'American Blend' is about cultural explosion

New Delhi, Sep 27 (IANS) "American Blend", written and directed by Varun Khanna is a family drama that focuses on cultural explosion of a part Indian, part American family living in Los Angeles is releasing Friday.

A rap-tap-hip-hop 100-minute music and dance celebration of a cross-cultural Indian-centric immigrant family, the film stars Anupam Kher, Dee Wallace Stone, Kristin Erickson and David Oyelowo in the main leads.

The film is also a celebration of what can go right when culturally diverse families come together in redefining a new America.

The story goes like this - Raj Chadha (Anupam Kher) is an Indian who runs a restaurant, Bollywood Café, in Los Angeles - he is madly in love with his second Caucasian American wife Jayme (Dee Wallace Stone).

Together they have raised their children in a traditional Indian way. Raj has two children from his deceased first wife - Niki (Amita Balla) and BJ (Sunkrish Bala). Niki helps Raj and Jayme in running the café. BJ "tries" to pitch in too, whenever he can.

Jayme's daughter Maya (Kristin Erickson) lives with them too and both mother and daughter share the passion for Kathak, classical Indian dance.

Mercury (David Oyelowo), BJ's best friend, is a British street tap dancer struggling to make it big on the stage. BJ helps Mercury get a job at Bollywood Café. He gets attracted to Maya who is desperate to know her father's name which is kept under wraps by Raj and Jayme.

What happens to Maya when she learns the name of her father is the film all about.

Khanna wrote this film to get over the trauma of his sister's illness. Shot entirely in Los Angeles, "American Blend" has interesting tap-kathak fusion.

The film comes at a time when the popularity of "Monsoon Wedding" and "Bend It Like Beckham" has faded. The film has chances to have a decent audience.

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American Blend