American Desi

{{Infobox film

| name = American Desi

| image = American Desi DVD.jpg

| caption = DVD cover

| director = Piyush Dinker Pandya

| writer = Piyush Dinker Pandya

| producer = Deep Katdare
Cyrus E. Koewing
Gitesh Pandya
Piyush Dinker Pandya

| starring = Deep Katdare
Purva Bedi

| cinematography =

| editing =

| music =

| distributor =

| released = {{Film date|2001|03|16|USA|2002|09|27|India|df=yes}}{{Citation |title=American Desi (2001) - IMDb |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203289/releaseinfo |access-date=2022-05-28}}{{Cite web |date=2022-05-28 |title=American Desi (2001) - Release Info - IMDb |url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0203289/releaseinfo |access-date=2022-05-28 |website= IMDb|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528072846/https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0203289/releaseinfo |archive-date=28 May 2022 |url-status=dead}}

| runtime = 100 minutes

| country = United States
India

| language = English
Hindi

| budget = $250,000{{Cite web |url=https://the-numbers.com/movie/American-Desi |title=American Desi (2001) - Financial Information |website=The Numbers }}

| gross = $1.1 million{{cite web |title=American Desi (2001) - International Box Office Results |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=americandesi.htm |website=Box Office Mojo |access-date=December 20, 2018}}

}}

American Desi is a 2001 Indian-American comedy film. It is notable for featuring many prominent South Asian American actors and features an a cappella version by Penn Masala of Nazia Hassan's classic "Aap Jaisa Koi", originally from the Indian film Qurbani. The term Desi in the title refers to the people and cultures of the Indian subcontinent.{{cite web|title=American Desi (2001)|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203289/|publisher=imdb.com|access-date=29 November 2013}}

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 (Rizwan Manji), 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.

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=

{{tracklist

| extra_column = Singer(s)

| title1 = Aap Jaisa Koi

| music1 = Penn Masala

| lyrics1 = Indeevar

| extra1 = Penn Masala

| length1 = 4.06

}}

Reception

On Metacritic, the film has a score of 50% based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".{{cite web |title=American Desi |url=http://www.metacritic.com/movie/american-desi |website=Metacritic |access-date=1 January 2021 }}{{cite web |title=American Desi (2001) |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/american_desi/ |website=Rotten Tomatoes |access-date=29 November 2013 }}{{cite web |last=Patel |first=Nina |title=American Desi (12) |url=http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/films/american-desi-film-review-1935.html |publisher=viewlondon.com.uk |access-date=29 November 2013 |archive-date=4 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204011520/http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/films/american-desi-film-review-1935.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |last=Holden |first=Stephen |title=FILM REVIEW; He Wants To Be What He Can't Be |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/16/movies/film-review-he-wants-to-be-what-he-can-t-be.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=16 March 2001 |access-date=1 January 2021 }}