American Desi
| American Desi | |
|---|---|
 American Desi DVD Cover |
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| Directed by | Piyush Dinker Pandya |
| Produced by | Deep Katdare Cyrus E. Koewing Gitesh Pandya Piyush Dinker Pandya |
| Written by | Piyush Dinker Pandya |
| Starring | Deep Katdare Purva Bedi Ronobir Lahiri Rizwan Manji Kal Penn Ajay Pandya Anil Kumar Sunita Param Aladdin Ullah Eric Axen Sanjit De Silva Sunil Malhotra Ami Shukla Krishen Mehta Smita Patel Bina Sharif Tirlok Malik Ravi Khanna |
| Release date(s) | 2001 |
| Running time | 100 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
American Desi is a 2001 American film with Indian influence, notable for featuring many prominent South Asian American actors. Also featured is an a cappella version of the Hindi classic "Aap Jaisa Koi", sung by Penn Masala and originally from the movie Qurbani. The term Desi in the title refers to the peoples and cultures of the Indian subcontinent.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
An American-raised Indian, Krishnagopal Reddy (or "Kris" as he prefers to be called, to distance himself from his heritage) finds out to his dismay that his college roommates are all Indian. He does not associate with the Indian culture that his parents and family have pushed upon him and prefers to be as American as possible. His roommates include Ajay (Kal Penn), an African-American idolizing desi; Jagjit, who loves art but studies engineering to please his father; and Salim, who is very traditional and conservative, feeling that Indian-American girls are too Westernized to make good wives.
Kris meets Nina, a girl he immediately falls for, and is surprised to find out that not only is she Indian, but she is also quite involved with Indian culture. The movie revolves around him making mistakes and trying his best to win Nina over, from joining the Indian Students Association to be near her, to learning how to perform a Dandiya Raas. Thus, Kris eventually begins to enjoy the company of his roommates, all of whom put together their knowledge and skill to help Kris impress Nina through various ways involving the Indian culture.
The night of the show, the four roommates show up. There is a fight scene at the end between Nina's friend Rakesh and Kris, and Kris wins. (Rakesh wants to be Nina's boyfriend, but she considers him more like a brother since they practically grew up together — their parents are friends "since before they were born" according to Rakesh.) Jagjit's father sees what impressive statues he has made for the function and is proud of his son. Salim eventually finds a girl (Farah, who is religious and can cook) that he likes. Though Ajay doesn't get rid of his "African-American roots," it is implied that he has found a new friend in the president of the Indian Association. The Dandiya Raas and the whole Indian Association function goes off without a hitch.
[edit] Cast
- Deep Katdare as Kris Reddy
- Purva Bedi as Nina Shah
- Ronobir Lahiri as Jagjit Singh
- Rizwan Manji as Salim Ali Khan
- Kal Penn as Ajay Pandya
- Anil Kumar as Rakesh Patel
- Sunita Param as Farah Saeed
- Aladdin Ullah as Gautam Rao
- Eric Axen as Eric Berger
- Sanjit De Silva as Chandu
- Sunil Malhotra as Hemant
- Ami Shukla as Priya
- Krishen Mehta as Mr. Reddy (Kris's father)
- Smita Patel as Mrs. Reddy (Kris's mother)
- Bina Sharif as Mrs. Saeed
- Tirlok Malik as Mr. Saeed
- Ravi Khanna as Mr. Singh
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- American Desi - The Movie - Official site
- American Desi at the Internet Movie Database
