‘Loins of Punjab Presents’ (updated)
My buddy Anuvab Pal co-wrote a second gen desi comedy with another friend, NYU film grad Manish Acharya. It’s called Loins of Punjab Presents, and it rocks. It’s side-splitting, much smarter than American Chai/American Desi and much more fun than The Namesake. It’s Wes Anderson-like in the loopiness, absurdity and lack of score, but moves faster — a bit more Tom Stoppard.
We went to a screening for cast and distributors at Andheri’s Fame Adlabs multiplex last week. It’s about a New Jersey singing competition called Desi Idol, sponsored by a New Jersey pork loin company called Loins of Punjab. Ajay Naidu (Office Space) plays a gay Sikh rapper / breakdancer / bhangra singer. His rap starts out as over-the-top second gen name-checks, then turns so catchy that audience members were demanding an MP3. Samrat Chakrabarti plays a judge, a desi American beatboxing slickster named Trance Sen, a play on Tansen. Every show he does in his spare time (Trancition, Trance Fusion) is a parody of UK Asian massive and a pun on his name.
A teen singer, Preeti Patel, is backed by a pushy Gujarati clan who turn up in matching ‘Preeti Patel is #1′ tees. Ayesha Dharker’s Jewish boyfriend, who looks a bit like Ralph Fiennes, sings Bollywood songs. Shabana Azmi is an evil social climber who tries to knock off the other contestants. She reminds me of Monica Bellucci’s wicked witch in The Brothers Grimm. Jameel Khan, who plays the event organizer, is a drop-dead funny comic actor with a handlebar moustache. His character is a sleazy uncle type in snakeskin shirts and a leer.
Seema Rehmani plays an aspiring Indian… actress who doesn’t speak Hindi. Acharya has a major role, Anuvab gets a cameo as hyperactive as those of Tarantino. The ensemble includes several other comic characters. Apart from the running Patel jokes, they’re crisp, sharply-defined characters without resorting to stereotype.
There was lots of hugging and backslapping among the cast after the screening. Azmi flitted about gathering praise after the show. The movie was filmed half in NY/NJ and half in Bombay. One cheesy Lokhandwala type (tall, greasy hair, Bollycheesy acting) who’s in the movie brought the cutest women to the screening. He hadn’t realized he was the butt of the joke and didn’t know how to react. They hung out and smoked in the hallway afterwards.
The flick was largely written by Anuvab and Acharya at Starbucks Union Square in Manhattan. They’re 1.5 gen — they grew up in India and spent a decade plus in the U.S. — but they’ve done a better second gen film than any of the American borns, including M. Night’s Praying With Anger.
If this flick gets distribution, it should do very well. It’s not perfect — I’m not big on battle-of-the-bands climaxes, some shots could be tightened, a couple of scenes could have used a score — but it’s riotously funny. That anesthetizes you to the flaws, which are minor and were only apparent to me on repeat viewing. Loins of Punjab raises the bar for all subsequent films. Whether or not you end up liking the movie, it marks the end of the era where anyone takes badly-written first wave comedies seriously.
A vignette: the owner of Loins of Punjab mounts the stage to introduce the competition he sponsors. The camera slowly tilts down an oil portrait of the company’s founder in a British colonial-style outfit, a porker standing proudly at his feet. The entrepreneur bends down, flicks on a cheap, rotating plastic Diwali lamp, speaks a sentence of benediction and scurries away.
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Passing the torch |
No calling card jokes. No arranged marriage. No shitty faux desi accents. Just deadpan, original and funny.
It’s screening this weekend at the tiny NYU First Run Film Festival:
Main screening: Fri., Apr. 13, 9:30 pm, Cantor Film Center, 36 E. 8th St., Room 200, Manhattan
Alternate screening: Sat., Apr. 14, 9:30 pm, Cantor Film Center, 36 E. 8th St., Room 102, Manhattan
RSVP to: loinsofpunjabpresents@gmail.com
Go see it!
The writer of both Black Friday and Shakalaka Boom Boom (talk about inconsistent) wrote:
LOINS OF PUNJAB..by MANISH ACHARYA..have only been hearing about it .. all good things.. he made the film with his own money.. its about someone who sells Pork LOINS.. have yet to see it.. these are films that are finished and in various stages of post production and so many more that are not yet on floors.. many more that i don’t know about.. but this is for Anish .. the new wave is definitely coming and there is hope.. we will bloody rock..and naysayers be damned… [Link]
The WSJ:
A former executive at software maker MicroStrategy… Manish Acharya recently directed a movie called “Loins of Punjab Presents.” It’s the story of a Bollywood-style singing contest, written in English and set in America. Most of the crew was professional, says Mr. Acharya. But “10% was incompetent — and that was a nightmare.” Mr. Acharya did some filming in Mumbai to save money. [Link]
Quoth the Shabana:
“The director is a very talented newcomer, Manish Acharya… I think he is as talented as Farhan Akhtar. He can talk for hours about global cinema and knows every Amitabh Bachchan starrer and every Javed Akhtar dialogue by heart…
“… he told his wife, ‘If I continue doing [tech], I’ll never have the courage to make a film.’ She is a very good painter. She agreed to support him while he went away to NYU…” [Link]
“Doing an ensemble piece was a total pleasure. And I’ve done two of them back to back. The first one was The Loins Of Punjab (earlier called The Contest) directed by Manish Acharya. The one thing that an ensemble cast teaches you is endless patience. You are an extra in every scene.” [Link]
Michael Raimondo, the Jewish Hindi singer:
My first lead in a feature premieres in Bombay sometime in 2007! Entitled The Loins of Punjab Presents …, it is certain to be a crowd pleaser. Imagine Waiting for Guffman meets a Bollywood version of American Idol. Tight, right? Or at least, very funny. [Link]
An extra:
… be on the lookout for the upcoming independent movie, Loins of Punjab… last night I was one of several Americans here in Mumbai asked to go out to the sound studio and do voiceovers for the movie. Most of our voiceovers involved pretending we were in a restaurant, or hotel lobby, talking in hushed voices to create the American accent background murmur of sound for scenes in the movie. But I did have one, much more glorious moment. I am the voice of a director who tells a young actress who just auditioned that even though she’s Indian, she’s doesn’t look Indian enough. I hope it’s my foot in the Bollywood movie door… [Link]
Acharya:
“I just happen to be someone who loves making features, and I think I am better at that than at making short films.” Loins of Punjab Presents, centered around a desi version of American Idol in New Jersey, was selected for the 2006 London Film Festival but was not completed in time to screen. [Link]
Update: The movie just won Best Feature Film at the NYU festival.
Update 2: Photos from the movie.
Update 3: The IMDB entry:
A ruthless philantrophist. A bhangra rapper. An over-protected prodigy. A reckless actress. A lovelorn businessman. An entrepreneurial yogi. And a Loin King. Enter a roller-coaster world of seven strangers whose lives collide during a singing contest in a small New Jersey town. [Link]
on Tuesday, April 10th, 2007, 7:17 pm in Events, Film, Humor › 
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That sounds awesome, I hope there’s room for me Friday. This New Yorker thanks you for the tip, Manish.
Wouldn’t it make the most sense to directly distribute this product? That way they could maintain a higher profit margin, but more importantly retain control over the entire process? ;)
Why shouldn’t Iowans be able to see this movie the same day as New Yorkers?
Great title! (And it gets better: “No calling card jokes. No arranged marriage. No shitty faux desi accents. Just deadpan, original and funny.”) Many thanks.
Interesting comtemporary storyline…hope the movie releases all over US…In todays world of idols like sanjaya , the movie is all the more watchable and would be fun..Having read ur blog entries on Anuvab pal’s plays , the screen play of this movie will be good…Iam looking forward to seeing it when it releases in Indianpolis..
oh finally a film like this is made! i was beginning to lose hope there.
i can’t wait to see it. i’m a fan of anuvab’s work; i saw a reading of “love life and ebitda” at an arts festival last year and thought it was great. the two sisters were hilarious!
thanks for the tip sir..going there on Saturday!
I thought it had something to do with Asrani!
Thanks for the tip Manish. Watched it last night and it was hilarious. All the right elements, nuances that everyone could identify with … a few of us even teared up at the requisite moment
Thanks Manish. It was awesome. Funny and insightful. I recognized so many people I know in it, literally and figuratively. I even recognized a bit of myself. So cool. I hope it’s a huge success.
So glad y’all enjoyed it…
DESI IDOL a registered trademark of Universal Consultants Inc.
Desi Idol contest team is currently looking for partners in States to conduct Auditions for 2008
interested visit http://www.desiidol.us
happening this year DESI IDOL Atlanta
auditions details http://www.desiidol.us
Thanks
Zia
Wow…it’s got Ayesha Dharkar! She shows up in a movie after AGES. Can’t wait to watch it.
loved the bhangra rap…. besides the funny movie… is it possible to get the track… have searched everywhere…
Here are excerpts. Acharya will release it as a full track at some point.
Dear Mr Acharya,
Hope you are doing fine. At the outset, I am journalist working the calcutta-based The Telegraph. I wanted to speak to you regarding Loins of Punjab Presents. It pertains to a story that I am doing on movies that are well appreciated despite their shorter lengths which was always one of the considerations..I would be extremely grateful if you could either share your email Id or your mobile number…I can get back to you at the earliest..I have a pretty short deadline..hope you will appreciate…regards
V Kumara Swamy
vkswamy@gmail.com
I’m a white American who saw the movie in Bombay in September. It felt so good to watch this movie after seeing a dozen movies about Gangsters and love triangles. Thanks to a month in Mumbai and plenty of Indian friends back home I was able to get most of the jokes. But I think this movie could make anyone laugh - India lovers or not. I really hope it will make its way to Boston.
If Mr Acharya and Mr Pal, both born and raised in the US, are so talented then why don’t they work full time in the US and let their films and plays be judged by a more discriminating American audience instead of decamping to India and competing with mostly mediocre cinema and theatre for the attention of anything-phoren crazy Indians? Even if there material is primarily desi-centric, is it too hard for them to come up with crossover appeal?
Not looking down on Indians there - it’s just a fact that as a poor developing country until recently Indians have been too busy filling their bellies to have the luxury of appreciating non-escapist quality films.
Critic,
I am not even sure where to begin, to start from what I recall from Manish’s earlier posts both Mr. Acharya and Mr. Pal were born in India but have been in America for sometime.
I will let someone else tackle the rest of your comment
To answer your question, Critic, it is because Hollywood executives truly can’t recognize a good thing when they see it.
They were born and raised in India, and who’s going to fully appreciate the references?
Brown,
A piece of friendly advise - don’t start your disagreement with that overused expression of consternation, just begin somewhere.
Nina P,
I am sure you know of many more critically acclaimed and financially successful independent films than I do.
Manish,
My strong assumption was gleaned from their choice of subject matter and setting in their film. For ex, Loins of Punjab is a film about Desi Americans set in the East Coast. Your facts to the contrary don’t discredit me, they only advance my case. What are they trying to be? Making films in America about Americans and then depending mainly on viewers and critics in India to prop it up. Alright so they did go to school here. Right? Then stay here until you make a small budget film with an outsize appeal like say Little Miss Sunshine and make us desis proud. If you are talented then compete with other talent for the attention of the world’s most discerning audiences and critics right here in America.
Critic, your complaint has everything to do with the idiots who control film distribution in the US, and nothing to do with Acharya and Pal. The Hollywood execs don’t get it. Hollywood is not a meritocracy, not by a long shot. Just because it’s obvious to us and every thinking person that the film could be a commercial success in the US, doesn’t mean Hollywood comprehends that. Acharya and Pal have achieved something extraordinary in making a GOOD film that audiences love. Hollywood can suck it.
Critic:
Manish Vij forwarded me this comment, and so I thought I should respond.
First, I am not talented. I don’t think Anuvab is either.
Second, we were not born in the U.S.A. Though I sometimes wish we were, especially after Bruce released his album. It just kinda seemed inappropriate singing that song aloud, Diwali celebration or not.
Third, I loved Little Miss Sunshine. But I think pedophilia is illegal in the US. Thank god for Goa.
Fourth, and this is a matter of great shame, that even though Anuvab and I were born and brought up in underfed India, we are both overweight and need to go on a diet.
Fifth, if we had gone to medical school or got a Ph D in Biomed Engineering and then returned to India, we would have been praised. Our misfortune is that we studied something creative and then returned to India … and I think we rightly deserve your the condemnation headed our way.
Sixth, when we saw the Gucci and Versace store opening in Bombay, we thought, “aha, like Americans, Indians too will now be able to appreciate non-escapist quality movies.” Now if we just had the talent to make those.
Vij — I didn’t know people actually read your blog. Sh*t, I’ll have to take you more seriously now.
Best to all,
Manish (Acharya)
Who does? Don’t scare me like that.
Just watched the movie at the Castro theatre.
Frankly, I went in, a little unsure of the movie.
why? I guess the trailer wasn’t good enough to set the movie apart from the general american-desi fare.
But what a great movie! Hilarious from the beginning to the end.
Loved the “obligatory” standing ovation towards the end. Pure genius to make a movie-scene that makes people stand up in respect. Kudos!
So, I’ve blogged about it, told everyone I know to go see it when it comes out in the US.
I also appreciated the way the movie handles the bit of homosexuality portrayed in a few characters. The cucumber scene was just so sweet. (Yes, cucumber. No, not that way.)
LOVED the movie! saw it last month in india. i’m still laughing. have word of mouthed it to everyone i know, desi or not.
the crowd in hyderabad gave it a standing ovation (on 2 separate occasions). being a 1.5 gen, this movie really….well, let’s just say, it’s going in my home collection. hmmm, wish i had been raised in jersey instead of chicago.
you guys ROCK. keep it up!
I wonder when the VCD/DVD release is.
This movie was totally hilarious and all
desis and expats should watch it.