Bride And Prejudice / Coup de foudre à Bollywood

Love at first sight in Bollywood

This is quite timely for the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice, and it really is a coincidence.

It’s been years since I’ve seen this film, so it will be based on what I remember of it, I apologise for the potential inaccuracies.

Bride and Prejudice is the entertaining sort of Bollywood adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. And when I say Bollywood, I merely mean “Indian musical”. (There's always a good reason to reference to Scott Pilgrim vs the World)

It’s not done a bad job, really, at taking the very English settings and feel of the original novel and transposing them to a much warmer climate. It is a little funnier that the original, the actors are decent - although, Jane is supposed to be the beautiful one, not Liz, but like with all musicals, I got bored of the songs really quickly (Guess who’s not rushed to go see Les Miserables?).

From the original title, all we get is a play on word around the title of the novel.

From the French title - nothing of the like.

Pride and Prejudice had most of the time been translated as “Orgueil et Préjugé” (according to wiki, sometimes as “Orgueil et Préjugés”, and even once in 1932 as “Les Cinq Filles de Mrs Bennet” aka “Mrs Bennet’s five daughters” which is, I think,  a reference to Little Women, Louisa May Alcott’s novel translated in French as “Les Quatre Filles du docteur March” or “Dr March’s four daughters”. I probably should write more thoroughly about how the French title seems to change the focus from the heroines being “little women” in their own rights to being someone’s daughters, but not just anyone, though - a DOCTOR!)

But I digress... Pride and Prejudice had most of the time been translated as “Orgueil et Préjugé”, and I can guess how that would make it very very difficult for any sort of play on word around marriage, mariée (bride), or anything of the like, but “Coup de foudre à Bollywood”?.

Before I carry on, a note for the romantic out there, un “coup de foudre” is translated figuratively as “love at first sight” and translated literally as a“lightning strike” - possibly how you’re supposed to feel when that happens to you.

Pride and Prejudice is not about love at first sight, far from it. For most of the story, Liz dislikes Mr Darcy. Majorly.

Thinking about it, it’s probably the first encounter of the formula “Girl meets boy, girl and boy hate each other, girl and boy start to like each other, wedding!” that has populated so many romantic comedies, so love at first sight, it ain’t. Interest at first sight, definitely, love, well, no.

Moreover, to say things happen “in Bollywood” is incorrect, too.

If Bollywood is a place, it’s a place in Mumbai, India. Bride and Prejudice is supposed to be set up in Amritsar. To be honest, I had no idea where the place was and gave the translators the benefit of the doubt. Until I checked google maps, and realised that both cities are 1,717 km apart (roughly 1000 miles) and travelling this distance would require a 24hr drive.



Wedding and damage?



I know India’s a big place and 24 hours are probably not much when it comes to travel within the country (I get bored if I have to sit for more than 2 hours in a car), but one can hardly claim Amritsar to be “in Bollywood”. They’re not even in the same state.

Ok, I admit this could have meant that it takes place in the figurative state of Bollywood, the magical place where everyone starts singing in Hindi at random places in their sentences, and dance too.

This probably means this magical place’s name was used to give people a fair warning about the sort of films they were getting themselves into - which you did not get with the original title.

So big fail all round.

Note: I’ve been trying to come up with a satisfactory translation for the title and have failed so far, but watch this space.