American Desi is a 2001 American comedy film with Indian influence, notable for featuring many prominent South Asian American actors. Also featured is an a cappella version of Nazia Hassan's Urdu classic "Aap Jaisa Koi", sung by Penn Masala and originally from the movie Qurbani. The term Desi in the title refers to the people and cultures of the Indian subcontinent.
Plot
An American son of Indian immigrants, Krishnagopal Reddy, or "Kris" as he prefers to be called (to distance himself from his heritage), does not associate with the Indian culture that his parents have pushed upon him. Upon arriving at Rutgers University, he finds out to his dismay that all of his roommates are of Indian descent, and all except one are international students from India. His roommates include Ajay (Kal Penn), who idealizes African-American culture; Jagjit, who loves art but studies engineering to please his father; and Salim, who is very traditional and conservative, feeling that Indian-American girls are too Westernized to make good wives.
Kris meets Nina, a girl he immediately falls for, and is surprised to find out that not only is she of Indian descent, but she is also quite connected to Indian culture and speaks her parents' native language. Kris tries his best to win Nina over - from joining the Indian Students Association to be near her, to learning how to perform a Dandiya Raas. Kris eventually begins to enjoy the company of his roommates, all of whom put together their knowledge and skill to help Kris impress Nina through various ways involving Indian culture, which he eventually comes to appreciate.
Cast
Deep Katdare as Krishnagopal "Kris" Reddy
Purva Bedi as Nina Shah
Ronobir Lahiri as Jagjit Singh
Rizwan Manji as Salim Ali Khan
Kal Penn as Ajay Pandya
Anil Kumar as Rakesh Patel
Sunita Param as Farah Saeed
Aladdin Ullah as Gautam Rao
Eric Axen as Eric Berger
Sanjit De Silva as Chandu
Sunil Malhotra as Hemant
Ami Shukla as Priya
Krishen Mehta as Mr. Reddy
Smita Patel as Mrs. Reddy
Bina Sharif as Mrs. Saeed
Tirlok Malik as Mr. Saeed
Ravi Khanna as Mr. Singh
Soundtrack
Track listing
Reception
On Metacritic, the film has a score of 50% based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".