COMING SOON
INDIAN AMERICAN FILMS

Lisa Tsering’s RUndown of some films by Indian American directors to watch for in 2005. Some are big-budget, big screen events, while others are meant for art houses and at festivals; still others are NRI vanity projects.

THE DUKES OF HAZZARD – Jay Chandrasekhar (“Super Troopers,” “Club Dread”) directs this Warner Bros. summer comedy based on the cult ‘70s TV series, and pumps up the action and sex appeal for post-millennial audiences. Starring Jessica Simpson, Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott.

THE LADY IN THE WATER – M. Night Shyamalan’s next is set to start shooting this August, and won’t be released till 2006. The suspense film, also from Warner Bros., is about an apartment building superintendent, played by Paul Giamatti (“Sideways”), who discovers a sea nymph living in a pool in his basement. Bryce Dallas Howard (“The Village”) costars.

PARZANIA – Nonresident Indian director Rahul Dholakia earned lukewarm reviews for his first feature, “Kehta Hai Dil Baar Baar,” the first Bollywood film shot entirely on location in the United States. But he’s redeeming himself with “Parzania,” an English-language film that has created buzz among festival programmers. Naseeruddin Shah and Sarika (the ex-Mrs. Kamal Haaasan, making a comeback) star as a Parsi couple in this songless film set against the backdrop of the recent communal riots in India.

WATERBORNE – Debutant director Ben Rekhi had success at the SXSW festival with this thriller starring Shabana Azmi and Ajay Naidu that traces the effects of a terrorist attack on Los Angeles’ water supplies. As of press time, the film was still in search of a distributor.

THE NAMESAKE – Mira Nair wrapped up shooting of this drama in Kolkata and Agra in mid-June. Based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s powerful novel that charts a family across continents and generations, the film stars Kal Penn, Tabu, Irrfan Khan, and Zuleikha Robinson.

AMERICAN BLEND – Previously known as “Spice of Life,” this cross-cultural family comedy starring Anupam Kher and Dee Wallace Stone has been directed by L.A.’s Varun Khanna (“Beyond Honor”) and is set to be released in the U.S. in early 2006.

BEYOND HONOR – Varun Khanna’s drama about an immigrant family’s decision to subject their daughter to female circumcision will be released in U.S. theaters in September.

MADE IN U.S.A. – This Malayalam film, directed by Rajiv Anchal (“Beyond the Soul”) and shot completely in the U.S., stars Tamil heartthrob Madhavan, with an appearance by San Francisco Bay Area-based producer/actor Thampy Anthony (also known as Anthony Thekkek). The film has finished a run in Kerala and is now seeking distribution in the U.S.

ARYA – The maiden production from the NRI Film and TV Club, this supernatural thriller is directed by East Coast filmmaker Manan Katohora and was released straight to DVD.

PROVOKED – Aishwarya Rai and Naveen Andrews star in this true-life tale about an abused Punjabi woman in Britain who is jailed for killing her violent husband. The film, directed by Jagmohan Mundhra, has wrapped shooting but no release date yet.

MY BOLLYWOOD BRIDE – Rajeev Virani’s long-awaited romantic comedy is still on the radar, but no U.S. release date has been announced. Kashmira Shah and Jason Lewis star in a tale about a young American man who learns that the exotic beauty he met in L.A. is actually a Bollywood star traveling incognito.