Abhorrent and Nauseating. Review on Bride and Prejudice

Bride and Prejudice is not just a tacky and bad film with a half-baked script, under written characters, inept direction, bad music, tacky sets and poor acting. At its core it is so obnoxious and offensive, that it is utterly nauseating at times. Yes, my main problem with Bride and Prejudice is really on the depiction of Indians from India.

It seems that Gurinder Chadha seems to think that most of us sitting in this backward land called India, are actually white loving phonies who will wag their tails like dogs if a white guy or an NRI waves a bundle of cash or some freebies at them.

Indians in India at-least in the wonder world of Gurinder Chadha, have no other purpose in life, other then find rich husbands to sell their daughters of too, who will in turn feed the family and in turn entertain their NRI guests and put up lewd shows for them. It is actually remarked that Indians have plenty of spare time. Little does Mrs. Chadha know that we work six (sometimes seven) days a week in India. And we work beyond the standard 10-5 routine that afflicts most of the Western world. Who has more spare time? Either Gurinder suffers from a case of bliss ignorance, selective amnesia or acute dyslexia.

So much so, that a modern Indian family raises their girls to seduce an NRI or at least a white guy. Also, a supposedly intelligent, dignified and independent Indian girl such as the character of Lalita Bakshi (Ash) will only look at white guys. A few corny lines by some white guy and she is dreaming of having kinds with him? But wait a minute. This gets better with a brides mother telling her prospective son-inlaw that her daughter will be very good on the wedding night.

I have seen many bride's mothers trying to bag rich son-in-laws. But I have never heard of anything as ridiculous as this. Is Gurinder Chadha implying that Indian families living in India raise their daughters to sell them off like prostitutes? Yes, this is just how nauseating this movie is. While it is true, that many Indians are obsessed with anything white Gurinder Chadha seems to revel in the fact that the whole of India wants to form an exodus to the UK and US, similar to the manner in which the jews left the clutches of slavery in Babylon!!!!

With, the sole exception of Anupam Kher there is not one other character where an Indian from India is depicted in a positive light. And even he is overpowered and his morals are shown to be irrelevant.

And what time warp is Gurinder Chadha living in? After Naveen Andrews leaves Namarata Shirodhkar after promising to marry her and when she is spurned by his sister, she runs back to him when he is ready to get married. Critics would have been crying murder had this been a Bollywood film. In truth, Bride and Prejudice is a bad bollywood film complete with a non-existent script, meandering storyline, sluggish pace overacting and worse of all bad music with cringe worthy lyrics (please refrain from using English lyrics in bollywood songs. It just does not work).

Quite, evidently I did not like Bride and Prejudice. It is clearly a manifestation of a misplaced superiority complex certain non resident Indians such as Gurinder Chadha harbor towards desis, natives and FOBS. And to think that Gurinder Chadha claims to be bringing Indian culture to the popular masses internationally? Is she trying to show Indians having no self-respect, groveling to the west and making India seem like one giant brothel full of beautiful hookers and obnoxious pimps?

I think I have said enough about the technical aspects of the film. After Bend it like Beckham I had a lot of respect for Chadha's directorial abilities, and it is truly shocking to see her putting together something so amateurish (from a purely technical point of view). As for the music, less said the better. Acting was poor with the sole exception of Anupam Kher and Nadira Babar (obnoxious charecterization but well played none the less) and Naveen Andrews and Namarata Shirodhkar (whom quite simply had precious little to do so one cannot judge them).

Overall, bride and prejudice is down-right abhorrent and nauseating. And a suggestion Gurinder Chadha. After you get over your state of delirium and intoxication which was quite evident in the end-credits, watch Bend it like Beckham to learn the basics of film-making again and then take a trip to India and I mean real India, away from your flattering awe-struck relatives and see how people here live and which time warp you are living in?