Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Pride and Prejudice


I am very excited about the release of this movie on Friday. I hope it does justice to the novel !

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is one of my favourite novels. The novel was first published in 1813. It is a classic tale of love mixed with all the ingredients for a great read. The Bennet family and all its eccentric members are very easy to relate to. The title referes to the initial misunderstanding between the quick-witted Elizabeth and the haughty Darcy. Elizabeth Bennet is one of my favourite female fictional characters while Mr.Darcy is one of my favourite male fictional characters. Mr.Darcy seems mysterious with his good looks, pride, style and quiet - nature. He is the kind of guy every girl would dream to be in love with. Needless to say, this is one of the best romantic stories that I have ever read. I have read the novel many times and have atleast three versions of it ( abridged, unabridged and a comic).

The Indian version called Bride and Prejudice was a joke ! The director murdered the beautiful characters; casting Aishwarya Rai as Elizabeth was the biggest mistake in the movie. Her portrayal of the character showed that she had never read the novel. It seemed like they had made a mockery of the novel and of Indian traditions. I can still recall a scene towards the end of the movie, where the newly weds parade on the streets on an elephant ! ROFL ! How stupid ! Gurinder Chadda seems to think that it is a very common occurrence in India !! These are the kind of movies that mislead and encourage misconceptions about India. No wonder most people have wrong ideas about India and enquire about elephants, maharajas and snake-charmers !

I hope the 2005 release is a better adaptation of the novel.

To learn more about Jane Austen and her novels visit this site
http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janeinfo.html

2 comments:

Archana said...

Oh - I simply love P & P :-)! I have lost count of the number of times I have read it and each time I read it, I find more things to appreciate! Thats why I was very startled to see the TV-ad for the new P & P movie yesterday. After seeing (okay half-seeing) the joke called Bride and Prejudice I am extremely wary of any movie which attempts to remake the book! Lets keep our fingers crossed!

Shilpa said...

Boo Hoo Hoo ... the movie is a Limited Release; its not releasing anywhere
near Dallas :-(

I hope it releases atleast next week or atleast before I goto India.