听 After runaway success with Bend It Like Beckham, director Gurinder Chadha became a hot property in Hollywood. She followed up with Bride & Prejudice, a Bollywood twist on Jane Austen's classic novel Pride & Prejudice. A colourful cast led by Aishwarya Rai and Martin Henderson bring "fun and flamboyance" to this story of love across societal borders, which struck gold at the box office.
Indie Movie
In a fun but fairly typical 'making of' featurette, Gurinder Chadha explains how "the themes of Austen's novel are so pertinent to contemporary India". In separate featurettes, Martin Henderson and Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai echo these ideas and predictably lavish their director with praise. Making up for the flimflam, Henderson also relates a few amusing tales of culture shock - sadly he loses points for a naff Indian accent.
Matters of production design, makeup and choreography are dealt with in other featurettes, which together draw a very detailed picture of how the overall look of the film was achieved. "It was quite a task to teach them," says choreographer Saroj Khan of her inexperienced dancers, who actually kissed her feet every day "for good luck". Or for punishment, depending on how arduous the day was...
Among the deleted footage is a lavish musical number. Chadha provides an introduction for this, taking pride in the fact that she devised the song herself. It's as delightfully cheesy as you'd expect with lyrics like, "Arrogance, pride and vanity, roll 'em up and you'll have Draceeeey!" And the production crew also gets a touch musical in a cheeky behind-the-scenes featurette. Along with the gaffers and lighting bods, Chadha dons the dancing shoes to perform some of the key set pieces. And we seew why they're behind the camera instead of in front...
Bollywood Heat
Chadha pops up again with co-writer Paul Mayeda Berges for a light-hearted but revealing audio commentary. Here she admits to causing minor riots in Southall, London where many of her Indian extras were scouted. Apparently avid fans of Bollywood cinema were so desperate to catch a glimpse of Aishwarya Rai that they came to blows over it!
Other highlights include a trip to the lavish UK premiere and an outtakes reel that sees Ashanti suffering a Janet Jackson-style "wardrobe malfunction". In all, Bride & Prejudice is a bright, bubbly and generous package of extras that will leave you singing a happy tune.
EXTRA FEATURES
