Rajnesh Domalpalli’s debut feature and thesis for Columbia University’s graduate film program was made on a shoestring budget using a cast of non-professional first-timers for two and a half months, but was a crowning success nevertheless, screening and winning awards from festivals all around the world, including a Best Debut one from Berlin.
Vaneja is screening at Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
Vanaja, a 15-year-old girl whose mother has died and her father is a poor, alcoholic fisherman, sees her whole life changing when a soothsayer predicts that she will become a great dancer one day. Rama Devi, an elderly dancing legend and local landlady, takes her in as a servant, but also in order to teach her the secrets of Kuchipudi dance, with the girl and her father also hoping that her wage will alleviate his debts and allow him to buy a new boat. Vanaja...
Vaneja is screening at Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
Vanaja, a 15-year-old girl whose mother has died and her father is a poor, alcoholic fisherman, sees her whole life changing when a soothsayer predicts that she will become a great dancer one day. Rama Devi, an elderly dancing legend and local landlady, takes her in as a servant, but also in order to teach her the secrets of Kuchipudi dance, with the girl and her father also hoping that her wage will alleviate his debts and allow him to buy a new boat. Vanaja...
- 5/21/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Simon Rumley directs story of notorious criminals Billy Hill and Jack ‘Spot’ Comer.
Once Upon A Time In London, a British gangster drama from director Simon Rumley (The ABCs Of Death), has begun a six-week shoot in the English capital.
The film will tell the story of notorious criminals Billy Hill (played by Leo Gregory, pictured) and Jack Comer (Terry Stone), who were active in London’s organised crime scene from the 1920s to the 1950s.
An eclectic cast has been lined up for the feature, including Holly Earl, Dominic Keating, Geoff Bell, Jamie Foreman, Doug Allen, Andy Beckwith, Roland Manookian, Justin Salinger, Kate Braithwaite and Laura Carter.
Joining them are comedian Simon Munnery, boxers Frank Buglioni, a current British light heavyweight belt holder, Joe Egan, footballer Jamie O’Hara, singers Nadia Forde and Jj Hamblett (from band Union J), and magician Ali Cook.
Gateway Films (Anuvahood, The Messenger) is the lead production outfit on the project...
Once Upon A Time In London, a British gangster drama from director Simon Rumley (The ABCs Of Death), has begun a six-week shoot in the English capital.
The film will tell the story of notorious criminals Billy Hill (played by Leo Gregory, pictured) and Jack Comer (Terry Stone), who were active in London’s organised crime scene from the 1920s to the 1950s.
An eclectic cast has been lined up for the feature, including Holly Earl, Dominic Keating, Geoff Bell, Jamie Foreman, Doug Allen, Andy Beckwith, Roland Manookian, Justin Salinger, Kate Braithwaite and Laura Carter.
Joining them are comedian Simon Munnery, boxers Frank Buglioni, a current British light heavyweight belt holder, Joe Egan, footballer Jamie O’Hara, singers Nadia Forde and Jj Hamblett (from band Union J), and magician Ali Cook.
Gateway Films (Anuvahood, The Messenger) is the lead production outfit on the project...
- 4/3/2017
- by tom.grater@screendaily.com (Tom Grater)
- ScreenDaily
Throughout his career, filmmaker Simon Rumley has created some of the most uniquely compelling genre efforts we’ve seen. From The Living and the Dead to Red White & Blue to his segments in the anthologies Little Deaths and The ABCs of Death, Rumley has always found ways to push audiences into uncomfortable places. His latest, Johnny Frank Garrett’s Last Word, looks to do the same, but in a very different way, as the film is based on the real-life court case that found a young man guilty for the rape and murder of a nun in 1981 Texas, and the strange slew of deaths of those involved in his conviction after his execution.
While at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival, Daily Dead sat down with Rumley to discuss his latest project and heard more about his approach to the story, his thoughts on utilizing a script that he didn’t pen himself,...
While at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival, Daily Dead sat down with Rumley to discuss his latest project and heard more about his approach to the story, his thoughts on utilizing a script that he didn’t pen himself,...
- 3/18/2016
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Red White and Blue deals with some very tough issues, how did the script come together?
Well, it’s something that goes back to when I was touring with The Living and The Dead, I went to a lot of festivals around the world and spoke to a lot of people and read a lot of reviews, and I liked that idea that people thought it was more horrific than any horror film, but they didn’t think it was a horror film. I liked that duality, the emotional reaction that engendered in people. I also liked the idea of doing a film which was disturbing rather than out and out scary.
So I started looking at subject matter for my next film and I’d read about a woman in Tokyo who’d slept with a Japanese policeman and been infected with HIV and then decided to get her...
Well, it’s something that goes back to when I was touring with The Living and The Dead, I went to a lot of festivals around the world and spoke to a lot of people and read a lot of reviews, and I liked that idea that people thought it was more horrific than any horror film, but they didn’t think it was a horror film. I liked that duality, the emotional reaction that engendered in people. I also liked the idea of doing a film which was disturbing rather than out and out scary.
So I started looking at subject matter for my next film and I’d read about a woman in Tokyo who’d slept with a Japanese policeman and been infected with HIV and then decided to get her...
- 9/30/2011
- by Phil
- Nerdly
Dread recently met with Brit director Simon Rumley as well as actor/producer Marc Senter and just-returned-from-Shanghai VP of Phoenix Films Edward McGurn. We engaged in a rather lengthy conversation, riffing on subjects ranging from Rumley’s hard-as-nails flick Red, White & Blue to his involvement with the upcoming horror anthology The ABCs of Death.
Other topics were discussed also over a quartet of cocktails beside the rooftop pool at the Andaz Hotel (formerly known as the ‘Riot House’ to those with a knowledge of Southland rock history). Overzealous security, McGurn’s classic Mustang, drinks and horror: You’ve gotta’ love Hollywood!
For those unfamiliar with his name, independent filmmaker Rumley (pictured right) burst onto the scene in 2006 with his written and directed horror film The Living and the Dead, a critically acclaimed movie which also was the recipient of awards from both the Austin Film Fest and Sitges. It’s a personal piece,...
Other topics were discussed also over a quartet of cocktails beside the rooftop pool at the Andaz Hotel (formerly known as the ‘Riot House’ to those with a knowledge of Southland rock history). Overzealous security, McGurn’s classic Mustang, drinks and horror: You’ve gotta’ love Hollywood!
For those unfamiliar with his name, independent filmmaker Rumley (pictured right) burst onto the scene in 2006 with his written and directed horror film The Living and the Dead, a critically acclaimed movie which also was the recipient of awards from both the Austin Film Fest and Sitges. It’s a personal piece,...
- 8/12/2011
- by SeanD.
- DreadCentral.com
Chicago – The scariest aspects of a Simon Rumley picture aren’t in the form of ominous monsters or buckets of blood. They are instead hidden within the corners of a tormented human psyche. It’s the impulse for destruction that haunts every one of his characters in “Red White & Blue,” a deeply unsettling drama that transforms into a galvanizing horror film during its final act.
The lives of a mysterious outcast, Erica (Amanda Fuller), an aspiring rock star, Franki (Marc Senter) and a war veteran, Nate (Noah Taylor), intertwine in ways both shocking and unexpected. The Austin-set indie is the first feature made by the British filmmaker in America, who made a big splash at the 2006 Fantastic Fest with his harrowing thriller, “The Living and the Dead,” about a disturbed man caring for his sick mother. Rumley’s latest effort was “Bitch,” one of three shorts in the horror anthology “Little Deaths,...
The lives of a mysterious outcast, Erica (Amanda Fuller), an aspiring rock star, Franki (Marc Senter) and a war veteran, Nate (Noah Taylor), intertwine in ways both shocking and unexpected. The Austin-set indie is the first feature made by the British filmmaker in America, who made a big splash at the 2006 Fantastic Fest with his harrowing thriller, “The Living and the Dead,” about a disturbed man caring for his sick mother. Rumley’s latest effort was “Bitch,” one of three shorts in the horror anthology “Little Deaths,...
- 5/17/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Frightfest was host to the UK premiere of Red White & Blue last night, the latest from Writer/Director Simon Rumley, and we were lucky enough to get a chance to talk to Amanda Fuller, who plays the role of Erica in the film.
Fuller is wonderful in the film and despite the excellent writing and direction from Rumley a great deal of the success of particularly the early scenes rests on her shoulders. This is a performance that is sure to get wide acclaim and respect.
You can read our full exclusive interview with Amanda Fuller below.
HeyUGuys
How did you first become involved in Red White & Blue and what first drew you towards the film?
Amanda Fuller
I received a call from my manager about Rwb and he sent me the script to read. They were looking to cast it right away because Erica was the only character they hadn’t found yet.
Fuller is wonderful in the film and despite the excellent writing and direction from Rumley a great deal of the success of particularly the early scenes rests on her shoulders. This is a performance that is sure to get wide acclaim and respect.
You can read our full exclusive interview with Amanda Fuller below.
HeyUGuys
How did you first become involved in Red White & Blue and what first drew you towards the film?
Amanda Fuller
I received a call from my manager about Rwb and he sent me the script to read. They were looking to cast it right away because Erica was the only character they hadn’t found yet.
- 8/31/2010
- by Craig Skinner
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
**This review first appeared on HeyUGuys following the screening of the film at the Fantasia Festival but in light of the recent FrightFest screening we are reposting it in case you missed it the first time.**
UK writer/director Simon Rumley impressed me greatly with his 2006 film The Living and the Dead and I therefore had reasonably high expectations walking into the FanTasia screening of his latest film, Red White & Blue. My expectations were not only justified but they were not high enough. Red White & Blue is phenomenal and a must see film of 2010.
Set in Austin, Texas the film first introduces us to Erica (Amanda Fuller), a seriously emotionally damaged person, who appears to be sleeping her way through every male she meets in Austin bars and her new workplace. She finds the job in said workplace thanks to her new neighbour Nate (Noah Taylor) who claims to have...
UK writer/director Simon Rumley impressed me greatly with his 2006 film The Living and the Dead and I therefore had reasonably high expectations walking into the FanTasia screening of his latest film, Red White & Blue. My expectations were not only justified but they were not high enough. Red White & Blue is phenomenal and a must see film of 2010.
Set in Austin, Texas the film first introduces us to Erica (Amanda Fuller), a seriously emotionally damaged person, who appears to be sleeping her way through every male she meets in Austin bars and her new workplace. She finds the job in said workplace thanks to her new neighbour Nate (Noah Taylor) who claims to have...
- 8/31/2010
- by Craig Skinner
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
UK writer/director Simon Rumley impressed me greatly with his 2006 film The Living and the Dead and I therefore had reasonably high expectations walking into the FanTasia screening of his latest film, Red White & Blue. My expectations were not only justified but they were not high enough. Red White & Blue is phenomenal and a must see film of 2010.
Set in Austin, Texas the film first introduces us to Erica (Amanda Fuller), a seriously emotionally damaged person, who appears to be sleeping her way through every male she meets in Austin bars and her new workplace. She finds the job in said workplace thanks to her new neighbour Nate (Noah Taylor) who claims to have a semi-mysterious past working for the Us military and clearly harbours disturbing predilections towards violence, heavily hinted at when he talks about his childhood in a scene that intriguingly foreshadows a lot of the events in the film’s final act.
Set in Austin, Texas the film first introduces us to Erica (Amanda Fuller), a seriously emotionally damaged person, who appears to be sleeping her way through every male she meets in Austin bars and her new workplace. She finds the job in said workplace thanks to her new neighbour Nate (Noah Taylor) who claims to have a semi-mysterious past working for the Us military and clearly harbours disturbing predilections towards violence, heavily hinted at when he talks about his childhood in a scene that intriguingly foreshadows a lot of the events in the film’s final act.
- 7/27/2010
- by Craig Skinner
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
[No, not the Three Colours Trilogy, it's Simon Rumley's highly acclaimed film that made a splash at Rotterdam and SXSW and is currently making a stop at Fantasia. We now re-post Eight Rook's review from our archives.]
It could be hard to sell people on Simon Rumley's Red, White & Blue. It is frequently a brilliant film, make no mistake (and yes, it more than justifies the hype we've given it), yet - without resorting to spoiling its nuances or key plot points - going by the first fifteen minutes or so a good many prospective viewers are more than likely to wonder what exactly is worth getting so excited over.
We start out at the detached pace of a road movie, following Erica (TV actress Amanda Fuller), a young woman wandering across America. Seemingly rootless and generally unattached, she spends her nights in bars and clubs, typically catching some stranger's eye, ending up in bed with him before swiftly moving on to her next brief encounter.
The camera doesn't judge her - Erica's clearly emotionally withdrawn, refusing to get personally involved with any of her partners,...
It could be hard to sell people on Simon Rumley's Red, White & Blue. It is frequently a brilliant film, make no mistake (and yes, it more than justifies the hype we've given it), yet - without resorting to spoiling its nuances or key plot points - going by the first fifteen minutes or so a good many prospective viewers are more than likely to wonder what exactly is worth getting so excited over.
We start out at the detached pace of a road movie, following Erica (TV actress Amanda Fuller), a young woman wandering across America. Seemingly rootless and generally unattached, she spends her nights in bars and clubs, typically catching some stranger's eye, ending up in bed with him before swiftly moving on to her next brief encounter.
The camera doesn't judge her - Erica's clearly emotionally withdrawn, refusing to get personally involved with any of her partners,...
- 7/21/2010
- Screen Anarchy
Gut-twisting and soul-troubling, Simon Rumley's latest film fires a stun gun into the heart of horror. For every convention that is honored, another is upended and a third is smashed to pieces. Red White & Blue amply demonstrates Rumley's continuing evolution as a filmmaker.
It's not enough to say that Rumley traffics in the cinema of the uncomfortable, because that would deny the ribald humor and extreme, everyday horrors that lances his earlier work. The Living and the Dead brought him to the attention of genre fans in 2006, but Rumley's feature film career dates back to 2000, when he made Strong Language, the first of three films that revolved around youth culture in Britain. Young people chat amiably about their adventures, the scenes alternating with shadowy scenes recreating a horrible night for the narrator.
The Truth Game (2001) plays around with a dinner party scenario, in which six friends gather and learn...
It's not enough to say that Rumley traffics in the cinema of the uncomfortable, because that would deny the ribald humor and extreme, everyday horrors that lances his earlier work. The Living and the Dead brought him to the attention of genre fans in 2006, but Rumley's feature film career dates back to 2000, when he made Strong Language, the first of three films that revolved around youth culture in Britain. Young people chat amiably about their adventures, the scenes alternating with shadowy scenes recreating a horrible night for the narrator.
The Truth Game (2001) plays around with a dinner party scenario, in which six friends gather and learn...
- 3/16/2010
- Screen Anarchy
[With Simon Rumley's Red, White and Blue having it's North American premiere at SXSW we now re-post our review from the world premiere in Rotterdam.]
It could be hard to sell people on Simon Rumley's Red, White & Blue. It is frequently a brilliant film, make no mistake (and yes, it more than justifies the hype we've given it), yet - without resorting to spoiling its nuances or key plot points - going by the first fifteen minutes or so a good many prospective viewers are more than likely to wonder what exactly is worth getting so excited over.
We start out at the detached pace of a road movie, following Erica (TV actress Amanda Fuller), a young woman wandering across America. Seemingly rootless and generally unattached, she spends her nights in bars and clubs, typically catching some stranger's eye, ending up in bed with him before swiftly moving on to her next brief encounter.
The camera doesn't judge her - Erica's clearly emotionally withdrawn, refusing to get personally involved with any of her partners,...
It could be hard to sell people on Simon Rumley's Red, White & Blue. It is frequently a brilliant film, make no mistake (and yes, it more than justifies the hype we've given it), yet - without resorting to spoiling its nuances or key plot points - going by the first fifteen minutes or so a good many prospective viewers are more than likely to wonder what exactly is worth getting so excited over.
We start out at the detached pace of a road movie, following Erica (TV actress Amanda Fuller), a young woman wandering across America. Seemingly rootless and generally unattached, she spends her nights in bars and clubs, typically catching some stranger's eye, ending up in bed with him before swiftly moving on to her next brief encounter.
The camera doesn't judge her - Erica's clearly emotionally withdrawn, refusing to get personally involved with any of her partners,...
- 3/14/2010
- Screen Anarchy
It could be hard to sell people on Simon Rumley's Red, White & Blue. It is frequently a brilliant film, make no mistake (and yes, it more than justifies the hype we've given it), yet - without resorting to spoiling its nuances or key plot points - going by the first fifteen minutes or so a good many prospective viewers are more than likely to wonder what exactly is worth getting so excited over.
We start out at the detached pace of a road movie, following Erica (TV actress Amanda Fuller), a young woman wandering across America. Seemingly rootless and generally unattached, she spends her nights in bars and clubs, typically catching some stranger's eye, ending up in bed with him before swiftly moving on to her next brief encounter.
The camera doesn't judge her - Erica's clearly emotionally withdrawn, refusing to get personally involved with any of her partners,...
We start out at the detached pace of a road movie, following Erica (TV actress Amanda Fuller), a young woman wandering across America. Seemingly rootless and generally unattached, she spends her nights in bars and clubs, typically catching some stranger's eye, ending up in bed with him before swiftly moving on to her next brief encounter.
The camera doesn't judge her - Erica's clearly emotionally withdrawn, refusing to get personally involved with any of her partners,...
- 2/1/2010
- Screen Anarchy
[This one will remain at the top of the page for the rest of the day. Why? ‘Cause it’s good, dammit! New content will continue to appear below.]
Regular readers of Twitch will be well familiar with UK indie film maker Simon Rumley by this point. We’ve covered his work extensively, from 2006 feature film The Living And The Dead through to the now-in-post Red, White and Blue, which we’ve been hosting a series of video blogs for. And now we’ve got a real treat for fans. In early 2006 - just before putting together The Living And The Dead, Rumley helmed a fifteen minute short film starring Greta Scacchi and Bill Sage titled simply The Handyman. Though this is the first film Rumley ever directed that he didn’t also write and produce it is immediately recognizable as his own and also features his first collaborations with cinematographer Milton Kam and composer Richard Chester who went on to continue their collaboration with Rumley on both The Living and the Dead and Red, White and Blue.
The...
Regular readers of Twitch will be well familiar with UK indie film maker Simon Rumley by this point. We’ve covered his work extensively, from 2006 feature film The Living And The Dead through to the now-in-post Red, White and Blue, which we’ve been hosting a series of video blogs for. And now we’ve got a real treat for fans. In early 2006 - just before putting together The Living And The Dead, Rumley helmed a fifteen minute short film starring Greta Scacchi and Bill Sage titled simply The Handyman. Though this is the first film Rumley ever directed that he didn’t also write and produce it is immediately recognizable as his own and also features his first collaborations with cinematographer Milton Kam and composer Richard Chester who went on to continue their collaboration with Rumley on both The Living and the Dead and Red, White and Blue.
The...
- 8/31/2009
- by Todd Brown
- Screen Anarchy
British filmmaker Simon Rumley, the director of 2006’s The Living and the Dead, got in touch with Dread Central last night to provide us with first word (and pics, see ‘em below) on his latest feature Red, White & Blue.
“I'm very excited to announce that I'm currently in production,” says Rumley, who at present is filming in Austin, TX with actors Marc Senter (The Lost, Cabin Fever 2), Noah Taylor (Shine/The Proposition), and Amanda Fuller (Women's Murder Club, Buffy The Vampire Slayer). “Tim League (Fantastic Fest, Alamo Drafthouse) is executive producing, and I'm shooting with The Living and the Dead director of photography Milton Kam on the new and pretty amazing Red Cameras.”
Described as a “fast-moving slacker revenge movie,” Red White & Blue is a ScreenProjex presentation of a Rumleyvision production in association with Fidelity Films and, according to the film’s PR, is aimed at being “an unashamedly tough...
“I'm very excited to announce that I'm currently in production,” says Rumley, who at present is filming in Austin, TX with actors Marc Senter (The Lost, Cabin Fever 2), Noah Taylor (Shine/The Proposition), and Amanda Fuller (Women's Murder Club, Buffy The Vampire Slayer). “Tim League (Fantastic Fest, Alamo Drafthouse) is executive producing, and I'm shooting with The Living and the Dead director of photography Milton Kam on the new and pretty amazing Red Cameras.”
Described as a “fast-moving slacker revenge movie,” Red White & Blue is a ScreenProjex presentation of a Rumleyvision production in association with Fidelity Films and, according to the film’s PR, is aimed at being “an unashamedly tough...
- 6/29/2009
- by SeanD.
- DreadCentral.com
Since "My Beautiful Laundrette", a fascinating subgenre has emerged in British movies that deal with immigrants from the Indian subcontinent living in the West, where they get caught up in confusing crosscurrents of cultural, religious and ethnic differences.
Such films as "East Is East", "My Son the Fanatic" and "Bhaji on the Beach" have with wit and compassion explored the struggle for identity by such newcomers, especially young people, living in the United Kingdom. What has been missing on movie screens until now, though, has been a depiction of this cultural displacement in the New World.
Krutin Patel's "ABCD" is the groundbreaker. Independently produced on the East Coast on what clearly was a tight budget, the film has played in several festivals, including the recent Asian American International Film Festival in New York. Reminiscent of early films by Wayne Wang and Ang Lee, "ABCD" should win enthusiastic fans in specialty venues.
Patel is an NYU film grad and India-born filmmaker who immigrated to the United States at age 8. In "ABCD", he has crafted a wryly observant comic drama about a conservative Hindu widow and her grown, assimilated children, a film that reminds us that our country is less a cultural melting pot than a crazily tossed salad.
The title refers to American Born Confused Desi, a popular expression among Indians raised in the States. The focus is on a sister and her older brother, and one of the best things about this film is that it captures the special understanding, tolerance and tightly woven bond that can occur between siblings.
No matter how badly each screws up, Nina and Raj are there for each other in their battles not only with the world but their beloved but increasingly disconnected mother Anju (played by none other than the grande dame of Indian acting, Madhur Jaffrey).
Anju lives in an unblemished New Jersey suburb, where she putters in her kitchen making delicious samosas and pakoras and holding long conversations about their children with her late husband. She now questions the wisdom of ever coming to America and despairs over the unmarried state of her children, who live in Manhattan.
Nina (the breathtakingly beautiful Sheetal Sheth) so resents Indian culture that she dates only white Americans. On the other hand, Raj (the equally handsome Faran Tahir) has agreed to an arranged marriage -- albeit American style with a protracted engagement that has stretched to two years and premarital bedroom privileges.
Anju contrives to reintroduce her daughter to a childhood friend from Bombay, Ashok (Aasif Mandvi, whose brilliant one-man show, "Sakina's Restaurant", wowed critics in Los Angeles and New York). While fresh off the boat, Ashok nevertheless has a refreshingly candid sense of humor and an emotional directness Nina never encounters in her white boys. But he also reminds her of her origins, which don't jibe with the all-American bar girl image she hides behind.
Raj, an accountant caught up in office politics, realizes he doesn't love his sweet, well-meaning fiancee. But he is resigned to their eventual marriage until he meets an attractive co-worker who ignites a fire within him he thought long ago extinguished. But Raj deliberately doesn't pursue a relationship out of respect for both women, a gesture that, in all probability, neither woman ultimately appreciates.
Patel, who co-wrote the script (with James Ambrose) and directed, has developed a story that springs out of a specific cultural situation yet stands on its own as an engaging portrait of people caught up in the hurly-burly of modern urban life.
The film ends on an epiphany that underscores the "confused" in the ABCD acronym. Decisions have been made by both siblings, yet each is left to wonder if the choices are right.
Deirdre Broderick's music combines Indian and Western flavors where the piano and sitar coexist quite nicely. And cinematographer Milton Kam and designer Deborah Schreier play these immigrant blues against a backdrop of an antiseptic East Coast that seems intent on denying the existence of any ethnicity.
ABCD
LAXMI Pictures
in association with the Business
Producers: Krutin Patel, Tejal Desai, Brian Wray
Director: Krutin Patel
Screenwriters: Krutin Patel, James Ambrose
Executive producer: Madhur Jaffrey
Director of photography: Milton Kam
Production designer: Deborah Schreier
Music: Dierdre Broderick
Costume designer: Naju Patel
Editor: Ravi Subramanian
Color/stereo
Cast:
Anju: Madhur Jaffrey
Raj: Faran Tahir
Nina: Sheetal Sheth
Ashok: Aasif Mandvi
Running time - 105 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Such films as "East Is East", "My Son the Fanatic" and "Bhaji on the Beach" have with wit and compassion explored the struggle for identity by such newcomers, especially young people, living in the United Kingdom. What has been missing on movie screens until now, though, has been a depiction of this cultural displacement in the New World.
Krutin Patel's "ABCD" is the groundbreaker. Independently produced on the East Coast on what clearly was a tight budget, the film has played in several festivals, including the recent Asian American International Film Festival in New York. Reminiscent of early films by Wayne Wang and Ang Lee, "ABCD" should win enthusiastic fans in specialty venues.
Patel is an NYU film grad and India-born filmmaker who immigrated to the United States at age 8. In "ABCD", he has crafted a wryly observant comic drama about a conservative Hindu widow and her grown, assimilated children, a film that reminds us that our country is less a cultural melting pot than a crazily tossed salad.
The title refers to American Born Confused Desi, a popular expression among Indians raised in the States. The focus is on a sister and her older brother, and one of the best things about this film is that it captures the special understanding, tolerance and tightly woven bond that can occur between siblings.
No matter how badly each screws up, Nina and Raj are there for each other in their battles not only with the world but their beloved but increasingly disconnected mother Anju (played by none other than the grande dame of Indian acting, Madhur Jaffrey).
Anju lives in an unblemished New Jersey suburb, where she putters in her kitchen making delicious samosas and pakoras and holding long conversations about their children with her late husband. She now questions the wisdom of ever coming to America and despairs over the unmarried state of her children, who live in Manhattan.
Nina (the breathtakingly beautiful Sheetal Sheth) so resents Indian culture that she dates only white Americans. On the other hand, Raj (the equally handsome Faran Tahir) has agreed to an arranged marriage -- albeit American style with a protracted engagement that has stretched to two years and premarital bedroom privileges.
Anju contrives to reintroduce her daughter to a childhood friend from Bombay, Ashok (Aasif Mandvi, whose brilliant one-man show, "Sakina's Restaurant", wowed critics in Los Angeles and New York). While fresh off the boat, Ashok nevertheless has a refreshingly candid sense of humor and an emotional directness Nina never encounters in her white boys. But he also reminds her of her origins, which don't jibe with the all-American bar girl image she hides behind.
Raj, an accountant caught up in office politics, realizes he doesn't love his sweet, well-meaning fiancee. But he is resigned to their eventual marriage until he meets an attractive co-worker who ignites a fire within him he thought long ago extinguished. But Raj deliberately doesn't pursue a relationship out of respect for both women, a gesture that, in all probability, neither woman ultimately appreciates.
Patel, who co-wrote the script (with James Ambrose) and directed, has developed a story that springs out of a specific cultural situation yet stands on its own as an engaging portrait of people caught up in the hurly-burly of modern urban life.
The film ends on an epiphany that underscores the "confused" in the ABCD acronym. Decisions have been made by both siblings, yet each is left to wonder if the choices are right.
Deirdre Broderick's music combines Indian and Western flavors where the piano and sitar coexist quite nicely. And cinematographer Milton Kam and designer Deborah Schreier play these immigrant blues against a backdrop of an antiseptic East Coast that seems intent on denying the existence of any ethnicity.
ABCD
LAXMI Pictures
in association with the Business
Producers: Krutin Patel, Tejal Desai, Brian Wray
Director: Krutin Patel
Screenwriters: Krutin Patel, James Ambrose
Executive producer: Madhur Jaffrey
Director of photography: Milton Kam
Production designer: Deborah Schreier
Music: Dierdre Broderick
Costume designer: Naju Patel
Editor: Ravi Subramanian
Color/stereo
Cast:
Anju: Madhur Jaffrey
Raj: Faran Tahir
Nina: Sheetal Sheth
Ashok: Aasif Mandvi
Running time - 105 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 8/10/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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