misunderstood love interest, the conniving antagonist, the female just looking for love. All these characters have very little that make up who they are and what they do have has been overused time and time again. Not only are the characters cliché but the scenes felt so too. For example the female love interest, on the brink of changing her opinion of the misunderstood lead male, would have a secondary character, in this case the antagonist and lead male's sister, divulge information casting the lead male in a poor light prolonging the movies goal to get the two leads together. A sloppy and overused trope to meet a movies time requirement in my opinion. Bollywood films are supposed to be huge productions with vast dancing arrangements and captivating musical numbers, unfortunately this fell short regarding this movie. "Bride and Prejudice" attempted these Bollywood staples but had very few lackluster outburst of song and dance. The songs were poorly written, just take the number that repeated over and over… and over again the phrase "Marriage has come to town". No real thought behind the song and much like the characters, the song felt shallow and boring. In regards to the dance pieces they were short and nowhere near the magnitude of those from real Bollywood films. The movie's dance scenes went on for maybe 3-5 minutes tops and consisted of repetitive unimaginative routines which attempted to appease the Bollywood aficionados and keep the attention of the foreign viewers spitting on what it means to be a Bollywood film. The director also attempted to bring in the suspense and tension between characters commonly seen in Bollywood films but as said earlier, this goal was not reached with such boring, two dimensional characters.All in all this is what I expected from a Hollywood 2000s cash grab of a film, overall it felt quite sub par and did not do Bollywood films justice (funny enough it accurately portrayed the poor quality of such Hollywood love stories from this time). I truly hope people do not, after viewing this movie, create their opinion on what Bollywood, as the genre, entails.

[email protected] This strange movie tracks, more or less accurately, the plot of Jane Austen's great novel. It has its Elizabeth Bennet in Lalita Bakshi (portrayed by the incomparably beautiful Aishwarya Rai), a wealthy American Darcy (Martin Henderson), Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Bennet, the Bennet sisters and stand-ins for all of the novel's other principal characters and subplots. And, of course, Lalita and Darcy are destined for one another despite her initial revulsion, just as Elizabeth and the wealthy English Darcy were. But this is Bollywood, and in addition to "Pride and Prejudice," we have an exuberant musical with elaborate choreography and gorgeous costuming that moves somewhat confusingly between a city in India, London and Beverly Hills. If you don't know the Austen novel, some of the plot twists may be difficult to follow because this movie substitutes spectacle for subtlety, and it's an uneasy mixture. Ms. Rai is astoundingly beautiful and Mr. Henderson is very handsome, and some of the musical scenes are amusing if not exactly appropriate to the story. Mr. and Mrs. Bennet (i.e., Mr and Mrs Bakshi) come closest to the originals and actually have a few lines penned by Miss Austen herself. But otherwise the movie is a mishmash of conflicting elements. (Elephants in the final wedding scene certainly reflect Indian tradition and spectacle but one can't helped wondering what Jane Austen would have done if elephants were required in her novel.) Ms. Rai and Mr. Henderson might have been served better by a movie that hewed closer to the original. They actually appear to be pretty good actors as well as a handsome couple.