ABCD, the script of US-settled Indians

NOVEMBER 21: It's a film any Indian whose paycheck and consciousness is even remotely pinned on the US of A may want to watch. Among the ...

NOVEMBER 21: It’s a film any Indian whose paycheck and consciousness is even remotely pinned on the US of A may want to watch. Among the films made by Indians or about India being screened at the second Festival of Films — Mumbai is ABCD. The film, about American Born Confused Desis, that breed of Indians settled in the US who straddle the Indo-US cultural danger zone, was shown at the Tata Theatre, one of the venues for the festival, today.

Through the handful of protagonists — rebellious, Americanised Nina, her dutiful, diligent brother Raj and their well-meaning, traditional mother — the film unspools the confusion and pressures that govern the lives of first generation Indian immigrant children. Making his debut as a feature film director is 33-year-old Krutin Patel, who says ABCD is a mirror to a generation of Indians that feels out of sync both with the country they live in and their home away from home. “The film is about the cultural crisis that Indians are going through in the US. Indians, specially the older generation, are at a crossroads, especially as many of the younger Americanised generation is at a marriagable age,” observes Patel, who was accompanied by lead actress Sheetal Sheth and costume designer Naju Patel. “You cannot take the most conservative culture there is, put it into the most free culture in the world and expect it to work.”

The film may seem to have too many slices of life scooped out of Patel’s own personal history – like the Mehtas in the film, his family too emigrated to the US when he was just eight, and the film is based in New Jersey, where he lives at the moment. “ABCD is not autobiographical in any sort of way. If my parents were anything like those depicted in the film, I would have been working at Wall Street,” he exclaims. “But, if you make a film on you community, there are moments that you pick out of your personal experiences,” he concurs.

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Patel graduated from New York Film School in 1988 with a dual major in finance and film to keep both familial aspirations and his dreams alive. After making a short film, he worked as a producer for cable networks in the US. The idea of ABCD may have taken root about six years ago, but rejection slips from American producers who found the film “too ethnic” ensured that the film stayed just that. Finally, finances were cobbled together for the film, eighty per cent of it from Indians. “Wherever you are in the world, it is difficult to raise money for your first film,” notes Patel.

The film’s female lead — Sheetal Sheth — also hopes to break into Hollywood with her sensitive performance. “Increasingly, there are many Indians who are getting into non-traditional professions like the arts. Indians are generally depicted in stereotypical ways, and the younger lot is trying to change that,” says Sheth. After ABCD, this drama graduate from New York University has picked up two more projects: Pocketful of Dreams directed by Pune-based V Shalibindari with Mohan Agashe and Anju Mahendru, and Washington-based Raj Basu’s Wings of Hope, also starring Roshan Seth.

CD has not been released in the US yet, and is presently doing the rounds of festivals. Patel hopes that though the film seems all about India, it will appeal to Western audiences as well. “We are not just talking about India but about a clash that takes place between cultures all over,’ he feels. The director also doesn’t want to restrict his potential oeuvre to films about Indian alone. Now, with Indians like Manoj Night Shyamalan wooing both Hollywood and the box-office, films like ABCD could well get a commercial release rather than make it as a`Indian diaspora’ entry in a film festival.