Bride and Prejudice is a 2004 romantic musical film directed by Gurinder Chadha. The screenplay by Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges is a Bollywood-style adaptation of
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. It was filmed primarily in English, with some Hindi and Punjabi dialogue.
Plot
The plot closely follows the plot of
Pride and Prejudice, with many elements compacted to brief references. Some character names remain the same, while others are changed slightly, using localized names with similar pronunciation (such as Lalita for Lizzy).
Set in Amritsar, the story follows Lalita Bakshi, a young woman living with her doting father, her mother determined to marry off her daughters to respectable men and her three sisters, Jaya, Maya, and Lakhi. At a friend's pre-wedding party, Lalita meets William Darcy, a handsome and wealthy American businessman working in the hotel business. He has arrived in Amritsar for two weeks with his long-time friend, the barrister Balraj, and Balraj's sister Kiran, who constantly flirts with an oblivious Will. Will, however, shows interest in Lalita, but she considers him to be self-absorbed, and resists his advances. Balraj and Jaya fall quickly in love, much to the delight of Jaya's mother, who wants her daughters to marry rich men. During a friend's wedding, Will and Lalita argue and Lalita labels him arrogant and proud with a mind closed to Indian culture. When Balraj invites Jaya and a reluctant Lalita to visit Goa with him, his sister Kiran, and Will, Lalita and Will argue further. On their last night in Goa, Lalita meets Johnny Wickham, a handsome young man from London whose mother was Will's nanny and who used to caddy for Will's father. Lalita recognises the negative vibes between Will and Johnny. According to Johnny, he was fired by Will right after Mr Darcy Sr. died, a story Lalita immediately believes as it fit with the bad impression she has of Will already. Lalita and Johnny hope to meet again; she invites him to Amritsar and he invites her to London.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Bakshi has invited a distant relative of the family named Kholi who has a business in Los Angeles and wishes to marry an Indian girl. He is initially attracted by Jaya but after telling Kholi that she is practically engaged to someone else, Mrs. Bakshi steers him towards Lalita. That night, Jaya, Maya and Lakhi tease Lalita by singing about her marriage to Kholi and having to deal with his sloppy eating and unattractive habits, making reference to his saying, "No life without wife". Lalita then daydreams of marrying Wickham but this turns into a nightmare when Darcy enters the picture.
Johnny arrives surprisingly on the doorstep of the Bakshis to see Lalita. Despite Mrs Bakshi's suspicions of Johnny being a hippy, Mr Bakshi lets him stay and invites him to a dance that night, much to the delight of Lalita and her sister Lakhi, who is immediately attracted to Johnny. At the dance, Lalita and Johnny show much chemistry to the dismay of Will, who is slowly falling in love with her. She rejects his advances and his warning to not "believe everything she hears". Mrs Bakshi invites Will, Balraj and Kiran to dinner and Lalita and Jaya are embarrassed by Maya's snake dance and their mother's jokes and taunts about marriage. Kiran tries to warn Lalita that she shouldn't fall for Wickham's "bullshit" but Lalita cuts Kiran off and ignores her because she is Darcy's friend.
Kholi proposes to Lalita the next morning but Lalita refuses. Mrs Bakshi is distraught and refuses to talk to her unless she marries Kholi whereas her father says he will never speak to her again if she does. After Kholi leaves embarrassed and angry, Balraj arrives saying he is leaving a week early with Will and Kiran, leaving Jaya heartbroken. Lakhi then informs the family that Chandra (Lalita's best friend) has accepted a proposal from Kholi and they are to have a big American wedding in L.A after a small temple ceremony in Amritsar.
Johnny then tells Lalita he has to leave and return to London, leaving both Lalita and Lakhi upset. In secret, Lakhi and Johnny begin emailing whilst neither Balraj nor Johnny contacts Jaya or Lalita. Kholi and Chandra call to invite them to their wedding in Los Angeles, sending four tickets. Lalita, Jaya, Lakhi and Mrs Bakshi stop over in London to see Balraj, staying in Southall with relatives, but Kiran (who had taken an immediate dislike to the family) tells them that Balraj is in New York with their parents "looking for some girls". As the family leave from Heathrow for the wedding, they meet Will returning home after a meeting in London. After swapping his seat in first class with Mrs Bakshi, he and Lalita bond and discuss why Balraj never contacted Jaya and why Wickham hasn't called either.
They arrive in L.A. The Bakshis are shown around Kholi and Chandra's new, luxurious house and Chandra explains to Lalita that she isn't romantic but wanted the safety and security of Kholi's business and money and Lalita accepts Chandra's happiness. The Bakshis visit one of the Darcys hotels where the wedding is taking place and meet Darcy's mother, who Lalita stands up to, and his younger sister Georgie, who has heard of Lalita's beautiful guitar playing from Will.
Will and Lalita start to get closer and go on dates, including a helicopter visit to the spectacular Grand Canyon. However at Kholi and Chandra's wedding, Will's mother introduces her to Will's "girlfriend" Anne from New York, shocking and upsetting Lalita. Things are worsened when Georgie says (without realising how Lalita is involved in this) that Will persuaded Balraj to not marry or contact Jaya as he thought Mrs Bakshi was a gold-digger and was pressuring Jaya too much. Lalita is furious even when Darcy proclaims he loves her and storms off vowing never to speak to him again.
Will tries to apologise and explain but Kholi informs him that the family is on their way to London. Meanwhile, back in London, Lakhi sneaks off to see Wickham and leaves a note for her family. After a day and still no return of Lakhi, Will arrives in London where the Bakshis are staying. He apologises sincerely and tells Lalita the truth: he had thought Mrs Bakshi was pressuring Jaya too much and that neither Jaya nor Balraj was ready for marriage, and, that Wickham is a liar and a bad man as he attempted to impregnate Georgie when she was 16 to gain the Darcys' money. Knowing he will do the same with Lakhi, the two go out to save her; they end up saving Lahki and defeating Wickham after tracking them down to a theater. Will beats Wickham in a fistfight, and both Lalita and Lakhi slap Wickham in disgust.
They return to the house they find that Balraj and Jaya are engaged. Will and Lalita realise their love when Mrs Bakshi asks Balraj if he has any cousins for Lalita to marry. Back in India, Darcy surprises Lalita by joining in the traditional drumming, showing his newfound awareness of Indian culture, and the two embrace. The film ends with the double wedding of Will and Lalita and Balraj and Jaya as they ride on elephants down the colourful, vibrant streets of Amritsar.