Gurinder Chadha has been speaking about her new film "Bride and Prejudice," which open in the US this week.
“One day I was standing in my kitchen, washing dishes when I thought ‘let’s take something so British, so English, a great English literary classic like Pride and Prejudice and adapt it into a Bollywood setting,” she said explaining how the idea came about.
“The themes of Jane Austens novel are a ‘perfect fit’ for a Bollywood style film,” explains Gurinda. “The themes are so pertinent to contemporary India, especially a place like rural Amritsar, where I decided the Bakshi family should live. Austen’s focus on money and marriage, false pride and false nobility are alive and well in modern India"·
"The 19th century issues pertain to 21st century India, particularly in relation to women. Gurinda continues “Jane Austen was preoccupied with the horrendous idea that women were not worthy of anything, unless they were married, or unless they had money. Intelligence didn’t count for anything. And in Indian society, all most Indian parents dream is to have their daughters married off respectively.”
The director went on to say: "I am a product of the Indian diaspora, and I like to make films, that rather than being eurocentric, are what I call diaspora-centric."
"I think the success of 'Bend it like Beckham' was precisely that it appealed to so many people around the world who are also from a diaspora, whether it's the Greek diaspora, the Middle East, Latin America."
Staying faithful to Jane Austen's story of a mother and father looking to marry their daughters off without large dowries, Bride and Prejudice tells the story of the Bakshi girls.
When a wedding comes to a small town in the Indian countryside, Mrs Bakshi (Nadira Babbar) seizes the opportunity to find mates for her daughters. However, the path of true love never did run smoothly...
The film opens on February 11.
You can read more about the movie and watch a trailer in our database .
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