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American Blend - redefining a new America

Review by ARPANA

Film: "American Blend"; Cast: Anupam Kher, Dee Wallace Stone, David Oyelowo, Kristin Erickson, Ruben Garfias, Sunkrish Bala, Amita Balla and Ranjit Chowdhry; Director: Varun Khanna; Rating; **1/2

"American Blend", written-directed by Varun Khanna, is a family drama that focuses on cultural explosion of a part Indian, part American family living in Los Angeles.

A rap-tap-hip-hop 100-minute music and dance celebration of a cross-cultural Indian-centric immigrant family provides the setting for finely tuned ensemble drama in the big melting pot called the US.

The film is also a celebration of what can go right when culturally diverse families came together in the redefining of a new America.

The story goes like this - Raj Chadha (Anupam Kher) is an Indian who runs a restaurant, Bollywood Café, in Los Angeles - he is madly in love with his second Caucasian American wife Jayme (Dee Wallace Stone).

Together they have raised their children in a traditional Indian way. Raj has two children from his deceased first wife - Niki (Amita Balla) and BJ (Sunkrish Bala). Niki helps Raj and Jayme in running the café. BJ "tries" to pitch in too, whenever he can.

Jayme's daughter Maya (Kristin Erickson) lives with them too and both mother and daughter share the passion for Kathak, classical Indian dance.

Mercury (David Oyelowo), BJ's best friend, is a British street tap dancer struggling to make it big on the stage. BJ helps Mercury get a job at the Bollywood Café. He gets attracted to Maya who is desperate to know her father's name which is kept under wraps by Raj and Jayme.

When this secret is revealed, it causes a rift between BJ and Maya and temporarily unsettles the lives of other family members.

The destiny of the family culminates in a wedding scene where the each one gets a chance to make things right again.

"American Blend" looks like a blend of "Bend It Like Beckham" and "Monsoon Wedding" but in spite of that the film is engrossing. Thankfully, it doesn't have an overdose of American culture, Indian ethos or artificial communal unity. For a change it concentrates on family bonding which is a rarity in cross-culture cinema.

Shot entirely in Los Angeles, "American Blend" is interesting in parts especially the tap-kathak fusion scene.

The constant bickering between Raj's two chefs - Yogi (Ranjit Chaudhary) and Lupe (Ruben Garfias) who is a Mexican adds spice to the drama.

The climax reminds the audience of "Monsoon Wedding" - it's a typical feel-good film interspersed with pop Punjabi music and ends with celebrations just like "Monsoon Wedding".

The rift in the family is well handled. The reference to Hindi songs on several occasions is also enjoyable. Khanna succeeds in extracting decent performances from the entire cast especially the first time actress Kristin Erickson. She etches out her role convincingly and delivers the right expressions.

Amita Balla's character reflects exact nature of an Indian girl brought up in an American culture.

"American Blend" comes at a time when the popularity of "Monsoon Wedding" and "Bend It Like Beckham" has faded. The film has chances to have a decent audience. But long run at the box office is ruled out. 

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