Where's the Party Yaar?

Where's the party yaar is probably the most accurate portrayal of the desi(indian) lifestyle in the United States of America. You have the FOBS (fresh of boats) and the ABCDs (american born confused desis) and all though these two groups don't always seem to get along, they definitely need each other.

The movie begins in India, with an aspiring indian student who dreams of making it big in America. But when he finally enters the USA he begins to realize his cousin is ashamed to have a cousin whose from India. To make things more complicated he must find a way to meet the girl of his dreams. Meanwhile his cousin played by Kal Penn (American Desi) has his own love problems.

Where's the party yaar is one of the best indian movies i've seen in a long long time. I definitely recommend watching it to anybody who wants to laugh.

A very funny movie. All politics aside, fob, abcd, Indian Ameican, these are obviously hot bed issues that stike a chord in each viewer making it impossible for them to watch the movie in its on immensely well crafted, fun, colorful, and musical environment. Practically ten minutes of this film is a man splashing around in a tub, not being Indian, or American but simply being a grown hairy man getting as much fun out of a tub full of water and not taking sides in the epic battle between the new and old groups of Indians ( it would seem from reading some of the pathetic reviews in this collection of reviews the the battle is epic) It seems that this was a topic the filmmakers probably did not think would be so emotional.

But once again so much of this movie doesn't really even play into that debate and really just attempts to create some fun and silly moments, like Kal's dance for Janvi. When its does take a stand and get on its soapbox it does it in such a clever way that the Shalllow Indians, who feel the film pokes fun at them, watch the movie don't even notice the scene where PRYIA in JANVI's documentary, reveal the filmmakers true feelings about the whole "Can Indians get along debate." In this scene it seems like PRYIA really does have a mind and she realizes that the struggle Indians have now is nothing compared to the Civil Rights Struggle in the US only 40 some years ago --she admits, and the filmmakers through her, that the battle for who is the coolest is not important when one thinks of the struggles of minorities in this country in the past and all the people who have cleared the way for "PRYIA" to worry about how she may be seen as a freak for the color of her eye-shadow and not the color of her skin. It also shows that some of the worst hatred in minority groups exist within the group itself as those who adapt and adopt the culture of the new environment immediately pick on members of their own group who do not fit in. But these are heavy issues and to attempt them in a comedy is bold and i think the filmmakers succeed in showing how this happens and DO NOT TAKE THE SIDE of the person who picks on members of his/her own group, --that is why the club owner is, in the end, exposed as THE BAD GUY. In fact --he is really the only bad guy in the movie. the guy who owns the club and throws the parties but does not want any "real" Indians to show up is the one everyone can agree is the "loser." But when it is not smartly dealing with these heavy topics , the film is a very silly and funny movie that cracked me up.

I thought that this movie was fairly funny. However, if you are not open minded and do not find Indian accents funny, then do not watch this movie. This movie is about a guy (Hari) that is straight from India (thick accent, nerdy clothes, tennis shoes, and uses baby powder for deodorant) who is trying to fit in with other Americanized Indians and others. The stereotyping in this movie is hilarious, it's just good olé racial funnies that I can relate to since I'm of a different origin myself. This movie is nothing like Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, however it does have some stoner composed scenes, as a matter of fact there's only one scene where weed is even in the movie. Also, this movie is very low budget so it is not the best of movies, but in my opinion it is the humor that makes this movie. If you do watch this movie, Hari's friend is the funniest one in this movie, so if you do not think that he is funny, you might want to turn off this movie. He's the one with the longest name in Indian history.

If you liked Harold & Kumar, then you may find this movie funny. However, it is not a movie centered around drugs like the afore-mentioned was. There is a weed scene in Where's the Party, but nothing on the scale of Harold & Kumar.

Basically there are 2 general groups of people that will find this particularly funny: 1) Kal Penn fans.

2) Anyone who finds racial stereotypes funny.

As a whole, this movie had some pretty funny moments in it. However, it big time paled in comparison to Harold & Kumar go to Whitecastle.

If you fall into one of the two categories above, check this movie out. If not, you'll probably want to skip this movie and pick something else instead.

Kermit the Frog once said "it's not easy being green", from the endless growing up Indian movies lately, it's not easy being brown either. There have so many of these "growing up brown in America" movies in the last decade, mostly low budget flicks that don't get a whole lot of press. The premise has nearly been run into the ground, traditional over bearing parents that are always in the wrong, rebellious kids who want to fit and date like everyone else and always in the right. One thing these movies have taught us for certain is this, if you're brown and growing up in America, you have a harder time assimilating into the mass culture then lighter skinned people. We've been told this over and over and it really does get tired. For young Indian Americans these films may perhaps be of deep cultural significance, loaded with in jokes that non-Indians may not get.

For much of white America, they will strip the film down to it's basics and call it a "country mouse meeting city mouse" story and think "meh, what's the big deal?" Probably gutting the Indian Americans who think they struck comic gold showing off the cool Indians vs. the over exaggerated fresh off the boat (FOB) immigrant Indians. This story is going to simply come across as a country kid moving to the big city to mainstream America, only with East Indians in it, and they will likely miss the deep rooted angst and confusion that Indians want to convey. The movie shows the Indian Americans as self assured, cool and all around well adjusted while the immigrated FOB Indians are socially clueless. Nevermind that the character of Hari as presented in this film would probably be considered a moron even in India, the filmmakers know they have to make Hari that silly of an FOB Indian to justify his mistreatment by the Indian Americans. To make more of the desired impact that the Indian American culture so desperately seems to want to make with mainstream film goers, a more concrete and weighted story has to be delivered with far more sincere actors. It would be interesting to hear what real people in India think of this film, as about 1 billion people are being derided and made out as ridiculous caricatures. Of course a braver movie would show regular Indian Americans mistreating and not including normal behaved and decently dressed immigrant Indians in their social activities for the sole reason of their own xenophobia and insecurities...but that would be hitting too close to reality and I doubt any writer/director would be that brave.