The Movie
Why no one thought to do this movie before is a bit of a surprise. Take the class struggle of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, translate it to the world of arranged marriages in India, and wrap the whole thing in the successful trappings of Bollywood films, and you have an enjoyable mix of cultures and film styles. Add in the presence of Aishwarya Rai, considered to be one of the most beautiful women in the world, and it's a recipe for a good time.

The story sticks pretty well to Austen's novel, telling the tale of four sisters (losing one from the book) and their mother, who is desperate to marry them off. Unfortunately for her, one daughter, Lalita (Rai) is independent, and not interested in marrying a man who would be good for her. She wants to marry for love and only love. Because she's so headstrong, when she does meet a guy she has an attraction to, hotel magnate Will Darcy (Martin Henderson, Torque), she immediately butts heads with him over the differences between American and Indian culture. But like in any good romantic comedy, aggression is foreplay, and there's a simmering passion beneath their arguments.

The film unfolds in a series of intertwined subplots involving Lalita's sister Jaya and Darcy's best friend Balraj ("Lost"'s Naveen Andrews), a shady old associate of Darcy's named Wickham and one of Lalita's younger sisters, the boy-crazy Lakhi, and the film's comic whipping boy, Mr. Kholi, an Americanized Indian who threatens Lalita (and the rest of the town) with his unwanted affections. At the center of each person's story is the struggle between personal desires and the expectations that come with one's social class and culture.

Bride & Prejudice is a Western version of the Indian Bollywood film, a genre marked by lavish musical numbers, a distinctly chaste sensibility toward physical intimacy and a wide range of emotion. The film doesn't stick strictly to the "rules" of Bollywood, but it does use them as major influence, which is seen in the major production numbers. Attempting to balance these numbers with pop-like music, the film tries to appeal to Western audiences. While they are good, they often feel a bit forced in terms of the rhymes and rhythms. Instead of Anu Malik, they probably should have went with A.R. Rahman, the veteran Bollywood composer, who showed he could blend tastes with his songs for the Broadway musical "Bombay Dreams."

Rai, in her first Western starring role, is more than just a pretty face, playing her part in a way that's comparable to Cameron Diaz' best work. She's willing to make faces and act goofy, preventing her stunning good looks from keeping her apart from the viewer. But at the same time, there are few women working in film today who can deliver a look the way Rai can, with the kind of flawless beauty that made Audrey Hepburn famous.

The rest of the cast is good, though not stand-out, with Nadira Babbar's groom-obsessed mother and Nitin Chandra Ganatra's geeky Mr. Kholi being the most memorable, mainly because of their over-the-top comedy. Unfortunately, Anupam Kher, who was so good in Bend it Like Beckham, gets pushed to the background a bit here, while playing somewhat the same character. The poor man's Luke Wilson, Henderson doesn't do much more than look handsome and argue, fluctuating between caring and aloof, despite the fact that much of the film rides on him. It may be the film's effort to pull the audience in to him and then push them away to maintain drama, but it just renders him as an inconsistent character.

Director Gurinder Chadha (What's Cooking, Bend it like Beckham) has scored a hat trick with this film, making three straight movies that not only are crowd-pleasing, but also work as respectable films. Her visual style is not flashy, but has enough movement to maintain the film's sense of energy. This was a different film for her, thanks to the Bollywood feel, but she doesn't let it prevent her from doing her thing, which she obviously does very well.

The DVD
A one-disc effort, Bride & Prejudice is packed in a standard black keepcase, with a two-sided insert listing the chapter stops. The disc features animated anamorphic widescreen menus (with a few static menus too) that follow the film's promotional art style, with a colorful mix of Hollywood and Indian imagery. Options include Play Movie, Set Up, Scene Selections and Special Features.

Language options include English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 audio tracks and English and Spanish captions, while the scene selection menus offer still previews and titles for each chapter. One of the nice aspects of the captions is they provide translations for some of the Pubjabi language spoken and sung in the film, but they are optional. These translations, which were burned in in theaters, aren't necessary to enjoy the film, but they do provide more context and understanding for the viewer.

The Quality
As a Bollywood homage, Bride & Prejudice required a very wide image (2.35:1) and this anamorphic transfer presents that picture excellently. The color, a key element of the film, is bold and vivid, with not just the more obvious colors of the turbans and saris, but the earth colors of the Indian towns. The image is sharp and clean, with a nice level of fine detail and no noticeable dirt or damage. This is a film that's very easy on the eyes.

Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, the music is the most aggressive part of the mix, with support from the surround speakers to create a deep soundfield for the big production numbers. During the more traditional romantic-comedy parts of the film, the soundtrack becomes less dynamic, focusing instead on dialogue, which it delivers with good clarity.

The Extras
Considering the film never played on even 300 screens in America and made less than the film's budget at the box office, it's somewhat surprising that Miramax put such a nice amount of supplemental material on this DVD, starting with a screen-specific audio commentary with Chadha and co-writer Paul Mayeda Berges. The twosome obviously enjoy the movie, and Chadha admits they are just watching at times, but they also provide some behind-the-scenes stories and tidbits. A good deal of the track is spent pointing out the similarities and differences between the film and Austen's book. The frequent dead-air gets to be a bit much, but when they are talking, the info is interesting.

Six deleted scenes are available to view separately or in one block. The majority of them attempt to build on the film's culture clashes, but one, with Darcy's mother, is just ridiculous. These scenes were better left out of the final film. Unfortunately, not included were deleted songs that are mentioned in the commentary.

Bride & Prejudice was released in a longer Bollywood-friendly version in India, with longer versions of some of the songs. Four of those extended songs are included on the DVD, but only one is extremely different, the Marriage Song. In the extended version, the personalities of the four sisters are laid out explicitly, a moment that the film might have benefited from.

Presented in letterboxed full-frame, "Bringing Bombay to L.A.: The Making of Bride & Prejudice" covers the production in an overview manner, utilizing interviews with the cast and crew and on-set footage to tell the story. The 11 minute featurette is filled out well, but as is often the case with these kinds of pieces, it ends up as a bit of a congratulatory lovefest for Gurinder.

Rai is the undisputed star of the show, and the eight-minute interview "A Conversation with Aishwarya Rai" provides a get-to-know-you opportunity for American viewers. She's quite intelligent and interesting, but then, that may just be an illusion, a spell cast by her beauty. Her positive energy is fun and she's the kind of girl you can just lose yourself in.

Less intriguing is an interview with the Darcy character, "A Conversation with Martin Henderson," a fact that's made obvious since it's half as long as Rai's conversation. Henderson talks a bit about India, and what it was like being a part of such a different film. It's a bit embarrassing when he slips into his Apu imitation, but he gets a pass on that, as Chadha says he's a big fan of the country.

"The Crew Does the Songs" is almost five minutes of home video of the crew performing the big dance number from the beginning of the film. It's a bit cute, but comes off as the least interesting extra.

While her appearance in the film seems a bit out-of-place, the three-minute featurette "Ashanti's Song" explains why she's in the movie, and the reason makes tremendous sense. A short bit of interview with the singer is included also, as she talks about her experience.

The Bottom Line
After watching Bend it Like Beckham and now Bride & Prejudice, it's obvious that Chadha is a master of the feel-good film, combining a sense of visual style with a command of humor and romance that puts her up near Nora Ephron in the romcom realm. Of course, as this is somewhat a musical, not to mention a musical about a foreign country, there are defenses in much of the American audience that need to be broken down, but this is an extremely enjoyable film. The DVD presentation is top-notch, with a nice array of bonus material to supplement it. With a fun romantic musical feel and the American debut of the gorgeous Aishwarya Rai, this film should satisfy everyone who watches.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.