It seems till now Gurinder Chadha was happily climbing every mountain that came her way - Bhaji on the Beach (1993), What's Cooking? (2000) and of course Bend it Like Beckham (2002) all showcasing her ever improving skills as a filmmaker. But she seems to have lost her footing somewhere along her latest endeavour and hence has had to climb down rather than continue upwards. In other words, Bride and Prejudice sadly disappoints.

Chadha's East meets West attempt or as she calls it - her British Asian sensibility combined with her tribute to 'Bollywood' to rework Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice just doesn't gel as what finally comes across, barring a few genuine moments, is an average Bollywood film. While it sounds wonderful to transpose Jane Austen to Bollywood, what lets the film down are the Bollywood elements themselves. Maybe because you feel Chadha doesn't take these elements seriously enough. Thus you are unsure at times if the film is actually her tribute to Bollywood or is it a kind of parody where she enjoys its quirks. In fact lets be fair - Bollywood takes itself very seriously and does these sorts of films better. The West might dismiss our films as 'those Indian musicals' but here given a chance to go better, even the musical part of the film is a big no no. Chadha picks up the elements of Bollywood and rather then going beyond them or adding to them, just tends to go along. So of course complexities, subtexts and subtleties are totally missing in the film.

A pity because the film begins with a bang - Balraj (Andrews), his sister (Indira Varma) and American Will Darcy (Martin Henderson) land into cacophonic crowded Amritsar in Punjab where they have come to attend a good old Punjabi wedding. An energetic wedding song (but of course) and another on the streets of Amritsar later (the best choreographed song in the film) just as you are settling down to get taken in by what you think would be the film's infectious sense of fun and zany energy, you get let down as the film in fact starts losing it. Leave alone storytelling, barring the two above-mentioned songs the rest of the songs are painfully written, composed and picturised to say the least dragging down the film further.

The biggest and most glaring weaknesses of the film are its ineffectual leads. Aishwarya Rai at no time ever comes across as the vibrant, passionate, headstrong intelligent woman she is supposed to be. Let's just say it is a fake, bland, stilted, typical Aishwarya Rai performance. But to be fair here the writing doesn't help her either. Her scenes of confrontation with Martin Henderson lack drama or intelligence or good dialogue. All we have to show that this is an intelligent woman is some naïve pro India dialogues against the gora who doesn't understand the real India. Henderson is too low key as the arrogant Darcy and as a result the central track of Aishwarya and him has absolute no chemistry or ups and downs and makes for dull, heavy viewing.

Thankfully however, the supporting cast particularly Namrata Shirodkar, Indira Varma, Naveen Andrews, Nadira Babbar and Anupam Kher are in top-notch form. But sadly none of their characters are developed nicely with total focus only on Henderson and Rai. Nitin Ganatra as a rival suitor from USA is way over the top but does at least bring some life into the proceedings - but a point here - did he have to be such a caricature? You know immediately the heroine would want nothing to do with this man. What if he were a normal, smart Indian NRI as most of them are today. That could have perhaps brought out more complexities with Aishwarya's character as she takes her stand of following her heart. But again remember this is a 'Bollywood film' - so no need to have even a little complexity or depth or layering!

In true Bollywood tradition as the film gets more serious and emotional in the second half, it just seem to go on and on and on! Also there are some things one cannot figure out. If Darcy has told Balraj that Jaya (Shirodkar) is not good enough for him and they've fought since Balraj loves her, why does Balraj avoid her then?

But yes - since Bride and Prejudice is a Gurinder Chadha film, (though we have to remind ourselves) there are some great redeeming moments as well like the snake dance by Meghna Kothari - undoubtedly one of the films highlights or the scenes where the well meaning mother constantly keeps putting her foot in her mouth and embarrassing the family. Or even the fight in the National Film Theatre with Purab aur Paschim playing in the background. And like Bend It Like Beckham, the father daughter interactions are heartwarming and bring a genuine smile to the face. Daughters have always shared a special bond with their fathers and Chaddha brings this out beautifully.

Technically the film is adequate, nothing extraordinary.

Gurinder Chadha's intentions were undoubtedly noble - To use her position post Beckham and showcase our brand of filmmaking to the West. But after viewing Bride and Prejudice one cannot help but feel that this is not the film that would warm them towards Bollywood. The kinder ones might enjoy it as silly froth but that's about it.