Gurinder Chadha wasn’t particularly fond of all things Indian. In fact, it took her a long time to get over that feeling. Now, perhaps it’s just the opposite. In her latest film, the Deepak Nayar produced Bride & Prejudice, which releases in India on October 8, she converts the Bennets of Jane Austen’s novel into the Bakshis of Amritsar. A chat with the talented and feisty director...

Gurinder Chadha wasn’t particularly fond of all things Indian. In fact, it took her a long time to get over that feeling. Now, perhaps it’s just the opposite.
In her latest film, the Deepak Nayar produced Bride & Prejudice, which releases in India on October 8, she converts the Bennets of Jane Austen’s novel into the Bakshis of Amritsar. A chat with the talented and feisty director...

What made you decide to adapt Jane Austen’s novel Pride & Prejudice into a film?
When I was growing up, Pride & Prejudice was my favourite book in school. For my film, Bride & Prejudice I wanted to take a great English classic and Indianise the story. I’ve always want to make joyful, affectionate films about people you’re not used to seeing at the centre of the frame on western cinema screens.

I try to create characters that are human and funny and real, so everyone from all corners of the world can identify with them. That’s why it made perfect sense for me to take Jane Austen’s Bennet family from 18th century England and transform them into the Bakshi family from Amritsar.

It’s a subversive tweaking of a delicious English icon – in a similar vein to how I claimed David Beckham for a story about a teenage Punjabi girl.

I wanted to make a film which takes Bollywood into the hearts and homes of people who’ve never seen the films before. It’s got spectacular song and dance sequences, comedy, emotional drama – all the things which make the best Bollywood films so fabulous.

I also wanted to pay homage to certain directors like Yash Chopra, Manoj Kumar and Raj Kapoor, but with my British Asian stamp.

How was it working with Bollywood’s most famous export, Aishwarya Rai?
The protagonist of Pride & Prejudice, Lizzie Bennet, is the greatest heroine of English Literature. I cast Ash because I knew she could be feisty and intelligent and beautiful.

We had a great relationship and she worked hard because we both knew that for a lot of people around the world who haven’t seen Bollywood films, this film will be a kind of introduction to that world.

We both took that responsibility seriously. One challenge for me as a director was that we had actors who come from three different acting traditions – Hindi film actors, British actors and Hollywood actors.

I was impressed with all the actors – Ash, Namrata Shirodkhar, Nadira Babbar, Anupam Kher, Sonali Kulkarni, Meghnaa, Peeya Rai Choudhuri – for most of them it was their first English-language film, and they all do a fabulous job bringing their characters to life.

What can Indian audiences expect from your film?
This film is a true collaboration of cast, crew and sensibilities from India, England and the States. It’s a celebration of all that is wonderful about musicals, both Bollywood and western. When you’re lucky enough to work with creative talents like Santosh Sivan (cinematographer), Anu Malik (music director), Saroj Khan (choreographer), Farhan & Zoya Akhtar (lyricists), you enjoy every part of the process.

We all wanted to make something special that would be unlike anything anyone had seen. It’s been the hardest challenge because it's my most ambitious film. It’s easy to write in a script that you have a song with 300 dancers in a busy Indian market, but actually shooting it is an entirely different thing!

I’d go from directing in English to Punjabi, to very bad Hindi! It was an exhausting 80 day shoot, but we had a blast doing it. I always try to keep my sets happy with a family atmosphere, so we spend lots of time laughing and eating good food!

For me, the world feels smaller and smaller. I hope that audiences will feel a lot of affection towards Bride.. It shares the film’s humour and love of family. Only this time there's the added bonus of fabulous song and dance sequences and Ash and Martin Henderson looking gorgeous together!

-Interviewed by Tashneem Chaudhury