This film was ridiculous. Mira Nair managed to plug her own culture and diverged from the novel with ridiculous dance scenes, color palettes, dialogue, etc. I wish I could have included a British tea party in "Monsoon Wedding" and see how that went over. The casting of Reese Witherspoon was the icing on an already overblown and much too extravagant Indian wedding (cake).
shareBollywood is right! This adaptation was like watching a slo-mo train wreck, but not as interesting.
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Oceania is at war with Eastasia. Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.
I have no idea why Mira Nair decided to make this movie so heavily laden with Bollywood allusions but whatever the cause, it did not work. It made the movie into a cheesy, anachronistic mess and frankly took away from what could've been a decent film adaptation. Without the ridiculous Barefoot in the Fountain "Vauxhall Picnic" scenes and belly dancing it might have come across as a reasonable period piece; instead we were given those ridiculous scenes that felt quite out of sync with the times.
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Everybody needs love. Have you held your hostage today?
I agree. The Lord Steyn Indian ballet scene was the icing on the cake, so ridiculous, it was like watching one of those really stagey dance movies, not a serious period piece. Very disappointed as I just finished the book and was looking forward to seeing a good adaptation for the screen. I'll keep looking.
shareAh, I loved the book! Anyway, the 1998 BBC mini series was a fantastic adaptation and really showed Becky for the calculating little terror she truly was.
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Everybody needs love. Have you held your hostage today?
Me too. Love the book and the '98 series.
That dance scene is truly cringe-inducing.
It is indeed meant to be ridiculous in my opinion, as it embodied Thackeray's satire of the bourgeois people in the given era. The Indian culture is imbued to give the exotic feeling the British love but not necessarily understood.
shareOf course if some random white guy had appropriated Indian culture for this adaptation or lets say The Great Gatsby he would be applauded for his daring!
It's that man again!!