Movie: ABCD

Actors: Faran Tahir, Madhur Jaffrey, Aasif Mandvi, Adriane Erdos, Rex Young
Director: Krutin Patel, Producer: Krutin Patel



It`s a rare South Asian film or television show that doesn`t draw upon stereotypes to get its message across to the audience. Sometimes this is done with little subtlety, as in the slapstick humor of Goodness Gracious Me, the recent indie movie American Desi, or even the godawful 70s show Mind Your Language (who could ever forget the sideways head-waggling of Ranjit the Sikh: "Oh dearie dearie me…"). In these cases the stereotypes are obvious, unmistakeable and easily identifiable: the brass-balls Indian mother-in-law, the long-suffering wife, the chauvinist husband, and so on.

At other times, the stereotypes are examined more carefully, woven together into intricate threads, which are then pulled apart in order to make a more truthful statement than any tired old stereotype could possibly manage to do. ABCD, the debut feature film by Krutin Patel, is a movie that reaches for reality, in refusing to pander to the immediate familiarity that easy stereotypes provide.

The storyline is simple: Anju (Madhur Jaffery), an Indian widow in New Jersey, tries to create some sort of order in the lives of her two children, Raj (Faran Tahir) and Nina (Sheetal Sheth). Like most South Asian people, Anju believes that if her children have good careers and marry properly (i.e. Indian spouses), all the problems in their lives will be solved. Raj has chosen to go along with his mother`s line of thinking; he works hard as an accountant and is engaged to Tejal, a good Indian girl. Nina, on the other hand, is every Indian mother`s nightmare: a demon child who pursues a high-powered advertising career in Manhattan by day and white men in bars by night.

Anju is fairly run-of-the-mill stuff for Indian mothers - she sweet-talks traffic cops out of giving her tickets, brings in astrologers and palmists to predict rosy futures for her children, cooks samosas, and tries to arrange would-be suitors to please her difficult daughter. But Nina`s promiscuity and Raj`s obedience immediately set up the first tension in this scenario, because usually it`s the girl who`s obedient and the boy who sleeps around - or at least it`s more acceptable to South Asian sensibilities. By refusing to go along with the time-honored stereotypes, by turning them on their heads, character complexity becomes more than just a possibility for the movie right from the start.

Both children have their individual dilemmas to face: Raj is fond of his fiancée but not in love with her. At the same time, he`s working hard for a promotion in his office, but losing out to his less able but more socially skilled white coworker sets off a crisis where he begins to doubt his reasons for toeing the traditional line.

Nina, on the other hand, has no job problems, but her romantic life is a mess. She won`t let anyone get close to her, and avoids commitment by cutting off relationships before they get too involving for her. The reason for her commitment phobia is a deep-seated confusion about her identity versus the identity her mother has envisioned for her. This is actually the same problem for Raj, too, but it doesn`t come to light till the end of the movie, whereas for Nina, it`s clear right from the start.

An interesting conflict develops when Ashok, a childhood friend from Ahmedabad, arrives in New Jersey, and Anju attempts to set Nina up with him. Rather than being a gauche FOB, Ashok is actually a sensitive, perceptive young man who realizes right away that Nina could love him, but her fear holds her back.

Unfortunately, while a Western environment gives Nina her freshness and independence, it also drives her away from Ashok and into the arms of Sam, a rich white ex-flame who comes back into Nina`s life with a marriage proposal. In the end, Nina chooses Sam, simply because her fear of giving in to the inevitability of an arranged marriage is too great, and she herself is too mercurial and temperamental to be any great success as a typical Indian wife. Even though Ashok claims that isn`t what he wants, Nina knows herself too well to take any chances.

Raj, too, finds himself able to break away from his moorings after some time (and a key event in both Raj and Nina`s lives). Or perhaps "break away" is too strong a phrase; once the key anchor in his life is gone, he simply drifts away from expectations, from responsibility, from the rat-race of job-marriage-children. He may return to it eventually, but it will never be the same for him again. While Nina comes to her own conclusions quickly, Raj`s voyage seems to just begin at the end of the movie.

All three main actors - Madhur Jaffery, Faran Tahir, and Sheetal Sheth - handle their roles well, despite some awkward moments and a few clunky dialogues. Aasif Mandvi, as the bemused but gentle Ashok, is surprisingly sweet, and will make more than a few South-Asian American women consider the gawky cousin back home as more than just a family joke.

Don`t go into this movie expecting that everyone will suddenly find their Indian culture and roots and turn into more integrated personalities - expect the opposite, in fact. But what happens to Raj and Nina makes perfect sense given who they are, where they live, and how they`ve grown up. ABCD is more truthful in that way, and though you might not go home with a happy ending, you will be left with an honest one.