East meets West and the two burst into song.
India's film industry, known throughout the world as Bollywood, doubled the output-and
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the input-of Hollywood in 2003, producing twice as many films and taking in twice as many admissions at the box office. Despite the statistics, India's films and its stars are
relatively unknown in the US, remaining a mystery to the multiplex popcorn crowd.
Director Gurinder Chadha hinted at the larger world of Indian cinema with 2002's
Bend it Like Beckham
by giving audiences Indian characters that went beyond the usual stereotypes found in mainstream films. Now, with the Bollywood-meets-Hollywood-meets Jane Austen behemoth called
Bride and Prejudice
, the same director has released the floodgates on Indian cinema in America.
As the film opens, we follow American hotel magnate Will Darcy (
The Ring
's Martin Henderson) as he arrives in India to attend the wedding of a friend from Oxford. Darcy surveys the country with great distaste until, at a wedding party, he meets Lalita (Indian superstar Aishwarya Rai). The two fail to hit it off, however, and it appears their romance is doomed before it even begins.
But wait! Cue the music, bring on the dancing surfers and the black gospel choir singing on the beach at sunset-and there's love in air. Though it starts off as an innocent romantic comedy, the film soon spirals into that most dangerous of genres-the musical. Traditional Indian music and costumes collide with the American musical tradition to create a hybrid beast that mixes a bright pastel color palette with the fine art of spontaneous song for largely irritating results. The Clay Aiken-quality, whitebread pop songs are the kind of awkward ditties common to stateside McDonald's commercials, leaving the Indian song and dance numbers faring slightly better if only for the spectacle of the costumes and dancing.
Beyond romance and singing, though, the film attempts in earnest to deal with serious themes. Lalita is concerned with business people like Darcy's mother (Marsha
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Mason) who see India as a playground, another spot on the map to litter with hotels and tourist traps. "Everyone has their hands on India these days," Mrs. Darcy says to Lalita, a comment that sums up a recurring theme in the film-India, and its people, as a product and not as a real place. Despite the concern for maintaining India's honor and ethnicity in the face of imperialist hotel franchising, the film itself is oozing with America. R&B star Ashanti is seen dancing and singing "India is the place for me," and Lalita's failed suitor, Kholi (Nitin Chandra Gunatra) spews Americanisms "it's all good" and "wassup" like a goofy sitcom neighbor, India's very own Steve Urkel.
A simple viewing of this film is likely to prove to American audiences that they are not yet prepared for the twin juggernauts of global cinema to meet in the middle. Rather than creating a hybrid Indian-American film,
Bride and Prejudice
comes across more like a parody of both cultures, lacking any real homage; a film made for people who only know India from
The Simpsons
' Apu and America through fast food, MTV and B-musicals.
