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Customer Reviews of American Chai

"So by age 10, I had become the world's first Indian, Jewish, Native American Negro."
AMERICAN CHAI is one of those sweet, little films made on a shoe string budget and which typically co-stars the filmmaker's families and friends. To go by the sheer volume of personal shout-outs given in the film commentary by Director Anurag Metha and leads Aalok Mehta and Sheetal Sheth, you'd think professional actor Josh Ackerman was the only one that actually got paid. The friends and families, of course, are guilted into doing it and then rewarded by being invited to the post filming cookout. Or it seems that way, anyway. It sometimes pays off, though, having your pals and parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on the set and rooting you on. This independent film exudes an air of wide eyed exuberance and off-the-cuff charm. I liked it very much. <
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>Sureel (Aalok Mehta) was born and raised in New Jersey, in the U.S. of A. He is of Indian origin, his stern and traditional father (Paresh Rawal) having come here to seek a better life. Like others of ethnic-American background, Sureel has had to struggle to fit in. He's had to balance the traditions and restrictions of his native culture against the contemporary American ways and the inherent liberties which go with residing in America. From when he was very young, his religion and ethnicity have prompted questions from his peers ("I'm an Indian." "What tribe are you from?"). <
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>His father wants him in the medical field, although Sureel's passion strictly lies in music. Sureel goes off to college and opts to be a music major. However, his parents still believe he's studying to be a doctor. So, for years now, Sureel's gotten away with deceiving his parents. He's in a band, writing his own songs, partying, and even dating a white girl. But then he meets Maya, a beautiful Indian girl... <
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>This was a lot of fun, watching AMERICAN CHAI. It's similar to BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, if not as good as. The cast and crew, mostly Indian, have obviously pooled their past experiences and put them in the film. This film is replete with what you'd expect: generation gap run-ins between the traditional parent and the rebellious offspring and, of course, the cultural and lifestyle clashes. There's even a heartbreaking subplot involving a Caucasian guy going out with an Indian girl. The stereotypes are certainly rolled out with tongue-in-cheek zeal. But AMERICAN CHAI, more than anything else, is a warm coming of age story, and heightened by a sweet romance between Sureel and Maya. Additionally, this film made me laugh with its spoofing of Bollywood musical numbers and its explanation of "the turnaway." <
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>The actors are enthusiastic and pretty good. Aalok Mehta is the director's brother, but any thoughts of nepotism are discarded once you realize how ideal for the part Aalok is. Not to mention, the dude plays his own guitar and sitar and actually sings (the cool "Breathe" and "In Between Blue"). And not too shabbily, either. Sheetal Sheth, who plays the winsome Maya, is camera friendly and is very engaging, although I didn't care too much for her dance performance (sorry, but I've seen Aishwarya Rai). I wouldn't describe the synergy between Aalok and Sheetal as "sizzling heat"; it's more of an amicable relationship, fueled by genuine mutual respect, which then could potentially lead to something long lasting. Paresh Rawal deserves credit for jumping into the role of Sureel's dad cold, without much rehearsing, and then nailing it. The other standout is the hilarious Aasif Mandvi, who plays the coarse and misogynistic Engineering Sam. Sam provides some of the biggest laughs on screen and spouts my favorite line in the movie: "The country that brought you the Kama Sutra now brings you no kissing in their movies." If you've seen Bollywood cinema before, then you know what he's talking about. <
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>The special features are notable for the droll film commentary done by Director Anurag Mehta and actors Aalok Mehta and Sheetal Sheth. It's definitely worth listening to them breezily chit chat and have fun with each other. There are even amusing insights into growing up Indian in America. There's also Aakol's music video "Breath" and the theatrical trailer. <
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>Of course, there's a band competition to close things off. Does Sureel win? Or will it be his former band Fathead (a real band, by the way, although since broken up). Will his father come around? Will Sureel follow his dream or bow to tradition? Hell, does he even get the girl in the end? Finding out could be one of the more fun hour and a half you'll have.

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This movie deepend my interest and love with Indian Culture.
This was a wonderfully funny, dramatic take on Indian Americans, also known as DESI's (see ABCD Sheetal Shal). It has great music, and actual plot, which was actually more entertaining, and thought provoking than I originally thought it would be. Introduced me to Aalok Mehta (great musician.. so-so learning developing actor) and FatHead (yeah that is a real band). Thoroughly enjoyable great date movie. <
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>Most def not to cheesy.

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FRAUD!!! trailer gave a different meaning
First, let me say that the reviews given for this movie here in Amazon sucks, if these are the reviews given to such a film I can imagine what these guys choice of movies are going to be. <
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>Secondly, I say the movie because I thought it was going to be a comedy as indicated in the trailer, but believe it or not most of the good scenes in the movies (which I had already seen in the trailer) appear in the first 13-15 minutes of the movie after that the movie sucks..... <
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>Well after the 15 minutes of the movie an Indian Dance appear (one of those self glorifying Indian ego to the world culture & heritage, whatever that means) and the dance sucks, I have seen much better Indian dancers. <
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>Then the movie goes on and on without any direction (though after 20min of the movie you already know how the movie's going to end, even then the film keeps on dragging). <
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>There will be another speech given by the lead about how great the Indians are in US and how great they can get GREAT!!!!! <
>And yes there is in the movie a white character to make the move cool!! I suppose but what a wimp!! his character is, his characterisation is so predicatable you will know what I mean if you have watched other Indian movies with white characters, they give them such sucking characters not to mention really bad actors (Martin Henderson was the best & coolest actor the could get for the movie Bride & Prejudice, what more can i say). <
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>I can't even overstate that the acting sucks from all aspect except when the Dad (Paresh Rawal) comes into the scene when the acting gets more believable. <
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>Some may consider this a comedy, but if you consider this sort of movies as a comedy something is really wrong with your sense of humour. <
>Well, those who find this funny will be the Indians and the fact is those scenes are not actually comedy scenes but seemed funny to the Indians only because it happened to themselves or someone close to them and these analogies have rarely been put into a big screen. It's like when your mom or dad appears on TV we get excited, only this time it's pathetic. <
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>Finally, I wasted 2hrs of my life on this movie and I am even wasting it more by writing this review more the future wannabe viewers. <
>But if you are one of those Indians wanting to watch a Hollywood version of Bollywood with NRI's (sucking in acting) just for self-glorification to convince themselves how great Indians are, this is for you Cheers!!! ;-)