The Big Picture
- The adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, Bride and Prejudice, cut the kissing scenes, instead emphasizing the leads' chemistry through other interactions.
- Actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan set boundaries, avoiding objectification in the film industry.
- Director Gurinder Chadha respected Bachchan's request, granting her wish to remove the kisses, resulting in a stronger story of romantic tension.
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is considered to be one of the romance genre’s classics, sparking numerous film and TV adaptations and remakes over the years. It’s surprising, then, that one of the story’s adaptations cut its kissing scene from the script in a risky but bold move. A romance without a kiss scene sounds like it's missing an important piece of the story, especially when it comes to the chemistry between the two leads. But this adaptation not only makes it work; the absence of the kiss actually strengthens the story and the relationship between the couple. There's a lot to learn both from the way the couple is portrayed and what happened behind the scenes that lead to every kiss ending up on the cutting room floor.
Bride & Prejudice
PG-13ComedyDramaMusicalA modern adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel, Pride and Prejudice, that features the lives of four unmarried daughters in an Indian family.
- Release Date
- March 11, 2005
- Director
- Gurinder Chadha
- Cast
- Martin Henderson , Aishwarya Rai Bachchan , Nadira Babbar , Anupam Kher
- Runtime
- 122 minutes
- Writers
- Jane Austen , Paul Mayeda Berges , Gurinder Chadha
What Is 'Bride and Prejudice' About?
In 2004, Bride and Prejudice was released: an adaptation with a wholly original tale that still keeps the spirit of Austen’s story alive. Bride and Prejudice is a musical romantic comedy that follows the structure of Pride and Prejudice with its new setting, time period, and characters. Lalita Bakshi (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) meets William Darcy (Martin Henderson) at a mutual friend’s wedding celebration, and immediately the two are at odds when it comes to first impressions. With weddings and brides all around her and various suitors coming to call, Lalita struggles to see past her initial judgments against Darcy as he makes fumbling attempts to see past his own pride and learn more about her. Through the chaos, undeniable chemistry arises between them — and misunderstandings.
With plenty of love for traditional Indian culture and a healthy dose of feminism, the film uses a fun mixture of sexual tension and tasteful romance. Lalita’s character reflects this — and she’s not the only one. Before working on Bride and Prejudice, Bachchan had created a set of “rules” for herself that would protect her from objectification, something that permeates the film industry to women’s detriment. As Bachchan says in an interview for Film Fare, “I’m a liberated actor, but that doesn’t mean shedding your clothes.” Bachchan knew what her comfort zone was, what fell within those boundaries, and what lay outside of them, and she wasn’t afraid to make her boundaries clear.
'Bride and Prejudice' Director Gurinder Chadha Gave Aishwarya Rai the Support She Needed
In an effort to avoid breaking her set rules, Bachchan approached director Gurinder Chadha about removing the kisses between Lalita and Darcy from the film. She cited the story’s plot as strong enough on its own and made the case that the script didn’t necessitate a kiss scene because the chemistry was already there and palpable. As Bachchan says in the Film Fare interview: "It [Bride and Prejudice] had a kiss in the script. But I said…‘we can avoid it, because it isn’t crucial to your story.’ And you don’t miss it between Martin Henderson and me at all." Because the romance in the script is so well written and the actors have such good chemistry, a kiss isn’t necessary even in scenes where most viewers would predict to see one. There are plenty of almost-kisses, like during Lalita’s dream sequence, when she is in denial of her feelings for Darcy and leans so far back away from him in the dream that she falls into a dip, or during their romantic montage where a kiss on the lips is replaced with a kiss on the forehead.
Bachchan also recognizes that kiss scenes can be highly predictable, especially in the romance genre, and her solution to the mundane routine of the romance kiss formula was to forego the kiss altogether and rely on other forms of chemistry. In short, an intimate scene doesn’t mean that a kiss (or anything more) needs to take place between two characters. A scene can be intimate and vulnerable through the interactions between the characters and how they are written and portrayed, proving that there’s much more to romance than just the physical aspect.
15 Movies Like 'Pride & Prejudice' for More Romantic Period Satire
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a person in possession of good taste, must be in want of Jane Austen themed movie suggestions.The Absence of Kisses Makes 'Bride and Prejudice' a Stronger Story
Fortunately for Bachchan and the film, Chadha listened to the actor's reasoning and granted her request. Interactions between Lalita and Darcy are creative in their portrayals of romantic tension, with the almost-kiss teases and little heartfelt moments. The moment when Lalita and Darcy finally come together as a couple is marked by a long stare and a sweet hug rather than the formulaic sweeping kiss scene that usually signals the end of a romance film.
Hollywood can learn a lot from Bachchan and Chadha’s ability to hear each other out and work together, not just in an effort to combat objectification, but in a way that can enhance a script rather than just relying on the physical chemistry between two actors. Oftentimes physical intimacy can weigh heavier than emotional intimacy between characters on screen, but we've seen plenty of evidence to the contrary recently. On top of that, it’s so easy for films to follow a preset formula when it comes to physical intimacy in romance, that it can be difficult for an actress to keep a strong set of boundaries. Even for actors who did not have the same self-set rules like Bachchan, director support for an actor or actress’s needs is imperative to their safety and comfort on set. Actors, directors, and even the film scripts themselves can all benefit from listening to the people working on the film when it comes to working within their set boundaries — being as supportive as Chandra was can even lead to much more engaging moments for the film. Bride and Prejudicemay be an adaptation, but it stands out as an original and creative story that benefits from the absence of kisses.
Bride and Prejudice is available to stream on Pluto in the U.S.
