American Blend - 2006

Story

'AMERICAN BLEND' belongs to the same category as it tells the tale of an America based family headed by an Indian. Produced by Krishna Datla, D.Vasant Kumar and Vishwaas Paandya, 'American Blend' is directed by one film old Varun Khanna who also pens the screenplay.

'American Blend' has been described as a rap-tap-hip-hop, music and dance celebration of a cross-cultural, part-Indian, part-American family living in California. So, who all make this family?

Raj Chadha [Anupam Kher] leads the bunch that comprises of his Caucasian American wife Jayme [Dee Wallace Stone] and 3 children Nikita a.k.a Niki [Amita Bhalla], Brijesh a.k.a BJ [Sunkrish Bala] and Maya [Kristin Erickson].

Both Raj and Jayme have a past. While Raj had two children Niki and B.J. from his first wife who was no more, for Jayme too it was a second marriage and had Maya from her first husband. Regardless of their cultural difference, these 5 people led a happy family with an Ameircan lifestyle but traditional Indian moral values.

Each of them had an interest area of their own. For Raj, it was food and Bollywood all the way [though not in any particular order]! His passion led him to bring the two together and open a restaurant called Bollywood Caf?. Meanwhile Jayme was a trained Kathak dancer and Maya too was following on her foot steps. On the other hand Niki helped Raj run his cafe along with Yogi [Ranjit Chaudhry], who was not just an assistant chef but also someone who was very close to Raj in his good and bad times.

Out of this entire family, B.J. was the only individual who didn't really have a direction set for himself. After failing to contribute anything worthwhile for his father's cafe, he didn't really know where to go and passed his time with his best buddy Mercury [David Oyelowo]. Mercury too pleasured himself in the art of dance and was an upcoming tap dancer who was trying to find a way to establish himself.

It was life as usual for the Chadha family and everything seemed to be going right when an incident threatened to shake the family. Differences seemed to be cropping in and it seemed to create a heavy imbalance amongst the various family members.

A secret was unearthed that could have better remained curbed forever!

And now it was up to the family to come together again, resolve the issues and get back on the happy ways again.

A a story of trials and tribulations, and their ultimate coming together in a colorful, musical blend of both cultures, 'American Blend' looks at what can go right when culturally diverse families come together in the redefining of a new America.