Truly Dreadful Film

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Manish Acharya's hilarious little film, 'Loins of Punjab Presents' is a satire that falls on the same lines as Kunaal Roy Kapoor's (who also starred in this movie) 'The President Is Coming'. Both movies follow a similar premise as they revolve around a group of contestants competing ambitiously for the prize.The humour works very well as it mocks the extreme patriotism of many NRIs (non-residential Indians). 'Loins of Punjab Presents' also stresses on the hypocrisy of their mentality. The reverse stereotype and craze towards Bollywood was a refreshing touch.The acting is terrific all around.Ajay Naidu, Ayesha Dharker, Seema Rahmani, Jameel Khan, Darshan Jariwala, Ishitta Sharma, Manish Acharya and Kunaal Roy Kapur perform splendidly. Michael Raimondi stands out as the naive Josh who loves the Indian culture no matter how badly the people treat him. The outstanding Shabana Azmi delivers yet another transcendent subtle performance as the vamp Mrs. Rrita.In one sentence, 'Loins of Punjab Presents' is a refreshing comedic gem, like a breath of fresh air that will make you laugh.

Manish Acharya's highly original comedy has the bounce, bubbling eccentricity, and perfect comic timing of the best of the screwball era. It's like a visit to an updated and internationalized version of the days when you could count on a movie for an hour and a half of fun and leave your cringe-protection gear at home.A movie-song singing contest takes places over the course of one weekend in a hotel deep in Indian-occupied New Jersey. The setup provides a sturdy structure for the kind of surprise-a-minute hilarity that gives screwball its velocity. Maybe something about Indian ex-patriate culture, as well as Acharya's talent, produces the lovely mix of naiveté and sophistication, the obvious and the unexpected (and the unexpected obvious, like the Indian-American guy whose job has been outsourced to India) that keeps all the balls spinning.Acharya (director, co-writer, actor) manages the much-harder-than-it-looks task of braiding together the stories of a set of at least a dozen contestants and side-characters in a way that keeps us consistently laughing about them, caring about them, and even thinking, in an off-hand way, about one or two things bigger than the contest outcome.In one of the film's many comic peaks, the slogan "Foreigner Go Home!!" is hurled at contestant Josh Cohen by fellow New Jersey residents, but the moment is just a stop on the road to a near-throwaway last word, both idiotic and profound, uttered by a man in crocodile-patterned Lurex, that dizzily pulls to the foreground a thought or two that have been there all along about who, in our country at its most diverse best, is inside, who's outside, and whether it matters if there even is an "inside" anyhow.If you're worried about having to sit through too much "Indian singing" – don't be! Very few songs are rendered all the way through, and, as in a Bollywood movie, the story almost always keeps going on during the song. And: the show-stopping bhangra rap song is entirely in English, as is the whole movie for that matter..PS for non-South Asians – the vindictive socialite, Rrita Kapoor, is played by Shabana Azmi, India's equivalent of Meryl Streep (apologies to both), a great and beautiful actress known for decades of roles in serious movies and also for courageous activities on behalf of social causes in India.

This movie is really quite simple, a low budget NRI film, thats guarantees laughs, and thanks to the low budget maybe even commercial success.But every once in a while a movie like this hits the mainstream, and almost all of these movies are unable to cope with this status.Thats what happened to this movie, what was meant to be a quite listing and maybe even a quieter exit suddenly became quite a talked about film. The first few batches of movie goers had the luxury of seeing the movie for what it is and thoroughly enjoyed it, but people like me (mostly hardcore commercial movie watchers with the occasional offbeat comedy or action film) went into this movie expecting so much more, the expectations were hyped to the extent of a mainstream film, and i guess the fault lies with me as much as anybody else.The movie starts of well enough with the explanation of the title and the introduction to the characters, the jokes are not really knew, anyone who has seen earlier NRI films would be familiar with the humour and style of this film, a few jokes are inspired to the point of being lifted (the futures analyst based on Along came Polly) and many many more.Yet most of the jokes have repeat value and may even be knew for a large part of the audience, so we laughed but deep down I knew many of the laughs were forced.The cast was stellar with superb acting all around, each and everyone looked and acted their part perfectly, I was particularly impressed with Manish Acharya, when he acted awkward on screen i actually felt what the character felt.The drama was handled well too, there were the mandatory tears but nothing was over melodramatic.The movie reeked of its lesser budget and it would have added to the feel had i not expected so much.The humour is mainly slapstick but the advantage of its low budget and offbeat cast means that it will please the critics too.The songs used were very nice and the few original ones were also catchy,i wonder who sang for the cast because she was too good, if its not a big name im sure she will be one in the future.However alls not well for this movie, its TOO PREDICTABLE, also working against it is that the biggest scene of the movie towards the end IS BEING OPENLY DISCUSSED, chances are you already know about it before you step into this movie, save for the ABCD almost every NRI film character finds their place here.The length helps a bit in this department, the blink and you miss it run-time means that just when you are about to feel that all this to much you the movie reaches its climax and your out of the theater.Even though i enjoyed this movie, i cant help but imagine what would have been if i had gone into this movie with a clean slate like some other NRI films like East is East and American Desi.Watch with appropriate expectations and you wont be disappointed paying premium rates at a multiplex will almost certainly ruin this film for you.-s TOO PREDICTABLE, HIGHLY INSPIRED, TOO MUCH HYPE PUSHING IT TO MAINSTREAM STATUS.+/-s many jokes have repeat value.+s some really funny original moments as well, great attempt, superb cast, casting and performances.total 6/10 (factoring part of the fact that i watched this movie with unrealistic expectations this movie had the potential of being a 7 or 8 and i felt it was just OK so I've taken the middle path and given it a 6)

LOINS OF PUNJABS PRESENTS... gives the viewer some nice characters trying their best to realize their dreams in a New Jersey-based "Desi Idol" contest.The Gujarati family (Patels, naturally) is mined for much hilarity... the writer-director obviously knows the scene well, and most of the laughs come out of their bumpkin hi-jinx. Several other characters (especially Ajay Naidu's) are nicely drawn, while some (including, surprisingly, Shabana Azmi's) fall very flat.Production values are well below what one would expect from a Tisch/NYU film school product, but obviously funds were at a premium.That having been said, ensemble comedy movies are among the toughest to pull off, and Manish has redeemed himself well in making the various story lines work. The audience I saw it with in Bombay was definitely appreciative of his efforts.All in all, nothing great or earthshaking, but a creditable and unassuming first feature which leaves 95% of Bollywood movies with 20 times the budget well in the dust...