American Desi
DVD cover
Directed byPiyush Dinker Pandya
Written byPiyush Dinker Pandya
Produced byDeep Katdare
Cyrus E. Koewing
Gitesh Pandya
Piyush Dinker Pandya
StarringDeep Katdare
Purva Bedi
Release dates
16 March 2001 (USA)
27 September 2002 (India)[1][2]
Running time
100 minutes
CountriesUnited States
India
LanguagesEnglish
Hindi
Budget$250,000[3]
Box office$1.1 million[4]

American Desi is a 2001 American comedy film with Indian influence, notable for featuring many prominent South Asian American actors. Also featured is an a cappella version of Nazia Hassan's Urdu classic "Aap Jaisa Koi", sung by Penn Masala and originally from the movie Qurbani. The term Desi in the title refers to the people and cultures of the Indian subcontinent.[5]

Plot

An American son of Indian immigrants, Krishnagopal Reddy, or "Kris" as he prefers to be called (to distance himself from his heritage), does not associate with the Indian culture that his parents have pushed upon him. Upon arriving at Rutgers University, he finds out to his dismay that all of his roommates are of Indian descent, and all except one are international students from India. His roommates include Ajay (Kal Penn), who idealizes African-American culture; Jagjit, who loves art but studies engineering to please his father; and Salim, who is very traditional and conservative, feeling that Indian-American girls are too Westernized to make good wives.

Kris meets Nina, a girl he immediately falls for, and is surprised to find out that not only is she of Indian descent, but she is also quite connected to Indian culture and speaks her parents' native language. Kris tries his best to win Nina over - from joining the Indian Students Association to be near her, to learning how to perform a Dandiya Raas. Kris eventually begins to enjoy the company of his roommates, all of whom put together their knowledge and skill to help Kris impress Nina through various ways involving Indian culture, which he eventually comes to appreciate.[6]

Cast

  • Deep Katdare as Krishnagopal "Kris" Reddy
  • Purva Bedi as Nina Shah
  • Ronobir Lahiri as Jagjit Singh
  • Rizwan Manji as Salim Ali Khan
  • Kal Penn as Ajay Pandya
  • Anil Kumar as Rakesh Patel
  • Sunita Param as Farah Saeed
  • Aladdin Ullah as Gautam Rao
  • Eric Axen as Eric Berger
  • Sanjit De Silva as Chandu
  • Sunil Malhotra as Hemant
  • Ami Shukla as Priya
  • Krishen Mehta as Mr. Reddy
  • Smita Patel as Mrs. Reddy
  • Bina Sharif as Mrs. Saeed
  • Tirlok Malik as Mr. Saeed
  • Ravi Khanna as Mr. Singh

Soundtrack

Track listing

No.TitleLyricsMusicSinger(s)Length
1."Aap Jaisa Koi"IndeevarPenn MasalaPenn Masala4.06

Reception

On Metacritic, the film has a score of 50% based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[7][8][9][6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ American Desi (2001) - IMDb, retrieved 2022-05-28
  2. ↑ "American Desi (2001) - Release Info - IMDb". IMDb. 2022-05-28. Archived from the original on 28 May 2022. Retrieved 2022-05-28.
  3. ↑ "American Desi (2001) - Financial Information". The Numbers.
  4. ↑ "American Desi (2001) - International Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  5. ↑ "American Desi (2001)". imdb.com. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  6. 1 2 Holden, Stephen (16 March 2001). "FILM REVIEW; He Wants To Be What He Can't Be". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  7. ↑ "American Desi". Metacritic. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  8. ↑ "American Desi (2001)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  9. ↑ Patel, Nina. "American Desi (12)". viewlondon.com.uk. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
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