Loins of Punjab Presents

Manish Acharya may not be in the same league as New Wave Bollywood directors like Austosh Gawrisker (“Lagaan,” “Swades”), Farhan Akhtar (“Dil Chata Hai”), or Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (“Rang De Basanti”), but he is a damn good emerging talent. After seeing his debut directorial effort in “Loins of Punjab Presents,” I can at least say he didn’t waste his limited resources in creating an underwhelming flick. Having worked in the IT field in the early part of his career, Manish made a career shift when he decided to be a filmmaker. To acquire formal education, Manish persued an M.F.A. program in film studies. While undergoing the M.F.A. program, he created a set of shot films (included in the second disc) as part of his course work that shows his immense talent in capturing the emotional content of his characters. Of course, it was only a mater of time before he would return behind-the-camera to direct his first feature film.

The story is straightforward and simple. “Loins of Punjab” is a big pork-loin supplier in the East Coast, and they are sponsoring a singing competition over a weekend to select a “Desi” Idol in New Jersey, in which the winner takes a grand prize of $25,000. A panel of three judges decides the final six contestants, after which, the final winner is decided based on votes from the audience.

There are a couple of reasons why “Loins of Punjab Presents” succeeds on several levels. First, at least in the realm of Indian films, the idea of creating a movie about a singing competition, while paying tribute to Bollywood, is certainly an original idea. Based on a popular Indian show, “Indian Idol,” “Lions of Punjab Presents” captures the core of the Indian culture and its attachment to music. In India, music forms a big part of daily activities and is omnipresent; in cars, buses, and taxis you will hear a wide variety of music in different languages. Peek out the streets, and you will find people singing or dancing to the tunes of the latest Bollywood songs. And even if you call someone on their cell phone, chances are you will hear a blaring Bollywood ring tone. The unbreakable attachment to music is deeply rooted in the culture. Having said this, I can’t think of a recent Bollywood movie that used music as a central focus of the entire story. Yes, there have been movies about a passion for music (“Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam,” “Khamoshi”), but nothing that shows a musical competition. It is in this aspect that Manish Acharya successfully teleports the viewers to America with Indian immigrant characters as its musical theme.

The six characters in the film itself are unique and diverse, each character representing a slice of the Indian Diaspora in America. Mrs. Kapoor, played by a veteran actress Shabana Azmi, is the oldest competitor in the pool, and her character stands against other youths in the competition. With the rising young population of India, many veterans and the older generation often find it challenging to go toe-to-toe against the current generation--in the workforce or in the competition like the one shown in the film. Mr. Kapoor hones her singing skills so she can at least pose a challenge to her closest competitor, Preeti. Behind the scenes, using her experience, she tries to rattle Preeti with an enticing offer. The generational tension between her and Preeti is convincingly represented.

Then, we have a traditional portrait of an Indian Gujarati girl, Preeti Patel (Ishita Sharma), probably born and brought up in the U.S. with traditional Indian values. Preeti’s parents take charge of things without even consulting her. It’s a hopeless one-sided situation that is present in lot of Indian families. Surprisingly enough, even though her family seemed settled in the U.S. for a long time, they remain tightly bound to the Indian culture and their old habits. They don’t follow a Western lifestyle, and their immediate social circle comprises family members and close friends only. For them, every place is India, and there should not be any cultural adjustment on their part. This scenario is hilariously depicted in a scene in which the Patel family bring their own food to a hotel cafeteria.

In contrast to Preeti’s character, we have a rebellious, wannabe Sikh rapper, Turbanotorious B.D.G, who in a versatile and energetic display by Ajay Naidu (“Office Space”), will probably make you laugh, and ultimately you may find yourself cheering for him through the audition process. His character defies every Indian tradition with its representation of a completely Americanized Indian rapper, and with an implied gay relationship with a Nigerian man. Turbanotorious banks on his Punjabi roots to create a unique musical combination by mixing Bhangra (a folk dance from the state of Punjab, India) with Rap. His character shines through, and Ajay Naidu’s performance is brilliant and definitely worth watching. In addition, we have another wannabe Indian, Jewish boy, Josh Cohen (Michael Raimondi), who wants to be an Indian in every way to impress his girlfriend, Opama Menon (Ayesha Dharker). His spoken Hindi, even if heavy accented, has a significant degree of heartfelt sincerity. All of this adds up in the final moments. With the odds stacked against him, he delivers a poignant performance by singing the Indian national anthem.

In the last two characters, the director presents his love for Bollywood. One of the contestants, Sania Rahman (Seema Rahmani), has a weird problem--she can’t read or understand spoken Hindi but has the ability to fluently talk in Hindi. Her deficiency in Hindi is a commentary on the state of Indian language skills evident in lot of Indians born in the U.S. In a sequence where the director introduces her, she is directly looking at the camera and talking about Bollywood movies. She likes how the Bollywood formula employs all the ingredients such as action, romance, and drama, packed into one movie. It is a strikingly conversational way to engage its audience with a brief introduction to Bollywood.

Finally, an Indian worker in the U.S., Vikram Tejwani, played by the director himself, finds his job will soon be outsourced to India. His character is a satire on the entire outsourcing situation present in the U.S., which not only impacts Americans but also Indians residing in the U.S. on work visas. In his audition for the competition, he utilizes songs from popular Amitabh Bachchan (a former Bollywood megastar) movies that only heighten his love for Bollywood and its megastar.

“Lions of Punjab Presents” was not funded by any studio, and as a result, Manish Acharya had to invest a lot of his own money in the production. Sadly, during the filming process, he ran out of money halfway through the movie. At one point, he decided to close the project, but somehow he managed to get timely financial help from his friends. Definitely, the film’s short running time of eighty-eighty minutes is attributed to limited financial resources. To keep the overall cost down, the movie was mainly shot in India, with a few shots taken in New Jersey.

Video:

Indiepix present “Loins of Punjab Presents” in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Because of the its limited budget, “Loins of Punjab Presents” appears a bit rough on this DVD release. The transfer lacks sharpness, especially during the more dimly lit scenes. Overall, though, I think the transfer is average.

Audio:

We get two tracks, 5.1 Dolby Digital and 2.0 Dolby Digital, and I played the movie in the 5.1 audio track. The movie is mostly dialogue driven, dialogue that is crisp and clear throughout. Overall, there is nothing to complain about this audio on this disc.

Note: The entire movie is in English with Hindi songs only used during the audition process and in the final round.

Extras:


Indiepix Films has released this movie as a two-disc set.

Firstly, starting of the extras on the first disc, we get a terrific commentary by Manish Acharya, in which he talks about this love for Bollywood and financial difficulties during the filming process.

Moving on to the second disc, we have a regular behind-the-scenes featurette.

After this featurette, we have a pair of interviews with Shabana Azmi and the director of the movie, Manish Acharya. Shabana talks about her experience with Manish and why she signed up with the new director. Frankly, I thought this interview was totally irritating. Shabana for most part of the interview was looking at the mirror, with little regard for the interviewer. Following this interview, we have a terrific interview with Manish. He provides his thoughts on the movie, challenges, casting, and Bollywood.

Up next we a set of nine deleted scenes with a brief introduction from the director.

Following the deleted scenes, we have a pair of two shorts that Manish created during this M.F.A. We also get a music video on the film.

The second disc ends with a theatrical trailer (16x9) of the movie.

Final thoughts:

“Lions of Punjab Presents” succeeds in presenting a diverse set of characters and a valid issue of belonging that is associated with a foreign land. The film moves at a brisk pace and it is hugely entertaining (did I mention I have seen this movie three times in the last week?). Manish Acharya definitely has talent in filmmaking and should be taken seriously. I hope he soon gets a major film to direct. Even with its razor-thin plot, “Loins of Punjab Presents” never goes over-the-top, either with its sentimentality or its comedy. Eventually, it scores high in the entertainment value and is bound to keep you smiled throughout its running time.