American Blend

I loved this film. A simple family film that was quite a surprise since I had not really heard about the film before. A friend of mine and I walked into the theatre not knowing what we wanted to see. This is such a romantic sweet family film. I love the actress who plays Jaime. I simply love her and anupam kher as husband and wife. Such a sweet simple story. It made me proud as an Indian. The kathak and tap dance has been shot brilliantly. I would recommend this film to everyone to go have a good time. Good acting and good directing. The guy playing dimpy is so funny. The actor playing yogi and lupee are simply great. I laughed so much. Jaime and anupam ker made me cry sometimes.

Though the movie has not been officially released in India or US till yet, i was one of the lucky chap to watch it during its world premiere at recently held Osian film festival in New Delhi. I must say , the director has done his home work and has done a great job in blending the Indian and US culture. The movie is about an India Father and an American wife, and their 3 children's. the selection of actors is also very nice. Its a kind of movie with which lots of people can identify with. the music was awesome and the characterization was really great. The sequence of tap dancing and kathak was one of the best blend of culture i have seen on the screen.

all in all, a great entertainer.

Seems as though the director got stuck watching Bend it Like Beckham too many times as this movie created too many instances of deja vu. A stale screenplay that never attempts to rise above itself coupled with stumbling dialogue dooms the movie long before the viewers try to grasp a plot that's really not existent.

While it's not difficult to associate with some of the problems that flash on screen they never really stick into your mind long enough to leave a lasting impact.

The acting laurels rests firmly on the husband and wife and it is through them that some of the warmer and emotional moments are enjoyed. The kids are pretty useless- ignorant, petulant, spoiled and unappreciative they elicit no sympathy whatsoever, especially after the turning point of the movie. If the director wanted the younger cross cultured audience to empathize and associate with the three kids then he got it horribly wrong.

In one scene Raj responds to his wife's query of not adding cream to the Indian food that they're making by stating "We don't Americanize our Indian food, darling." By Americanizing this movie far too much the director lost sight of the vision he started out with and ended up with a confusing, stumbling movie that might have been interesting with the presence of a decent plot. But we shall sadly never know...

This is a story of a blended family. Anupam is Raj, the father;Dee is Jamie, the mother; Kristin is Maya, Jamie's daughter; and then there is Amita and Sunkrish, who play Niki and Brijesh, the children of Raj and his first wife who is dead. Somehow they've managed to make a family life, except Maya calls Raj by his name, not Dad like Niki and Brijesh. Raj runs the Bollywood Cafe, which is in LA. Jamie has a dance studio with a small class of students, including Maya, learning Kathak. And each night at suppertime, they all sit down together like a real family.

But the family harbors a secret that is like a bomb with a fuse that is slowly burning down. Raj is a afraid that when the fuse reaches its end, his family will blow to bits, and his life will be worthless without the family around him.

This is not the great stuff like The Namesake. But it has more depth than American Desi or Dude, Where's The Party. Some scenes are obviously put in to keep the younger crowd from falling asleep. Those scenes were places I had to grit my teeth and wait through.

Other places I really liked. Such as the several scenes about Kathak dance. Hardly ever does Kathak dance get minutes in a movie. So I was appreciative of the fact that in this movie, I got to see some. I'm assuming one or two of the actresses in the dance studio were actual proficient dancers inserted to create credibility.

The second thing I appreciated was Sunkrish Bala. I think I like him better than Kal Penn. There was less of the sense of apology for playing the type of role he was playing. More reality to him. He played it straight with no comedy at all. Its nice to see an NRI kid who isn't a clown. Amita Balla, who played the sister was really cute. I liked her. She had nice eyes, I thought.

Kristin Erickson, of course, probably had the hardest part. She had to pretend to be a mixed kid. I'm sure it took a lot of work to achieve some credibility, and I think she did it well.

The part of Raj is a really gray part. Raj is a GOOD man, but also a human who can make major errors of judgment. What is good about him is that he doesn't run from the responsibility for his errors, and also he is totally ready for the burdens of parenthood. As he says at one point, his family is what gives his life a point. He will do whatever he must do for his children.

Anyway, though sometimes I felt awkward about the screenplay, still this movie has more subtlety than the average. Varun Khanna, who wrote and directed the movie, deserves some credit about executing a story that is full of pitfalls.

The best line of the movie: Raj runs a restaurant. His two cooks are both immigrants, one from India, one from Mexico. When the Indian cook bursts into Punjabi, the Mexican cooks says "You're in America now! Speak Spanish!"

Where did they get the kids from in this movie? I live in LA and all of those fake wannabe black kids would get laughed at acting the way they did in the movie. Even the "cool" black guy was a caricature and every line he had was cringe-worthy.

If you are going to make a movie taking place in America at least get real Americans to play the part or at the very least people willing to act like real people in America.

The disappointing part is that the movie had potential because of the acting of the mother and father and the overall story was a good one. The script was so poorly written that it made the movie unwatchable and the acting was terrible.

And seriously, the main character in the movie is a British black guy who comes to LA to tap dance? You gotta be kidding me.