SYNOPSIS | BIOGRAPHIES | WHY ABCD IS AN IMPORTANT FILM FOR INDIANS IN AMERICA | INDIAN PARTICIPANTS | CONTACT INFO
	LAXMI PICTURES In Association With THE BUSINESS AN INDEPENDENT MOTION PICTURE COMPANY, INC. Presents A B C D Directed by Krutin Patel Produced by Tejal Desai, Brian Wray, Krutin Patel Written by Krutin Patel & James Ambrose Story by Krutin Patel Associate Producer: Parag Amladi, Bob Jason, Alex Lasky Cinematographer: Milton Kam Art Direction: Rodrigo Guerrero, Robert Serrini, Jennifer Galvelis Production Designer: Deborah Schreier Editor: Ravi Subramanian Music: Deirdre Broderick Costume Design: Naju Patel Casting: Glenn Fisher Sound: James Espy Sound Design: Matthew Szwed, Jeff Falcon Make-up & Hair: Julia Lallas Starring: Madhur Jaffrey as ANJU Faran Tahir as RAJ Sheetal Sheth as NINA Aasif Mandvi as ASHOK David Ari as Brian Jennifer Dorr White as Julia Adriane Forlana Erdos as Tejal Rex Young as Sam Running Time: 105 Minutes
SYNOPSIS	ABCD is the story of Raj and Nina, first generation Asian Indian immigrant children who have grown up in America, and their mother, Anju, who is desperately trying in her old age to reconcile her decision to come to America long ago. Nina, bright and beautiful, strong headed and promiscuous, uses sex as a shield to avoid intimacy. She is still rebelling against the conservative Hindu values of her mother. Nina detests the Indian custom of arranged marriages so she exclusively dates American white men believing that all Indian men have nothing to offer her. Her attitude changes when her mother arranges a meeting with Ashok, a childhood friend from India who has recently immigrated to the US. He offers her the emotional intimacy she has never felt before, yet she is uneasy about the relationship. Her life is complicated when an old flame, Sam, reenters her life. Though Sam and Nina are not an ideal match, he offers her a social position in life; a rich white husband who makes Nina feel more comfortable in the culture, makes her feel more American. Each man, representing the two cultures, pulls at Nina, trapping her in a tug of war. Nina's brother Raj is her polar opposite. He is quietly intelligent and emotionally very distant. He long ago agreed to an arranged marriage to Tejal, a sweet and trusting Indian woman who has been in this country for only a few years. Raj is a successful mid-level accountant, vying for a promotion. When he is passed over, it is for a less gifted accountant, his best friend Brian. Raj knows he is a better accountant, a harder worker and more deserving of the job. He feels his race may have something to do with it, but he cannot be sure about the motives of his superiors. A new coworker, Julia, catches Raj's eye. She is an ordinary middle class woman who completely connects with Raj. Raj must choose between the two women. He feels deeply affectionate towards Tejal but does not love her. Yet he cannot break up with Tejal because that would destroy her life since no other conservative Indian boy would touch her. Out of that fear, he does not develop a full relationship with Julia even though it is something they both desperately crave. Anju, who is Raj and Nina's widowed mother is the third piece of this puzzle. Aged and widowed, she is desperately trying to cling to her children by controlling their lives. She pushes Raj hard for the promotion that he will never get and ignores the overly long engagement of Raj and Tejal, only looking forward to their wedding day sometime in the future. She constantly confronts Nina about her promiscuity, believing her daughter will ultimately come around and find a suitable Indian boy. ABCD revolves around characters who are culturally lost. They can no longer fully adhere to the customs of the country they have left behind, and yet do not belong to the mainstream American culture because of their ethnicity. The film also explores what happens to people in America who are neither white or black Americans but who fall somewhere in between. ABCD deals with the emotional consequences of growing up without a firm cultural identity.
BIOGRAPHIES	KRUTIN PATEL Writer, Director, Producer KRUTIN PATEL was born in 1966 in Ahmedabad, India and at the age of eight immigrated with his family to the U.S. He graduated from New York University in 1988 with a dual major in film and finance. While studying at NYU, Mr. Patel produced his first short film, Strangers In The Night. Mr. Patel’s unique visual approach to the film (using bright, saturated colors for a film-noir plot) resulted in several awards and an extensive article in the American Cinematographer magazine. Upon graduation, Mr. Patel traveled and worked throughout Europe producing country by country profiles of 13 different nations. Mr. Patel has also worked as a technical director and segment producer for the Bombay Broadcasting Network (BBN) which produced a weekly Indian television program broadcast throughout the U.S. Most recently he has worked for A&E, The History Channel and Food Network, three of America’s leading cable networks. In 1994, Mr. Patel co-authored the screenplay and makes his feature film directing debut with ABCD. MADHUR JAFFREY Anju Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Ms. Jaffrey has starred in the Merchant-Ivory productions Heat and Dust, The Guru, Shakespeare Wallah and their new film, Cotton Mary as well as Louis Malle's Vanya On 42nd Street, Six Degrees of Separation and The Assam Garden. She has appeared extensively on Broadway as well as in the highly acclaimed BBC productions of Peacock Springs, Firm Friends, A Wanted Man, and The Bloodless Arena. Ms. Jaffrey is a world renowned chef. FARAN TAHIR Raj Faran Tahir was born in 1963 in Los Angeles to Pakistani parents, Naeem and Yasmin Tahir. Within a year, the family returned to their home in Lahore, Pakistan where Faran grew up until the age of 17 when he returned to the U.S. in 1980. Mr. Tahir has worked extensively in film, theatre and television. His film and television credits include A Price above Rubies, Jungle Book, Picture Perfect, Urban Relics, Law and Order, New York Undercover, The Pretender, New York News, Midnight Caller and recurring roles on Party of Five and As the World Turns. Some of his Off-Broadway and regional theatre credits include King Bahram in Mirror of the Invisible World at Goodman Theatre, Oberon/Theseus in Midsummer Nights Dream at Commonwealth Shakespeare Co., Aram Tomasian in Beast on the Moon and the title role in A Perfect Ganesh at Actors Theatre of Louisville, summer repertory member at Lincoln Center, Arabian Nights at Manhattan Theatre Club, Macbeth and L.A. Plays at American Repertory Theatre. He has also worked at Studio Arena, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Magic Theatre, and Amsterdam Theatre Festival. He completed his graduate degree at Harvard University’s Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at American Repertory Theatre in 1992. Currently, Faran resides in San Diego, CA with his wife Marie and their two children. SHEETAL SHETH Nina Sheetal, 22 years old, is making her feature film debut in ABCD. She graduated in December of 1997 with a BFA in drama at New York University in the renowned Tisch School of the Arts. She has always been heavily involved in her community. Having been a leader with several groups at NYU, she also taught and worked with inner-city high school students in President Clinton’s national program, AmeriCorps for three years. Sheetal deeply respects performing in any and all mediums, and especially loves working with children. She strongly believes in the power of the individual and continually challenging oneself; she knows that anything is possible as long as you keep your eyes open and heart close.
WHY ABCD IS AN IMPORTANT FILM FOR INDIANS IN AMERICA	Asian-Indians represent the most recent wave of immigrants coming to America. Like the Irish, Italians, Chinese, and Japanese immigrants before them, the Indian community is striving to integrate itself into the vast melting pot that is America, and in doing so is struggling to find a balance between the culture it left behind and the newly adopted land they now call home. It has been over 25 years since this migration of Indians began in earnest. In that time, Indians first established themselves economically and now are striving for a greater presence in the social culture. ABCD offers a first opportunity for Indian artists in front of and behind the camera to tell their story and establish a popular cultural record of their experience. For the most part, the Indian community has had no significant representations in the popular arts of this country. The current depiction of Indian characters on television and movies is limited to that of an occasional cab driver or news stand vendor or the convenience store owner. Even these depictions are usually limited to a single scene within a TV show or film. It is the hope of the Indian artists involved in this production to create an accurate portrayal of our community and our specific growing-pains as we struggle to strike a balance between the culture we left behind and our new home. With the Indian community over a million people strong, it is our hope that ABCD will create a market for Indian films and the first wave of artists it has cultivated. The filmmakers further hope to create exposure for Indian actors and film-makers with the long term goal of realizing a market for Indian artists. With the accurate portrayal of Indian characters in the film, the film will counter the common stereotypes of Indians that are prevalent in the media today. It would also build awareness among the youth in the community that the cultural conflicts they face are shared by others and that they are not alone in facing these problems. Creating a dialogue and understanding among the parents and children of these first generation immigrants should also be a natural outcome for the community. Additionally, ABCD would establish itself as a popular cultural record of the Indian community as it exists today. The critical community has always supported and acknowledged films which address current social issues. Critics often take on the responsibility of providing exposure to projects such as ABCD. In turn recent success of Ang Lee's Eat Drink Man Woman, Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, and the work of John Singleton and Spike Lee, the American audience has demonstrated its support for more ethnically diverse films. In recent years, there have been a few films with Indian characters including Gandhi, City Of Joy, Madam Schuztka and Salaam Bombay. However, the difference has been that none have focused on the Indian Immigrant community as it exists in the United States today. The release of ABCD, will play a fundamental role in increasing the cultural profile of the Indian community.
INDIAN PARTICIPANTS	CAST Madhur Jaffrey Faran Tahir (Pakistani) Sheetal Sheth Aasif Mandvi Nicki Cochrane Ismail Bashey Kamal al-Marayati M.N. Ahmed Ami Shukla Nayan Padrai Susham Bedi Rahael Elias Rashmi Sheth Satish Patel CREW Krutin Patel (Writer, Director, Producer) Tejal Desai (Producer) Naju Patel (Costume Design) Ravi Subramanian (Editor) Parag Amladi (Associate Producer)
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