Alert AustenBlog Reader Teresa writes to tell us that there is a very brief preview of P&P3 on the DVD of the recent adaptation of VANITY FAIR directed by Mira Nair. From what Teresa says, it amounts to only a few shots. She said, “Don’t blink, you might miss something.” So don’t be expecting much, but we thought it was only proper to report the news to our readers.

We have been anticipating this movie impatiently for months, and are pleased to report that we were not at all disappointed. BRIDE AND PREJUDICE is a frothy, funny, delightful confection; Bollywood enough to be interesting and Hollywood enough to be familiar.

Aishwarya Rai’s Lalita is an intelligent and independent-thinking woman who can still sing wistfully that she is waiting for love to find her. She cherishes her prejudices about Darcy and is loath to let them go; he has to win her over, and win her away from the charming Wickham and his own mistakes. It’s no secret that Ash is a beautiful woman, and she is obviously a star, but she doesn’t depend on her looks to carry her in this film. She has real talent, and there is strong chemistry between Ash and her Darcy.

Martin Henderson is a terrific Darcy: tall and handsome, unthinkingly snobbish in the beginning and revealing himself as a warm and caring brother and romantic partner as the film progresses. If he was a little stiff, we think it was because he was fighting the accent a bit (he is actually a New Zealander), but he was quite believable as an American. Besides, Darcy is supposed to be stiff! And no other Darcy ever had as good an excuse to beg off dancing with his Elizabeth! Henderson gives in to Chadha’s gleeful humiliation of Darcy, and humanizes the character thoroughly in the process. We found him perfectly delightful.

The minor characters are great: Mr. and Mrs. Bakshi are thoroughly recognizable avatars for Mr. and Mrs. Bennet: we clapped, more than once, when Mr. Bakshi dryly delivered one of those Mr. Bennet lines. Johnny Wickham is sexy and slimy, Lakhi (Lydia) is thoughtlessly trampy, Maya’s snake dance is as hilarious as Mary Bennet’s bad singing, Kiran is as perfectly snooty as Caroline Bingley, and Marsha Mason’s Catherine Darcy (Will’s mother, not his aunt) is withering both to the Bakshis and her own son. No Georgian-set film ever had so many gorgeous costumes or stunningly beautiful women, and there is no lack of handsome men, either. We have had a crush on Naveen Andrews since THE ENGLISH PATIENT, and his “Indian M.C. Hammer” bit only served to increase his many charms. Nitin Chandra Ganatra is a standout as Mr. Kholi, the expat who blows into Amritsar bada-bing-bada-boom, looking for an old-fashioned Indian girl for his wife and providing quite as much comic relief as the rector of Hunsford.

The Janeites who attended the film with us mostly loved it as well, though one purist in our group didn’t think much of it. The rest of us were dancing in the theatre lobby and singing “No Life Without Wife” all the way home. Gurinder Chadha’s experimental combination of Bollywood and Hollywood works, and we think Jane Austen would have approved of this reimagining of her classic story. Trust us: the rhythm IS going to get you!

Minnesota Daily likes the movie but is not overly enthusiastic.

The Chicago Tribune compares it to an Elvis Presley musical.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Detroit News and the San Jose Mercury News have articles about Gurinder Chadha.

The Houston Press abuses adverbs and wrinkles its nose in a hipper-than-thou manner.

Photos from the New York premiere.