July 11, 2003

Bollywood Jane Austen

Posted by Chris

It seems to be Jane Austen day here at Crooked Timber, as the BBC brings news that Bend it Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha - announcing that Jane Austen must have been a Punjabi in a previous life - discusses her forthcoming Bollywood adaptation of Pride and Prejudice:

Chadha’s film, renamed Bride and Prejudice, stays faithful to Austen’s original story, although the Bennett family become the Bakshis, and Mr Darcy becomes a wealthy American. Aishwarya Rai takes the lead role in the film His unsavoury friend Mr Bingley is still an Englishman - in this case a barrister - and according to Gillies, who plays him, his character will be “more despicable”.

Ah, those national stereotypes …. a pity they couldn’t get Alan Rickman.

Posted on July 11, 2003 10:47 PM UTC
Comments

His unsavoury friend Mr Bingley

Sorry, which Pride and Prejudice is this again?

Posted by Kieran Healy · July 11, 2003 10:56 PM

Well spotted!

Posted by Chris Bertram · July 11, 2003 10:58 PM

Indeed, Bingley’s a good guy, if a bit wussy and vapid. Surely there are millions of people who have read Pride and Prejudice, and who could write this article and recall that Bingley is not notably unsavoury.

Posted by John · July 11, 2003 11:13 PM

Well sure… but once you make the character
“more despicable”, he will then be “unsavory”,
regardless of whether he was to begin with, no?

Posted by Jeremy Osner · July 12, 2003 03:31 AM

This is an interesting development. Of course, I believe that Mira Nair (Kama Sutra, Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding) is slated to do an adaptation of “Vanity Fair” with Reese Witherspoon, of all people. In addition, one of Ang Lee’s first American movies was the adaptation of “Sense and Sensibility”. It definitely brings a different angle than the stolid (if faithful) Merchant Ivory approach.

Posted by Norbizness · July 12, 2003 05:39 PM

Ah — now that I see the original article refers to “his unsavoury friend Mr. Wickham,” I, of course, want to take issue with the word “friend”…

Posted by Ruth Feingold · July 14, 2003 03:15 PM
Followups

→ Austen at Crooked Timber.
Excerpt: And finally, before I head off to the library for the afternoon, there is a Jane Austen love-fest happening at Crooked Timber. Lots of fun. (Permalinks here, here, and here.)...Read more at Sappho's Breathing
→ Jane Austen comes to Bollywood. Aishwarya to star..
Excerpt: (found it on Crooked Timber's blog) Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha is now making a Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice. "Jane Austen must have been a Punjabi girl in a previous life," she told BBC News Online....Read more at Musings of an Iconoclast : tarun's weblog
→ Austen at Crooked Timber.
Excerpt: And finally, before I head off to the library for the afternoon, there is a Jane Austen love-fest happening at Crooked Timber. Lots of fun. (Permalinks here, here, and here.)...Read more at Sappho's Breathing

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.