Everyone remeber Gurinder Chadha's venture into mainstream cinema, *Bend it like Beckham*? It was fairly successful, I think it grossed upwards of 25 million, which isn't bad for an unknown director, and at the time, unknown actors and actresses. Would it be to far of a stretch to say it helped make Kiera Knightly's film career? I don't think so.

Well there has been a bit of build up whispers about Aishwarya Rai being the next Bond girl, but it seems like the next Bond movie hasn't even finished casting, and in the meantime she's going to be in Chadra's new film, *Bride and Prejudice*.



The premesis sounds pretty similar. A woman who doesn't want to marry just yet, and if so, not to just whom her parents have selected. I think its a re-hash and am unenthused. What could save this movie is clearly the comic/camp element of Chadra merging classic Bollywood dance sequences with a comic lovestory set in America. The Guru, two years ago, failed to make much out of the Hollywood/Bollywood mix, but Chadra seems to play it pretty clean with her storylines and her affable array of characters, so this will be bigger. How much begger is anyone's guess, but judging from Beckham, it will do well.

If it does, Rai is going to be one of the first recognizable female faces to come out of India and be received internationally. I'm trying to think of another male or female with coming from a similar background and I pretty much can't. Due to the Bond rumors, when I saw the preview (before Findig Neverland) I already recognized her. This could be pretty big for her career.

I just hope the movie is ok, because I didn't really like Beckham at all (thought it did have it moments) and I worry about some of the histories Chadra brings up but maintains in a sort of unchanged context.

We shall see... thoughts on Beckham, Bride, Chadra, or Rai? Post them here.

Bride and Prejudice looks a little too white-washed and simple. Seems like we've seen this movie over and over lately. Maybe it's just the amount of wedding movies since My Big Fat Greek Wedding. I dunno.

Bend it did have its moments of brilliance, but failed to find the balance between having a good drama and a campy teen movie.

I dunno.

I agree with you andaroo. I saw the adds and had my doubts. plus I really didn't think Beckham was all that great. Its boring, predictable, and a caddy/petty in typical highschools girls gone gaga sort of way.

We'll see what the critics feel about this, as i think its still not due to be released for some time to come.

Dolce.

Aish has been known around the world for actually a loooong time!!! She lay claim to fame when she ended runnerup in the Femina Ms India Awards back in 1994, nominated for Ms World and was crowned Ms World that same year. Since then, shes made appearances in the international community (even the states) numerous times and is pretty well known in considerable number of circles.

Ofcourse, everyone enters bollywood and her claim to international fame (through movies) came about 2 years ago in the cinematic classic, 'DevDas', which was the most hyped movie ever to come out of India in recent times. It broke records in the international community, had a biggest budget as well.

Other very recognizable Indian stars:

Sushmita Sen: Aishwarya lost out to her in Ms India 1994 and she went on to become Ms Universe that same year. Taken up movies as well and pretty well known

Amitabh Bachan: The Godfather .. if you don't know him, then you have no knowledge of Indian cinema.

Lata Mangeshkar: Songwriter/Singer. This woman has more songs accedited to her than any person in the world (50,000). Nominated for grammies multiple times, indian cinema and music would not have survived without her. Ironically, even at her old age, shes collaberated with some big names (or fads as I call them) all over the world.


I've personally had issues with Rai. While she can act, the woman should never be allowed to openly speak in public. She was the most annoying part of the MTV Euro awards back 2002(2003?) and to think she took the stage for only 2 minutes.

BTW, Did you ever see Devdas?? If you haven't you should. Not the best of movies but the choreography and cinematography, use of colors and everything were amazing. I hate Shahrukh Khan but .. whatever.

I saw this one movie with her in it. I don't know what it was called. Indian movie. Had to read the subtitles. Didn't like the movie.

She's hot, though. :wink:

Well, I think that she does need a couple of higher-proile movies for an international breakthrough. Pride and Prejudice's reviews in UK haven't been astonishing and its box-office run was just okay. The movie was pused to February 11th in the USA now. It'll be a limited release.

Bend it like Beckham was a nice and refreshing movie with a good cast and a neat story. It wasn't anything special, but it entertained and amused me throughout.

I saw that and yes they should keep talking to minimum, but I could stare at her for the rest of my life.

Who was she? Was she the sister, Pinky if I remember, or one of the girlfriends that the sisters had.

Saw the theatrical preview for Bride and Prejudice when i went to see Aviator. Its going to bomb. And I hope it does. It looks awful. Ugh. No offense to her, I don't want it to kill her career or anything, but if this movie racks up 30 million here its going to speak miles to me about the intelligence level of the theater going public. I don't want to pass too much judgement yet until the critics report in, because I know trailers can be misleading in order to get people into the theatre but it looks like total sugary mindless romance (potentially archaic) junk right now.

her career cannot be killed even with the biggest bomb. She always has bollywood to fall back on where she'll be adored by millions

Ya, she's light-skinned and has green eyes.


And since Indian culture is astonishingly racist and prefers light-skinned over dark-skinned, she will always have fans.

Boxie it's not just indian culture. Class distinction has always reinforced stereotypes of ethnicity. French nobility and aristocracy used to "rinse" their hair blonde in the middle ages in order to distinguish themselves from the "darker" peasants. It seems to me that every culture values lighter skin and hair, etc, as a way of marking someone as better than everyone around them. "Fairer" so to speak. Its no surprise that she's become big outside of India too, its not just Indians that are more comfortable with anglosized features.

oh, I know and I agree with you. It's just that I made that comment to support bABA's statement that she will always have a fanbase in India.

Any movie that has alot of dancing and is ultimately about marriage will have a fanbase in India.

I don't necessarily mean that as a compliment either. bABA and you may know better, but I've heard that 99% of each year's Bollywood productions are pretty regressive and very conservative thematically. I don't know of course, since I've only seen the movies big enough to appeal to broader international audiance. Is it true?

Ash is a horrible actress. Other than the fact she is beautiful she has no other redeeming qualities as a screen presence. She is a star without a single mega hit movie to her name.

All successful actresses in Bollywood are light-skinned. It is almost mandatory.

Generally, Bollywood aka Hindi movies are pathetic and laughable. South Indian movies have far superior story lines and acting. You can see south indian movie influence in Shyamalan's movies. Amitabh Bacchan was a rare mega star in Bollywood who happened to be an excellent actor also.

Oh, I think jb007 (see post abovem ine) and bABA know much more than I would (I used to watch Bollywood films as a small kid, haven't seen too many since).

However, I think it's fair to say that they are all more or less based on the same forumla. It's really strange how much they follow the same basic plot line even though 1,000+ films are produced each year.

And it's not like Indians lack any imagination. I just think the cultural situation doesn't really allow for too much originality? I dunno.


Btw, has anyone seen the Apu Trilogy? Its critical reception is nothing short of amazing.

@Box: You couldn't be more right.

What is Apu Trilogy?


@dolcevita: Bollywood movies keep churning out the same crap week after week. I have always stayed away from bollywood movies except for Amitabh's movies in the 70's and the 80's. Even growing up in India, I watched mainly Hollywood and Kannada movies (State of Karnataka).

Some of the bollywood movies from the mid 60's to mid 80s are pretty good. If you want I can name a few that are worth watching.

The first time I heard of it was when Roger Ebert listed the films among his Great Films.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbc ... 40301/1023


This says it much better than I ever could, especially since I haven't seen any of the films. I wish I could get my hands on them, but the trilogy is from 1959, so it's pretty old.

huh, I know where i can get the films. They were quite popular where i used to work as was salaam bombay and The mahabarata trilogy. Are all of them worth seeing? and yes i've heard excellent stuff aboiut the apu trilogy, though i do not know what it is about other than the little boy on the cover of them. Is this the southern productions you were talking about jb?

The films by the great Satyajit Ray

I have seen two of these and they are very good. I had to mainly go by their emotions and expressions, since the movies are in Bengali.

No, Apu Trilogy is Bengali (east indian).

Mahabaratha is a TV show from the early 90's based on the hindu mythology. The teachings of the mythology are very good. The show is long and would take you months to get done.

Salaam Bombay was good and nothing like a typical Bollywood movie. It is worth seeing.

Here is a list of bollywood movies you might like;

Yadaon ki Bharath (1972)
Sholay (1975)
Amar Akbar Anthony (1977)
Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978)
Lawaaris (1981)
Sharaabhi (based on Arthur) (1984)
Qayamat se Qayamat Tak (1988)
Tezaab (1989)
Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) I haven't seen this. My wife saw this and she loved it and She is from Iowa and had never seen any overseas movies till this.

Some of these are available on Netflix with subtitles.

I will try and put a list of good south indian movies together.

in the UK this movie had pretty mediocre reviews -most saying that Aishwyaraaararaa was the highlight of the film and the American cast were misplaced.

It did well at the box office, although didnt have respectable legs.

I'll have to disagree. I've never been a fan of indian movies (in recent years though, I've seen one movie that was a gem. Hum Tum. If you find it, watch it. its really cute and funny). But Aish CAN act. I was shocked considering I was always a fan off Sushmita's looks over Aishwarya's so already thought negatively about Aishwarya.

In bollywood, aish DOES have mega hit movies to her name ... most recognizable (internationally) being Devdas ... give me enough time to call up my friend who forces me to watch bollywood crap and she'll have 10 movies listed down for me that did great in India.

I do agree though that 99% of all bollywood movies are laughable and pathetic .. they cater to the market there though, which doesn't say much anymore ... bunch of dances, same story lines and skimily dressed women ... actually, the sexuality in indian movies is what pisses me off so much ... people see that as a sign of liberation, i see that as a sign of further objectifying women in that society .... seriously, thats some scandalous shit right there!!!!

Hardcore Amitabh fan I see! \:D/

Sholay was on in indian cinemas for 5 years .. a record.

Actually, south asian culture is extremely unracist. The issue has more to do with the tone of your skin more than anything else.

The difference?
While in the states, if you're black, you actually belong to a certain culture. In India and pakistan, you can be from a light skinned family or any for that matter and familes will throw a fit at you for going outside and playing as it'll make you dark ... being dark is just generally considered a sign of not beautiful ... the race itself is irrelevant ... its actually a pretty big difference in my eyes.