I had seen this movie twice on cable tv before (both times around the 2003-05 period) and enjoyed it. It’s been a while, so I thought I’d download it via torrent and watch it again. American Desi, a 2001 movie, focuses on American born & raised Krishnagopal Reddy aka ‘Kris’ and his aversion of all things Indian.

Kris (Deep Katdare) goes off to college with his best friend, the Caucasian Eric, who likes Indians because if he calls the men ‘uncle’ they give him cash for his studies. Kris is horrified to find out that his new roommates as are ‘Indians’ – from artistic Jagjit Singh, to the Rekha loving & somewhat conservative Salim who doesn’t like American raised Indian girls and the African-American idolizing Ajay (Kal Penn) who enjoys rap music and dancing.

All things change when Kris meets Nina (Purva Bedi), an Indian girl, who he likes and to impress her he needs to appreciate more of Indian culture which he has previously distanced himself from. His roommates & now his friends help him by giving suggestions on Indian cooking, watching Hindi movies to get to know some Hindi songs and learning to dance the Dandiya Rass. Salim also finds himself attracted to the seemingly ‘corrupt’ Farah Saeed (Sunita Param). There’s even a villain, Rakesh, who grew up with Nina and wants her for himself, even if she treats him like a brother.

If you can forgive the cliched stuff and bit of ‘Bollywood’ creeping it, it’s a fun film to watch whether you’re Indian or not. The white Americans in the film look & sound like people grabbed off the street and not real actors themselves! Indians who grew up in India have American accents but American raised Indians have Indian accents! But in the end if you need light watching and not a plot twister, pop in this movie and relax the afternoon away, like I did. 7 outta 10!