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American Blend film Review
American Blend
Review :
American Blend - redefining a
new America (FILM REVIEW)
By Arpana, Indo-Asian News Service
Film: "American Blend"; Cast: Anupam Kher, Dee Wallace Stone,
David Oyelowo, Kristin Erickson, Ruben Garfias, Sunkrish Bala,
Amita Balla and Ranjit Chowdhry;
Director: Varun Khanna; Rating; **1/2
"American Blend", written-directed by Varun Khanna, is a family
drama that focuses on cultural explosion of a part Indian, part
American family living in Los Angeles.
A rap-tap-hip-hop 100-minute music and dance celebration of a
cross-cultural Indian-centric immigrant family provides the
setting for finely tuned ensemble drama in the big
melting pot called the US.
The film is also a celebration of what can go right when
culturally diverse families came together in the redefining of a
new America.
The story goes like this - Raj Chadha (Anupam Kher) is an Indian
who runs a restaurant, Bollywood Café, in Los Angeles - he is
madly in love with his second Caucasian American wife Jayme (Dee
Wallace Stone).
Together they have raised their children in a traditional Indian
way. Raj has two children from his deceased first wife - Niki (Amita
Balla) and BJ (Sunkrish Bala). Niki helps
Raj and Jayme in running the café. BJ "tries" to pitch in too,
whenever he can.
Jayme's daughter Maya (Kristin Erickson) lives with them too and
both mother and daughter share the passion for Kathak, classical
Indian dance.
Mercury (David Oyelowo), BJ's best friend, is a British street
tap dancer struggling to make it big on the stage. BJ helps
Mercury get a job at the Bollywood Café. He gets
attracted to Maya who is desperate to know her father's name
which is kept under wraps by Raj and Jayme.
When this secret is revealed, it causes a rift between BJ and
Maya and temporarily unsettles the lives of other family
members.
The destiny of the family culminates in a wedding scene where
the each one gets a chance to make things right again.
"American Blend" looks like a blend of "Bend It Like Beckham"
and "Monsoon Wedding" but in spite of that the film is
engrossing. Thankfully, it doesn't have an overdose of
American culture, Indian ethos or artificial communal unity. For
a change it concentrates on family bonding which is a rarity in
cross-culture cinema.
Shot entirely in Los Angeles, "American Blend" is interesting in
parts especially the tap-kathak fusion scene.
The constant bickering between Raj's two chefs - Yogi (Ranjit
Chaudhary) and Lupe (Ruben Garfias) who is a Mexican adds spice
to the drama.
The climax reminds the audience of "Monsoon Wedding" - it's a
typical feel-good film interspersed with pop Punjabi music and
ends with celebrations just like "Monsoon
Wedding".
The rift in the family is well handled. The reference to Hindi
songs on several occasions is also enjoyable. Khanna succeeds in
extracting decent performances from the
entire cast especially the first time actress Kristin Erickson.
She etches out her role convincingly and delivers the right
expressions.
Amita Balla's character reflects exact nature of an Indian girl
brought up in an American culture.
"American Blend" comes at a time when the popularity of "Monsoon
Wedding" and "Bend It Like Beckham" has faded. The film has
chances to have a decent audience. But
long run at the box office is ruled out.
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