ABCD

ABCD is one of the rare films in the Indian American genre which actually takes film-making seriously. And I am not just talking about the technique. It's the whole nine yards - the acting, the production values and the film-making sensibilities. Unlike a lot of films in this genre, ABCD decides to tackle a serious subject and is not afraid to hurt the sentimentality of the general Indian-American public. Maybe that's the reason it didn't do well. And there is a general dissent about the subject of this film.

The movie is definitely stark but the actors did a great job. The problem though was that by naming the movie ABCD - it automatically represented the entire American Born Indians. And that was it's downfall. Because the movie is not about ABCDs, it's about this particular family, their trials and their personalities. And I wish people viewed the movie that way.

Having said that, I think it's one of the most deftly handled, sharp film with very well developed characters. Definitely worth a watch.

ok. first of all, yes, the movie is called "ABCD (american born confused desi), AND, they are not born here. oh well. The girl's character is quite odd: she is overly stubborn and slutty, but at the same time she is nice to this FOB that comes over to the US. I guess the director wanted to show how she actually had the ability to be compassionate within her, but im not sure. HOWEVER, this movie is WORTH seeing!! It raises some issues that my generation has become all too familiar with and almost annoyed with trying to explain to everyone. You can only take the whole "oh, im indian, but im also american" mantra so far before people will get annoyed. american desi, ABCD, and american chai, all deal with the issue of parents wanting us to be indian, and kids wanting to do "american" things, or marry white people, or ignore indian culture, whatever. this movie is worth seeing and then talking about to see what issues indian kids born in the US have to deal with.

Is the movie in ENGLISH? I have seen a lot of Hindi films, and although I am not Indian, I found them easier to understand than this movie. The actors' accents are so horrendous that I couldn't understand 1 word in every 3. Also since it is supposed to be in `English', no subtitles were provided. I have traveled to India several times and never had a problem with their English accent. I find the accent quite sexy actually. But this movie, WOW.... couldn't they find people that actually could speak English?

I find that even Hindi movies without subtitle are easier to understand, for a non Hindi speaker, than this movie…

1 word is enough to describe this movie: CONFUSED.

The whole plot characters, story line, narrative arc goes nowhere.

As evilmill said: ` I wasn't Confused until I actually saw this movie! '

I enjoyed movies like American Desi and Leila. Those movies where about Americans finding back their Indian roots. This movie feels more like confused Indians trying hard to be American abd making a bad job out of it.

Yet, there is a sort of off-beat quality to the movie. The confusion of their life appears on the screen and story. I think it was intentional that the movie plot went nowhere. The movie was built as a metaphor of their lives.

The only way I can appreciate this movie, is as a non Indian movie, a non-desi movie. It is an art house, low budget, flick that portrays existentialist angst.

This movie is too real for most people. Its not politically correct, its not meant to please, it doesn't showcase happily-ever-after. Its shows a slice of life for a certain subgroup of immigrants who are trapped between cultures. Its not that they are confused about which side they belong. Whats more true is that they know they don't belong anywhere, except to each other. They belong to the no-man's land, where there are no clearly defined cultural norms. And that creates confusion. Their life is perceived by others as a yo-yo. Some deal with that with externalized anger, others disengage and lose it. Life seems like an attempt to put together a broken mirror, while each broken part is still a whole mirror and the integration seems impossible.

This movie is serious and it doesn't claim to solve the problems. But, movies are an experience to entertain, this is not entertainment. This is like watching my kid sister in one of her bad moments of life. There is not even a glimmer of hope anywhere.