By:
Subhash
K.
Jha,
IndiaFM
Wednesday,
September
26,
2007
"Are
you
ashamed
to
be
seen
with
me?",
the
only
white
-American
contestant
in
the
all-desi
US-based
music
contest
asks
his
strictly-brown
girlfriend
Ayesha
Dharker.
And
you
wonder,
not
for
the
first
time
during
the
nimble
narration,
at
the
fistful
of
feisty
farce
that
first-time
filmmaker
Manish
Acharya
facilitates
into
this
funny-on-the-top-tragic-at-the-bottom
look-see
at
the
quirks
quibbles
eccentricities
oddities
and
other
cultural
excesses
of
a
bunch
of
Indians
in
the
US
trying
hard
to
keep
the
Bollywood
spirit
alive
in
the
land
of
opportunities
and,
yes,
dreams.
First
things
first.
Writer-director
Manish
Acharya's
90-minute
film
leaves
you
with
enough
characters
to
populate
two
big-budget
Karan
Johar
spectacles.
Broadly
assertive
Indians
swarm
the
posh
hotel
that
populates
the
music
contestants
on
stage
of
every
age...and
rage.
Yes,
there's
plenty
of
anger
underlining
the
film's
utterly
blithe
and
deliciously
amusing
subtext.
On
the
surface
the
eccentric
and
isolated
NRI
community
caught
between
the
dance
of
the
diaspora
and
the
deep-blue
'see" of
Hindi-cinema
kitsch,
seem
to
represent
the
most
apparent
fall-out
of
cultural
displacement.
Within
half
an
hour
you
warm
up
to
these
naively
ambitious
characters
as
people
whom
you've
probably
bumped
into
during
your
last
visit
to
the
US
of
A
at
the
neighbourhood
curry
canteen....the
chic
socialite
(Shabana
Azmi
with
a
dazzling
smile
and
a
new
haircut)
whose
raga-rich
guru
teaches
her
to
sing
'Chura
liya
hai
tumne"
sexily,
the
17-year
old
singing
prodigy(Ishitta
Sharrma)
of
a
stifling
Gujarati
family(a
chaotic
cosmos
of
dhoklas
and
pornography),
the
earnest
but
talent-less
Bollywood-fixated
bimbo(Seema
Rahmani,
perfectly
cast)
,
the
Bollywood-Bachchan
fanatic
(played
with
don't-take-me-seriously
gusto
by
the
director
Acharya),
the
belligerent
gay
Bhangra-rap
duo
walking
hand-in-hand
with
aggressive
amorousness
across
the
hotel
lobby
staring
down
all
the
disapproving
stares
...
They
all
gather
together
in
a
hilarious
huddle
of
NRI
eccentricities,
Bollywood
norms
and
Hindi
songs,
belted
out
in
voices
that
often
belong
to
the
bathroom
,
never
the
'bored' room.
Given
the
severest
of
playing-time
limitations
every
character
still
brings
to
his
or
her
role
a
delectable
participative
spirit.
I
don't
think
Loins...
could
work
without
the
same
cast.
Tough
to
single
out
any
one
performance.
But
Jameel
Khan's
evil-eyed,
boorish
and
vulgar
performance
as
the
show's
organizer
stands
out....As
for
Shabana,
in
her
ten-minute
appearance
she
brings
fire,
ice
and
a
bit
of
wicked
sunshine
to
the
table.
Watch
her
in
the
sequence
while
addressing
a
press
conference
in
the
hotel
lobby
where
she's
interrupted
by
the
only
non-Brown
contestant
Josh
for
a
wrong
reference
to
a
Bachchan
flick.
The
steely
glance
she
throws
at
the
poor
chap
could
de-freeze
an
igloo.
To
play
people
who
are
parodic
and
silly
in
their
self-importance
with
such
warm
and
understanding
isn't
easy.
On
the
surface
the
actors
and
the
wonderfully
gifted
director
make
it
look
easy.
Loins
Of
Punjab
Presents
is
all
about
scratching
the
surface
to
discover
the
painfully
embarrassing
dreams
and
ambitions
of
a
generation
that
has
moved
as
far
away
from
'home'
as
India
has
moved
in
the
world
of
globalization.
See
the
film
for
the
layers
of
sadness
it
secretes
while
telling
a
tale
of
preposterous
self-promotion
by
people
who
can't
look
beyond
their
own
voices.
Or
watch
the
film
for
its
unstoppable
flow
of
brilliantly
witty
one-liners
and
for
bringing
into
play
Bollywood"s
film-song
culture
without
being
a
musical.
Curry
flavouring
never
seemed
more
ironical.