Bride and Prejudice
Gurinder Chadna, 2004, India (8.0*)
If you've never seen an Indian musical, this should be your first! It's a retelling and updating of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, hence the title. The incredibly beautiful Aishwarya Rai has the main role (thankfully), as the eldest of four unmarried daughters, Lalita, so naturally the film is about the father trying to marry off all his daughers, who have the be the most beautiful sisters in all of film history.
There are some very good musical numbers here, not as many as a western musical, but a rousing dance sequence involving hundreds of wedding party guests where its "men vs. women" is one of the best musical numbers I've seen on film; up one star for this alone. The ballads don't fare quite as well, but this is still Bollywood at its finest, joyous and exhuberant, and a good introduction to Indian films.
Note: Many consider Aishwarya Rai to be the most beautiful actress in the world (plus she can dance and sing), and I would heartily agree. (apologies to Scarlett, Halle, Eva and Salma - each has been dethroned!)
5 comments:
it wasnt Aishwarya... whom Richard Gere kissed.... it was actually another actress "Shilpa Shetty"(who won Big Brother) in UK!
I've heard this before, but when they showed the story here in the US, they showed a clip of Gere kissing Rai, so they had some footage they wanted to use I suppose - unless SHetty is a dead ringer for Rai and she fooled the journalists who ran the story here.
its all too silly isn't it?
no actually they both look different..!!
and abt being silly? yeah !! But we are quiet used to these... i mean making big issues out of small events :P !!
anywaz you have a nice blog :)... quiet gud reviews.. though i felt... few movies have been overrated... specially the hindi ones !
you say "few movies have been overrated", -- without the "a", it has the opposite meaning!
"a few movies" means some are overrated
"few movies" means hardly any..
I'm thinking, like most, that SOME are overrated, SOME are underrated, right? That's natural, no one agrees with anyone else 100%, especially when its subjective like films, books, art - in fact, any creative enterprise..
heck, there's not even agreement over financial policy among professional economists, hence the constantly recurring recessions, depressions, and other collapses that seem to rob people of their livlihoods and even food.
At any rate, thanks for the clarity on Bride - not a serious film but an enjoyable one..
now, A WEDNESDAY, there's a serious and enjoyable thriller from India! any MORE like this that I don't know about in the US?
later -- Jose
yeah... i meant SOME are overrated!!
Black, Taare zameen par, Rang de Basanti, Dil chahta hai, Black friday, Jab we met, Satya, Company... are few good movies.... that i can recall now...all from different genre though!!
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