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American Desi bags mixed reviews

Ken Naz, the honcho at Eros Entertainment, expects American Desi, a campus comedy about identity and self-esteem, will do as good a business as Taal

Taal, which Eros released in August 1999, danced on 44 screens for several weeks and walked away with $2 million.

American Desi, which has been heavily promoted by Eros, is on 40 screens. Unlike Taal, it has no songs and dances. And it has no big stars, though some of the young artists featured in it -- like Purva Bedi -- are getting good exposure in the mainstream television shows such as ER .

And American Desi is in English.

Like other desi distributors, Eros too hasn't had a hit in several months.

The early indications, especially in New York, is that the movie is drawing hordes of college students, particularly at Cinema Village, which is close to New York University.

As reviewer Bob Campbell pointed out in The Star-Ledger, first-time writer and director Piyush Dinker Pandya "can also lay claim to a sizable American audience who never see their culture and concerns on the screen."

Star-Ledger, while giving the New Jersey-shot film two stars (out of four) singled out the performances of Purva Bedi and Deep Katdare, who is also the movie's co-producer.

But the movie isn't drawing much praise from other mainstream critics.

The New York Times and New York Post gave it thumbs down.

The Post gave the film one and half stars out of four, while Star-Ledger bestowed two stars out of four. The movie wasn't reviewed in other mainstream publications such as Newsday on its opening day.

The Times faulted the film for not being consistent, though reviewer Stephen Holden conceded the movie had some amusing moments, most of them involving the unwinding of a strait-laced Salim.

"But most of the conflict it sets up are paper tigers," Holden said. In the beginning of the movie, it looks as if American Desi might seriously tackle the problems of cultural identity, he noted. But the movie soon settles for being a light romantic comedy, he complained.

The Post reviewer, Jonathan Foreman, lamented the waste of an opportunity.

"Unfortunately, despite some genuinely funny scenes, American Desi turns out to be inferior to the as yet unreleased ABCD and even last year's Chutney Popcorn, not to mention some of the excellent films from Britain like Bhaji on the Beach that deal with similar issues of assimilation and cultural loss.

Foreman blamed "amateurish writing and direction that favors lame slapstick jokes, and to poor technical values (the characters' voices and lips are often out of synch)."

Foreman also found the efforts of the talented cast was sacrificed "on the altar of cultural correctness".

"Like too many works by young Indian-Americans fresh out of US colleges, American Desi is a thinly disguised anti-assimilationist harangue," the review said, "attacking `coconut' sell-outs for not being immersed enough in 'Indian culture.' "

"There's also a nasty, implicitly racist scene in which a fat white girl throws herself at one Indian boy after another," he added. "It's a shame because the subject of the American-born, confused 'desi' deserves effective and intelligent comic treatment."

The movie, made on a shoestring budget (about $250,000) fared much better with Star-Ledger reviewer Bob Campbell.

"The ragged but engaging American Desi finds Piyush Dinker Pandya in possession of just such private, untrampled turf," Campbell said. "His grasp of Indian-American life and issues compels interest even when his technique falls short."

Purva Bedi, who was singled out by the Post for her performance, also received praise in the Star-Ledger review.

She plays Nina Shah, who has found a balance between her American identity and her Indian heritage.

Star-Ledger referred to her as "dashing Purva Bedi, of "West Wing and ER ."

Katdare, who plays Kris facing a serious identity crisis, is endearing, the review added.

But his "deft and spirited performance can't mask the fact that Kris is one mature-looking freshman (the actor is 30)," the review complained.

"Ironically, the suave Katdare and radiant Bedi make such a beautiful couple that their scenes together they evoke sophisticated international drama rather than campus comedy. They should be sleekly dressed and sipping cocktails."

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