Bride and Prejudice (2004)

Since Moulin Rouge doesn't count, seeing Bride and Prejudice last night was my first Bollywood-style movie experience -- and I liked it a lot as far as the genre goes. The costumes, choreography, and musical numbers are impressive and fun to be sure. The main characters' acting is acceptable and every character is funny at some point -- though some (Lalita's parents and esp. Kholi) are throwaway caricatures. D'Arcy here was Balrai who seemed to be channeling Colin Firth quite a bit. The snarkiness against American capitalism followed by fawning to obtain its benefits -- pro-India arrogance vs. rank opportunism even to the point of abandoning one's proud heritage in the blink of an eye -- was always interesting. I considered drumming this movie down to 3.5 stars because of Kholi's overplayed oafish snorting (too much, methinks) but I suspect the goofy whimsy and exotic gestalt of this movie will only grow on me -- so I'll give it a straight 4 stars.