Film Commentary [--00]
ABCD stands for American Born Confused Deshi (an Indian term which was not adequately
defined). This independent film set in modern New Jersey and New York follows the trials of a
son and daughter of immigrant Asian Indians, whose widowed mother (Madhur Jaffrey - Six
Degrees of Separation, Cotton Mary, Vanya of 42nd Street) wants nothing more than to see them
both married before she dies, and control their lives in the meanwhile.
Raj is the older brother who is a successful accountant. His mother has arranged a marriage for
him to a nice Indian girl to which he has been engaged for over two years. This does not sit well
with mother or her Indian friends and relatives who tell of how they only met their arranged
spouse a week before or immediately before the wedding.
Nina (Sheetal Sheth) is his promiscuous sister, who wants nothing to do with her mothers
matchmaking attempts. When summoned by her mother to have her palm read for spouse
potential, Nina believes in none of this and instead of asking the soothsayer about her future
spouse, she instead inquires to whether or not she’s going to have to replace her car’s radiator.
However, she eventually agrees to met with an engineer who recently arrived from India. She is
eventually attracted to him but is put off when he asks her to marry him a week later.
This is an interesting film of the inside of life in America for Indian immigrant’s children
struggling to be integrated and accepted in American culture while attempting to maintain some
of their Indian heritage. One of the more humorous episodes occurs when Raj and Nina are
browbeaten by their mother into going to temple. There, Raj comments that all the statutes of
Hindu deities are comparable to monsters in an American horror movie: “Their eyes follow you
everywhere.”
Directed and written by first timer Krutin Patel, this is a surprisingly good film about a subject to
which I previous had never been exposed not particularly interested. The level of
cinematographic production is professional, as are the performances. Patel, present at the
screening, wanted to show Americans some aspect of American-Indians whose only other
example is Apu on the Simpsons.
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Confused Emmigrant's Children - - ABCD
Genre:Drama
Grade = B+
WINNER OF THE GOLD PRIZE FOR LOW BUDGET FILMS - 33rd Houston International Film Festival
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