AMEN to that Bro !

I think women admire the way she carries herself, in a seemingly man's world. Without doubt she's an intelligent business woman, who realises how to capitalise on her brand equity. She has always been that way, since her beauty queen days. She has timed her various forays into filmdom, first Tamil, then Hindi, then artsy(Rituparno Ghosh), then Hollywood-Bollywood(Bride & Prejudice) crossover and now finally Hollywood itself, rather cleverly. All this despite any serious talent.

But at the end of the day, she turns me off.....whereas Sushmita Sen, oh well, just bring on the violins gentlemen

Gurinder Chaddha, Aish, BILB are on all the airwaves in a big way. B&P must be releasing tomorrow, in US as well as Canada, although Cinemaclock site has B&P starting on the 18th Feb in Canada. We'll know at midnite whether B&P is releasing in Canada tomorrow?? In the US it's starting tomorrow.

Just heard a 10-15 min segment on CBC Radio-One. Radio had been announcing/ hyping for this forthcoming interview with the BILB director.
The segment started with DDLJ song Tujhe Dekha To Yeh Jaana Sanam (full song).

All this hype and BILB success is sure to give this North American release an excellent initial.

---------------

BTW while listening to the song Tujhe Dekha To Ye Jaana Sanam, one thing occured to me that how close the lyrics are to Madhu Bala's Jwala Song: Dekho Jee, Aankhon Mein Dekho, Aankhein Hamari Hain, Sapne Tumhare??

B&P is starting in the US Today, but in Canada it's from the next week.

Considering that the film is opening on only 35 screens, how big of an opening do you really think is possible.
http://boxofficemojo.com/schedule/

Local review *1/2


"Every thing that went so charmingly right for Gurinder Chadha's BILB, appears to have gonealarmingly wrong with Bride and Prejudice:, her bloated follow upto that hit of 2002 about socces and indian wedding."

"Austin updates go AWRY"

quoted from review.

Author heavily criticize and ridicule Ms Rai's acting capabilities.

Bride and Prejudice (PG-13)
Ebert: Users: Be the first to rate this movie

"Queen of Bollywood" Aishwarya Rai adds her charm to a plot adapted from Jane Austen in "Bride and Prejudice."


Bride and Prejudice


BY ROGER EBERT / February 11, 2005

Cast & CreditsLalita Bakshi: Aishwarya Rai
Will Darcy: Martin Henderson
Mr. Bakshi: Anupam Kher
Mrs. Bakshi: Nadira Babbar
Balraj: Naveen Andrews
Jaya Bakshi: Namrata Shirodkar
Johnny Wickham: Daniel Gillies
Miss Bingley: Indira Varma
Maya Bakshi: Meghna Kothari
Lucky Bakshi: Peeya Rai Choudhuri
Will's mother: Marsha Mason
Mr. Kholi: Nitin Chandra Ganatra

Miramax presents a film directed by Gurinder Chadha. Screenplay by Paul Mayeda Berges and Chadha, inspired by Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Running time: 110 minutes. Rated PG-13.

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Bollywood musicals are the Swiss Army Knives of the cinema, with a tool for every job: comedy, drama, song and dance, farce, pathos, adventure, great scenery, improbably handsome heroes, teeth-gnashing villains, marriage-obsessed mothers and their tragically unmarried daughters, who are invariably ethereal beauties.

"You get everything in one film," my friend Uma de Cuhna told me, as she took me to see "Taal" in Hyderabad. "No need to run around here and there, looking for a musical or an action picture." The movie lasted more than three hours, including an intermission, which Uma employed by correctly predicting everything that would happen during the rest of the film.

Bollywood, is, of course, Bombay -- or Mumbai, as it is now called, although there has been no movement to rename the genre Mumblywood. Although Western exhibitors aren't crazy about a movie they can only show twice a night, instead of three times, Bollywood has developed a healthy audience in London, where the Bollywood Oscars were held a year ago. Now comes "Bride and Prejudice," which adds the BritLit genre to the mix.

Directed by Gurinder Chadha, whose "What's Cooking?" (2000) and "Bend It Like Beckham" (2002) make you smile just thinking about them, this is a free-spirited adaptation of the Jane Austen novel, in which Mr. Darcy and the unmarried sisters and their family are plugged into a modern plot that spans London, New York, Bombay and Goa. Darcy is an American played by Martin Henderson, and Lizzie Bennett becomes Lalita Bakshi, second of four daughters in Amritsar, India -- true to Austen, a country town.

Lalita is played by Aishwarya Rai, Miss World of 1994, recently described by at least one film critic (me) as not only the first but also the second most beautiful woman in the world. According to the Internet Movie Database, "The Queen of Bollywood" is so popular she was actually able to get away with appearing in ads for both Coke and Pepsi. I also learn she carried the Olympic Torch in 2004, has a puppy named Sunshine, and was listed by Time as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. If this review is not accompanied by a photograph of her, you have grounds for a lawsuit.

Aishwarya (ash-waar-e-ah) Rai exudes not the frightening seriousness of a woman who thinks she is being sexy, but the grace and ease of a woman who knows she is fun to look at and be around. What a smile. What eyes. Rai is not remotely overweight, but neither is she alarmingly skinny; having deliberately gained 20 pounds for this role, she is the flower of splendid nutrition.

Sorry, I got a little distracted there. Chadha, who was born in Kenya, raised in London, and is married to a Japanese-American, seems attracted to ethnic multi-tasking. Her "What's Cooking?" is set in Los Angeles and tells parallel stories about families with Vietnamese, African-American, Mexican and Jewish roots. "Bend It Like Beckham" was about a London girl from a Kenyan family with Bengali roots, who wants to play soccer.

In "Bride and Prejudice" she once again transcends boundaries. This is not a Bollywood movie, but a Hollywood musical comedy incorporating Bollywood elements. Her characters burst into song and dance at the slightest provocation, backed up by a dance corps that materializes with the second verse and disappears at the end of the scene. That's Bollywood. So is the emphasis on the mother and father; the lovers in most American romantic comedies seem to be orphans. And she employs the Bollywood strategy for using color, which comes down to: If it's a color, use it.

Will Darcy (Martin Henderson) is a rich young New York hotel man, visiting India because his old friend from London, Balraj (Naveen Andrews) is the best man at a wedding. The Bakshi family is friendly with the family of the bride, and Mrs. Bakshi (Nadira Babbar) hopes her four daughters can meet eligible husbands at the event. That strategy works immediately for Balraj and Jaya Bakshi (Namrata Shirodkar), Lalita's older sister. For them, it's love at first sight. For Darcy and Lalita, it's not.

Darcy makes tactless remarks, disagrees with the custom of arranged marriages, seems stuck-up, is distracted by business, and creates the possibility that Lalita may have to follow her mother's instructions and marry the creepy Hollywood mogul Mr. Kholi (Nitin Chandra Ganatra). Things could be worse; Harvey Weinstein is also visiting India. We know Lalita won't really marry Mr. Kholi, since he is never provided with a first name, but in stories of this sort it's necessary for Darby and Lalita to rub each other the wrong way, so that later they can rub each other the right way.

This plot, recycled from Austen, is the clothesline for a series of dance numbers that, like Hong Kong action sequences, are set in unlikely locations and use props found there; how else to explain the sequence set in, yes, a Mexican restaurant? Even the most strenuous dances are intercut with perfectly composed closeups of Aishwarya Rai, never sweaty, never short of breath. What a smile. Did I say that?

He gave it ***

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbc ... 00302/1023

check other reviews u people must be fair give the gal a break
http://www.premiere.com/article.asp?sec ... le_id=1969

One would think a critic of the standing of Mr. Ebert would verify his facts before writing about them. As far a sI know the film was a London Girl from a Kenyan -Indian immigrant family with PUNJABI roots. I am still trying to figure out what made Mr. Ebert think of Bengali roots.

Only a critic of Ebert's Calibre can award this movie ***1/2

Makes you wonder if some of these reviewers are actually watching the same movie that we saw or maybe the novelty of such crap is what they find attractive.

Man, was this film a mess. It's too restrained to be enjoyed like a BW film and too cliched to be enjoyed period. The actors had no chemistry. I felt no romantic spark between any of them. Aishwarya Rai gives her usual dull, unintersting performance.

Why did Gurinder Chadha pick Anu Malik to do the music? The music needed to be catchy and larger than life. Maybe Ismail Darbar or Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy would have done better. The English lyrics sound stilted and strange. What works in Hindi obviously does not work in English.

I was surprised to see in the end that Santosh Sivan shot this film. Nothing in the film led me to believe that a great cinematographer shot it. It looks perfectly average.

My advice? Watch a real Indian film instead.

The film is not without its plusses here and there. Nitin Ganatra's obnoxious character is pretty funny. So was the snake dance, which came out of nowhere. Nadira Babbar was very funny. There are some little jokes here and there that were humorous. But these little moments are not enough to save the film.

Aishwarya Rai is an average actress in terms of acting, she has been good in a couple of her films, but overall in her career she has been mediocre at best. As far as Bride and Prejudice is concerned, this is definately one of her worst performances, wherein she looked totally artificial. As for her looks, there is no doubt that she is a very attractive woman, but there is something too made up about her, very artificial. There's that 'artificial' word again, but I can't help it since 'artificial' is the most appropriate word I can find to describe her. Although she has looked stunning in a couple of films but in 'Bride & Prejudice' she does not look good at all. Along with the music of Annu Malik and ofcourse the script, she is one of the weakest aspects of the film. All said, the biggest failure is that of the director, Gurinder Chaddha. If I did not know it for a fact, I would have never believed that it is her that also directed 'Bend It Like Beckham, which is a movie I really liked. Annu Malik should be caned for screwing up the most prestigious project of his career. As for the amatuerish and almost pedestrian lyrics, the less said the better.

By the way, did you guys know that the DVD for both 'Bride & Prejudice' and 'Amristar To LA - Balle Balle' have been out in India for atleast a month now?

PS: Bride & Prejudice First weekend collections are estimated at $388,000 for a strong $12,125 average. It's real test will come as the movie opens up to a wider release in the forthcoming weeks. Since Miramax is opening the film so slowly accross the country I think their promotional campaign with Aishwarya (talk show appearances etc.) are a little ill timed. In my opinion they appearances should have been done in the days preceeding the wider release.

I use to like Roger Ebert alot say 4-5 years ago. Now, he's just a blatantly close-minded and determinedly middle-brow film critic, giving utterly trash films like B&P and Blade dubious film ratings.

No prejudice for Bride in US

Arthur J Pais | February 14, 2005 18:28 IST



The beautiful bride got a bountiful dowry over the weekend. Never mind what the likes of The New York Times wrote, some 50,000 fans watching Bride & Prejudice on 32 screens in 15 cities were partly lured by Aishwarya Rai's appearances on 60 Minutes and Late Night with David Letterman -- not to forget a handful of solid reviews by major publications.

That's why Gurinder Chadha's film, which also happens to be Rai's first English language movie, grossed an impressive $388,000 in three days, with a terrific $12,125 screen average. It was the 19th highest-grossing film over the weekend.

It is not fair to compare the per screen average of a film in limited release to that of a film showing in over 3,500 theatres. But, for the record, Bride & Prejudice had the second-highest per screen average among the top 20, the leader of the pack being the Will Smith hit Hitch, with a $12,671 average. According to Boxofficeguru.com, the remaining films in the top 20 averaged below $4,000 each, and Bride was the only movie on the list playing in fewer than 350 theatres.


The movie was anything but beautiful to a few major critics. Ash Rai looks gorgeous, The New York Times conceded in its nasty review of Bride & Prejudice, but quickly added she was 'inert.' As for her co-star Martin Henderson, he is 'just inert.'

Talking of appearance, one or two reviewers wrote Henderson had GQ looks but just because he looks like a hunk who could be featured in that magazine does not mean he can act. He could not match Ash, many pointed out.

In New York Post reviewer Lou Lumenick pitted Chadha vs Mira Nair. 'Though nobody will mistake it for the real thing,' he wrote, 'Bride & Prejudice is the best attempt at adapting Bollywood style to Western tastes since Moulin Rouge. It may not be in the same league as Baz Luhrmann's film, but it's a lot more palatable than Mira Nair's disastrous Indian-inflected Vanity Fair. '

Though many reviewers were lured by Ash's looks, at least one thought there was someone more enchanting than Rai in the film. 'But while Rai is getting all the attention -- she's been called the world's most beautiful woman by no less an authority than Julia Roberts -- I'm not sure she's prettier than (Namrata) Shirodkar,' wrote Jack Mathews in the Daily News. 'If Shirodkar placed fourth for Miss Universe in 1993, it must have been a great year,' he added.

Compared to reviews from major British publications, American reviewers were quite upbeat on the film, in fact some like Rolling Stone, Daily News in New York and Chicago Tribune were nearly ecstatic, giving the film three (out of four) stars. Even many publications like New York Post, faulting the film for plot holes, gave the film two and a half stars.

But Time magazine's Richard Corliss, who has deep affection for films such as Devdas, thought Chadha failed to bring the vibrancy of good Bollywood films to Hollywood. He also faulted Rai for not able to bring out the complexities of her part. She looked like a still picture, he wrote, not a vibrant actress.

Mathews called the movie 'irrepressible Bollywood romance' in Daily News. Newsday gave the movie two and a half stars. 'I'm a hard sell for Bollywood films, those colourful, cornball family musicals produced by the bushel in Mumbai,' wrote Mathews, 'But this English-language entry was conceived as a crossover international film, and it largely succeeds. The lyrics for the musical numbers are delightfully clever, the dancing has an energetic, let's-put-on-a-show quality, and the movie is as gorgeous to look at as its cast.'

In the next weeks, the film will face crucial tests as it will add more screens and cities. In Britain, the film was given a massive launch and it grossed about $3 million in its first week on 376 screens and ended its run with more than $10 million.

This weekend, the film played to packed houses in such top markets as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas and Houston. Whether it could be a sleeper hit like Chadha's previous venture Bend It Like Beckham (that grossed a surprising $32 million in North America) will be known after a month.

But it would be impressive even if Bride & Prejudice were to make half that money. The film, which cost about $8 million, has nearly recouped its negative cost, thanks to the gross from a handful of countries including Britain, South Africa, Italy and India.