Product Details

• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0002375R6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #145,828 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars BOLLYWOOD...GEN X STYLE..., March 20, 2005

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: American Chai (DVD)

This is a charming film in which cultural values clash within a family. Sureel is a young Indian-American senior in college, majoring in music. The only problem is that his very traditional parents, who are immigrants from India, believe that he is actually enrolled in a pre-med course of study, as they have decided that Sureel is to become a doctor. Sureel, a budding musician who is fearful of disappointing his parents, does not share their passion for such a career.

Unbeknownst to his parents, Sureel also plays guitar for a rock band, an outlet of which his parents are unaware, as Sureel keeps them blissfully ignorant. He maintains his deception through a series of maneuvers aimed at keeping his parents in the dark about his interests, which are decidedly not related to the medical field. Unfortunately, his efforts at leading a double life cause him to miss or be late for too many practice sessions with his band, and the band unceremoniously gives him the boot on the cusp of their hitting the big time. To his dismay, Sureel also loses his American girlfriend, as she was nothing more than a groupie.

Through his Indian-American friend, known as Engineering Sam, Sureel meets a beautiful Indian-American girl named Maya, who is also musically inclined, as she is interested in the art of traditional Indian dancing. When his parents discover his love interest, they are overjoyed and move to arrange his marriage to Maya in the traditional way, much to Sureel's consternation. Through his relationship with Maya, however, his own appreciation of Indian culture rises, and he finds himself melding Indian with American influences in his music, switching from guitar to sitar. Sureel ends up creating an interesting cultural blend of music, infusing American rock with traditional Indian inspired strains.

This film, with its excellent cast and storyline, charms the viewer as it alternates between American and Indian cultures and values, between the younger generation and the older, and between the traditional and the non-traditional. Somehow, the film ends up reconciling all these divergent interests. Those who enjoy Bollywood style films or films with Anglo-Indian themes will enjoy this charming film.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thwarting immigrant parental expectations, May 26, 2004

By 

Karen Vaughan "Herblady" (Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Chai (DVD)

I loved this film, which would be of interest to anyone who ever came of age, regardless of ethnic background. Sureel, an Indian-American (Desi) college student with very strict parents who only want him to study medicine or pharmacy is living a double life at college, playing in a rock band and dating a white girl although the relationship is stalled because he won't introduce her to his parents. At an Indian cultural conference he meets a young Desi woman who is trying to synthesize an authentic Indian/American modern dance style. Sureel must come to terms with not rejecting everything good his parents stand for (desipte his father's active opposition)while finding his authentic path.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Love it., April 12, 2008

By 

E. Wong "Spike the Dragon" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Chai (DVD)

This movie is up there with the Debut. Great indie movie dealing with coming of age and finding your Asian American identity. It's a cute, feel-good date movie. Loved the actors. Never seen them before, but will be looking out for them. This is one of a handful of Asian American movies which mark its maturity from the early days of movies like American Adobo.