It is debatable whether movies direct the popular perception or whether it is the other way around. However, when movies are made about subjects you know about, they give you an opportunity to find out what the general public believes.
The first half of a Tamil movie that we saw in Dallas recently was shot in the United States -- the grandmother of the heroine needs brain surgery and decides to get it in America. It is very likely that the opinion of Americans and Indians in America that the movie potrays is shared by folks back home.
So, how is the potrayal? Not very flattering to Indian immigrants. Every American (of whatever origin) potrayed in the movie has a sense of fairplay and respect for law and order. The only incidental role that has an Indian immigrant is extremely unflattering; the immigrant attempts to bring the class heirarchies of Indian society into a discussion of whether a surgeon had erred. Going by that movie, then, the general perception in India is that the emigrants inevitably coarsen life wherever they land.
As I said, not very flattering.
