The fastest, easiest distinction one could make between Jane Austen’s Jane and Lizzie Bennet is this: the pretty one and the smart one, respectively. But if I attempted to describe them this way with reference to the filmic adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, I’d be creating more confusion than clarity.
Jaya (Jane) and Lalita (Lizzie)
from blogspot.com
Just imagine, you’re watching Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice with some friends when one of them asks you which of the actresses is supposed to be playing Jane Bennet. You say, “Oh, it’s the pretty one,” and this scene comes up on the screen. See the problem?
In this Bollywood-esque version of Austen’s most celebrated novel, Lizzie Bennet’s character is called Lalita Bakshi and is played by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan- the reigning beauty of Indian cinema. Crowned as the first runner-up of the Miss India pageant, Aishwarya went on to win the title of Miss World in 1994 and began her acting career shortly after. When cast for Lalita’s role nearly a decade after, she was already recognized for being not just one of the most popular and influential celebrities of India but often the “most beautiful woman in the world” as well (Wikipedia). Namrata Shirodhkar, who plays Jaya Bakshi (Jane Bennet) in the film, was Miss India 1993 but despite being quite pretty herself, it wouldn’t be untrue to say that her good looks and reputation don’t really match up with Aishwarya’s. It makes sense then for Chadha to give the leading role of the movie to the more beautiful, more famous actress – one needs to get the audience to come to the theater, after all – but to make casting choices at the cost of the characters? Not really.
First of all, Jaya had little to no part in the plot of Chadha’s movie and this might have been because a) the script was more focused on Lalita and Darcy, or b) Lalita’s role, being played by a more influential actress, got more screen time. Even then, Jaya’s character was downplayed to a disagreeable degree and we see that not just through her lack of dialogue and agency, but also in the way she is presented in the movie.
Lalita, ooh la la.
from cineplex.com
The biggest tell-tale sign is how Jaya’s role is played by an actress whose skin tone is a lot darker in comparison to Aishwarya Rai’s and the lighting in the movie makes sure that people notice this (in India, lighter skin tone equals prettiness). The costume designers clearly discriminated, making Lalita’s outfits more eye-catching and form-fitting than Jaya’s drabby looking ones.
Wright’s Lizzie and Jane: where superstar Kiera Knightley doesn’t entirely overshadow her on-screen sister.
from Fanpop.com
An argument could be made that the colors of their clothes were more suited to their personalities; we talked in class about how Lalita’s bright deep dresses reflected her fiery temperament while Jaya’s mute-hued attires showed her calm and genteel persona. But like Jo Wright demonstrates in his rendition of Pride and Prejudice (and so do the makers of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries), this can be done without making costumes unflattering and actors unattractive. Same goes for the make-up and hair styling. Actors with star-status, like Kiera Knightley and Aishwarya Rai, probably do have their own designers, make-up artists, and stylists but the supporting cast, especially if they are meant to, should look just as good. Don’t get me wrong, I love Aishwarya Rai but you see, Namrata is actually pretty and as Jaya/ Jane, I think this should have been highlighted instead of downplayed.
At this point I think I should mention once again that I do believe that Chadha did most of this intentionally (not that I claim to know how the movie industry works) owing to aforementioned reasons a) and b). I’m just saying she shouldn’t have. Yes, Lalita is the protagonist and the one who’s responsible for selling the movie, but Jaya has to be incredibly exquisite looking too- if not more than Lalita then at least as much as her- and with Bollywood and its array of lovely ladies, she would have been more than able to find a pretty, popular one. Take Sushmita Sen, the winner of Miss India and Miss Universe 1994 or Madhuri Dixit, whose acting and dancing skills have been deemed incomparable- either of these two could have played Jaya’s role. And if the issue was that they wouldn’t have accepted the role because of exactly how little of a value their character had, Chadha could have picked any of the dozens of talented pageant show winning actresses. I vote for Dia Mirza:
Dia Mirza, Miss India (2nd Runner Up) and Miss Asia Pacific 2000
from static.ibnlive.in.com