Bride with Pride

The stars and crew of Bride and Prejudice, the Bollywood adaptation of Jane Austin's classic comedy on social politics, have made their bow.

17:10 05 October 2004

The stars and crew of Bride and Prejudice, the Bollywood adaptation of Jane Austin's classic comedy on social politics, make their bow.

Bride and Prejudice's director Gurinder Chadha explained that her literary interpretation of Austen's Pride and Prejudice offers the typical British cinemagoer a modern twist to an old tale, set against an Indian backdrop - both literal and cinematic - in a way most will be unfamiliar with.

Gone is the idyllic middle England setting of the original novel and so to is the equally middle English Bennett family - jettisoned in favour of the Bakshis family who live in modern day Amritsar, India, but who seem to have progressed little further in the strength of their aspirations to wed off their daughters to men of a higher social standing.

Having previously brought low-budget sleeper hit Bend It Like Beckham - a tale of Asian teenager Jess Bhamra's fight against archaic social convention - to our screens with considerable critical acclaim, director Chadha has gone one step further with Bride and Prejudice, creating a fusion of Hollywood production values, British literary conventions and Bollywood cinematic dressage, not to mention a healthy sprinkling of universally accessible comedy.

"I could have made three 'Beckhams' with the budget for this movie," Chadha said talking to the BBC outside the Palladium. "It's a very British Asian movie that incorporates India, England and America."

The role of Elizabeth Bennet - or in this case Lalita Bakshi - is played by Aishwarya Rai, Bollywood's most sought-after actress, a former Miss World and a judge on the illustrious panel for the palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003.

Martin Henderson, a less well known Los-Angeles based actor from New Zealand assumes the role of obstinate love interest Mr Darcy as a wealthy heir to an American hotel chain in the film.

Bride and Prejudice is out on general release from the October 8th.