Search the Internet          Tips

American Desi Strikes A Chord

Shaheen Pasha

It was late, and Piyush Pandya was getting cold. But the beefy bouncer wouldn't hear it.

"I can't let you in, this place has too many people already inside," he said tersely.

And so Pandya grimaced, unable to convince The Merc Bar's bouncer to let him into the opening night after-party for American Desi, the movie he directed.

But he must have been happy to see the crowd lined up outside the Mercer Street, Manhattan, dive for their chance to meet the stars of the film. Most of the crowd had just seen the premiere. If only he could get inside.

One of the movie's stars valiantly tried to come to his rescue. The dainty Purva Bedi rushed outside to point out to the oblivious bouncer that Pandya was the movie's director, and the man next to him, Aladdin, was in the movie itself.

"Well, when people start emptying out, we'll let you in," was all the bouncer had to say.

Maybe if Pandya had just slipped him a $20 bill?

Eventually, he made it into the bar, and basked in the afterglow of the production that is turning out to be a roaring commercial success for him, and a point of debate between young and old in the US desi diaspora. The $250,000 movie grossed about $310,000 in the first three days.

The critics had little good to say about the movie (the New Jersey Star-Ledger called it "ragged but engaging"), but audiences are turning it into one of the bigger desi hits in US theatres. Taal, released by Eros -- American Desi's distributor -- opened with about $600,000. But for an English-language film that does not have Bollywood song and dance, the box-office gross of American Desi is significant.

People who tried to get tickets for the 8pm show at Manhattan's Cinema Village on Sunday found that it was sold out by 3pm. Most weekend shows were sold out in Toronto, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

"Oh my god, this film has been completely sold out," said the staff at the theatre, which showcased another independent desi film, Nisha Ganatra's Chutney Popcorn, last year. But that film, which mostly played in mainstream cinemas, is nowhere near American Desi in terms of box-office success.

Even New York comedian Aladdin, who plays the part of a teacher's assistant in the film, said he couldn't get tickets for any show in Manhattan, and hoped he could catch the show in Queens.

What he noticed was that it was the younger members in the crowd who were doing all the laughing. "Older people and critics spent all their time analyzing the movie, while the college crowd was completely cracking up," he said.

Aladdin conceded that the film was "campy" and people weren't supposed to take it seriously. But discussion over the movie, observed on the South Asian Journalists Association mailing list, was devoid of any light-hearted chatter.

"For anyone with a decent knowledge about the diversity of India, it should be obvious that the last name Reddy is an Andhraite name," said Chellury Sastry, a frequent contributor to the list.

"Yet, Kris's dad is shown to be a North Indian speaking Hindi and not Telugu. This is an atrocious error. It is either ignorance or linguistic arrogance that Hindi is the only Indian language worth projecting, much to the consternation and alienation of proud, nationalistic NRI folks like me from the southern part of India."

Anaga Dalal, another SAJA lister, suggested that Sastry "loosen up". "I loved it," she retorted. "I thought it was hilarious. My friends and I saw the story of our lives writ large. American Desi was fun, irreverent and boundary-pushing, which is what comedies should be... and if we can't laugh at ourselves, we're repressing ourselves."

Sujata Sinha, a recent college graduate, countered that the movie mirrored parts of her experience growing up and going to school in America as a desi. "While I was watching American Desi, I couldn't help thinking, 'Oh I remember that,' or 'I did this'," she said. "The characters portrayed in the movie resemble many of the real people in large universities in America where there are a lot of desis."

Moviegoers coming out of Cinema Village on opening night gave the film credit that it made them laugh. "It was really fun to watch," said one desi girl, who saw it with her white boyfriend. "It was like a Bollywood movie made in America."

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report