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American Desi

2001, Movie, NR, 100 mins

American Desi: Review

AMERICAN DESI
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A culture-clash comedy revolving around first-generation Indian-American Krishna "Kris" Reddy (Deep Katdare), who sees his first year at college as a great way to escape his parents' saris, samosas and statues of Ganesh. Imagine his dismay when he finds all three of his roommates are Indian. Devoutly Muslim Salim (Rizwan Manji) hopes to marry a girl from the old country, because American-raised Indian girls are bossy and disrespectful. Outgoing Jagjit (Ronobir Lahiri), who wears the traditional Sikh turban and beard, dreams of being an artist but fears his traditional father's disapproval. And wannabe-gangsta Ajay (Kal Penn) figures that if not for continental drift, India and Africa would still be part of the same land mass and they'd all be brothers. Kris falls hard for a classmate, brainy beauty Nina (Purva Bedi), only to discover that she's also of Indian extraction and has struck a happy balance between tradition and contemporary American ways. She's also spoken for by the cocky Rakesh (Anil Kumar), who never misses an opportunity to humiliate Kris by exposing his ignorance of Indian music, religion, movies and dance. Salim, meanwhile, is being pursued by Farah (Sunita Param), whom he takes for exactly the kind of brazen girl he despises until he sees her worshipping at the mosque. "Desi" is a term describing people of South Asian heritage raised in the U.S. (the more derogatory "ABCD" means "American-born confused Desi"), and this romantic comedy attempts to explore the full range of Desi experience. Oddly, the movie's set and costume designs are its most sophisticated aspect: The way a T-shirt bearing the image of a Hindu deity is slipped into a hip-hop ensemble speaks volumes about cultural assimilation and accommodation. Unfortunately, the script is often obvious and much of the acting is amateurish (Rakesh's comic sidekicks are just dismal), though Purva Bedi is a shining exception: She's got star quality to burn. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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