Well, well, well …. I aint teaching english here. ABCD is the theme of this very new swank movie that I saw over the weekend. Its called AMERICAN DESI but very aptly can also mean AMERICAN BORN CONFUSED DESI. Well, by now I guess u’ve got a slight glimpse of what I mean …. No??? okk here it goes…..
It’s a very simple story line. An indian boy, born and brought up in the US has just finished school and is going to college. Inter-state. Mother is very very Indian, wears a sari, sindoor, believes in family values, believes in pooja-paat when the son is leaving the house and that kind of stuff. Father is also Indian but to a large extent has understood the American way of life and has accepted it with no qualms. But apna betaji is completely American – the accent, the clothes, the expressions and the language. He is so so ecstatic about leaving the house and living separately that his whole world is looking towards a new tomorrow. FREEDOM !!!! is the only thing he can think of. And he completely, completely hates the “indian culture”.
So out he goes into this college with living accomodations in the campus and all and is hoping to gang up with loads of GORAS. But Alas !!! bad luck follows him and he is stuck with a roomfull of Indian ROOMIES. Because no matter how long he tries to call himself Kris, the fact that his name is Krishna Gopal Reddy can never change. So here he is, with an over enthusiastic Sardar, an anti-American Muslim and a guy who thinks he is MC Hammer reincarnated. And apna Krishna ... oops … Kris can’t believe his luck !!!!
And the movie unfolds giving us insights about these guys living together with loads and loads of excellent humour. How their life changes and how their views which they always imposed upon others suddenly take a toss. Apna Kris falls in love with an Indian girl who is also born and brought up in the US but she still believes in the Indian values, enjoys hindi films, loves to dance to the tunes of Hrithik Roshan and Govinda. And the movie goes on …… with a very predictable end.
Hats off to the cast and crew for giving such real life performances and making the movie a wonderful experience.
What I liked about the movie is the simplicity of putting a point. It very lightly and humourously tells us that no matter where we are in the world our culture always follows us there. Its not necessary to live by it but at the end of the day you cant mock it. Very subtly it tells us that at the end of the day we have to come back to our roots. If you don’t appreciate a certain aspect, fair enough !!! but that does not mean you can impose your ideas and principles.
Its low budget, low profiles movies like American Desi, Monsoon Wedding and Bend It Like Beckham that are the ones to look out for these days. There is a lot of masti and mazza in these and have a very light soft spoken lesson to teach.
So my darlings, my verdict is out, go see American Desi, it’ll make you laugh and it’ll make you wonder. And when you leave the theatre, you’ll be going out with a smile. And yet there will be a thin underline in your after thought, very mildly telling you that when we see our culture through another perspective, its actually to die for. Because PHIR BHI DIL HAI HINDUSTANI !!!!