Us in US: From ABCD to FOB.

 PURNIMA SHARMA -  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/670794.cms

 TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2004 07:42:49 AM

 What's in a name? Plenty. Kal Penn, who's acted in Love Don't Cost a Thing and American Desi, couldn't make a scratch in Hollywood when he auditioned for roles as Kalpen Modi — his real name. Things are different now. As it is for the subject that inspires offbeat cinema. After years of dwelling on the American Born Confused Desi (ABCD), movie-makers are shifting attention to the Fresh Off the Boat (FOB) Indian. Like in the case of Sunil Thakkar's Where's The Party Yaar, starring NRIs Kal and Serena Verghese.

Says Kal,"A friend suggested I Anglicise my name. Audition chances went up by more than 50 per cent.But when I go to collect my Oscar,I'll make sure the world knows me as Kalpen Modi!" Born and brought up in New Jersey, the child Kalpen was bitten by the acting bug. An incident while he was in the 8th grade finally made an actor out of him. "Soccer was cool then, acting wasn't. Soccer boys would laugh at us when we went for practice sessions." The taunts stopped after a show in school. "This made me realise the power of acting." Kal's filmography includes Mask 2 and American Made. His new projects include A Lot Like Love with Ashton Kutcher.

Cut to 22-year-old marketing student Serena. She walked into the open casting call for the film. Her other claim to fame is the voiceovers she does for animation serials. ‘Years of annoying my brother with my little voices has finally paid off."

Their different backgrounds notwithstanding, both Kal and Serena love Bollywood. Kal admires "Kajol, Rahul Bose and Anupam Kher," and his "ultimate aim is to work in Bollywood." Serena's "hot man is Al Pacino," but "Kajol and Preity are the best in Bollywood."

After a September 2003 release in the US, Where's The Party Yaar has made it to the ‘Official Selection' list of film festivals in London, San Francisco, Dallas, Austin, Toronto and Mexico. While in town though, the movie unit "hopes to chillout with cine-goers in apna desh." Kyunki, ABCD or FOB, phir bhi dil hai Hindustani!

 Having a party...

 YOU MAY safely bracket him as an `India shining' factor in Hollywood. Kal Penn, the New Jersey bred actor of Gujarati lineage ,is making waves there.

 In "early 20s" and six Hollywood films under his belt already, he still has his shoulders firm on his head, thankfully. "I am of not of the status of Brad Pitt but I am not unknown either," he softly puts it in. In New Delhi this past week to promote the film, Where Is The Party Yaar? which features him as an Americanised Indian that presents an issue of the alienation of `just entered" Indians who are considered unwelcome among Americans and Indians settled in that country, he talks about how is it to be in Hollywood. "It wasn't easy. But my strong background in films and television helped me. I did a lot of English theatre including comedy," says Penn. Though he graduated from Freehold Regional High School District's Performing Arts High School but it was his admission in the prestigious Film and Television Department at the University of California, Los Angeles, that placed him several notches higher than his contemporaries.

An Indian in Hollywood but, still has to suffer from "stereotypical roles" that they are offered. Reveals Penn, "though I worked in Love Don't Cost a Thing, an urban re-make of the `80s hit comedy Cant' Buy Me Love and Malibu's Most Wanted (both by Warner Brothers), but I wasn't actually happy with them. They wanted that typical thick-accented, lampoonish character, which I played. First, it is difficult to make entry and then also, you have to be accepted by the mainstream films." 

And, sitting at Uppal's Orchid on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon road alongside the crew of debutant director Benny Mathews' Where's the Party Yaar?, he gives the reasons too. "There is still a lot of racism in the U.S. Especially after 9/11, racism has skyrocketed. I don't understand why they think so high of themselves. They are not educated, but just literate. They have no knowledge of what is happening in the world. They just don't read, they don't travel. They just rush for entertainment, keep switching on TV channels. You can make out through this example; I went to visit an American friend of mine. He said, `I am feeling so bored. Nothing is coming on television.' I asked him to read Arundhati Roy's `God of Small Things', "I don't read, I can't'. And this is the general scene over there. And may be because of their disinterest in such fields, Indians are excelling in all domains there," Penn minces no words.

And, if you think that Indian films are doing great there, you are grossly mistaken, he says. "Almost nobody watches Indian films there. But ever since films like Bend it Like Beckham, Elizabeth and Monsoon Wedding have drawn some people's attention for they had some English-based stories. Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham was the first film ever that made it to the U.S.' top 20 films charts, the fact that even the U.S. refused to believe and publish it. But Canada put that in print," Penn states.

Some of Penn's ire seem to melt down when you mention "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle", another of Penn's forthcoming film. "Out of the lot I loved only this film for it is giving me a racy, intelligent and challenging script to work on. It is a film on student exchange between nations, two Asians drive in New Jersey looking for a White Castle hamburger stand. I am sure people will like it because they too were fed up with same white cast with same computer techniques," he declares.

Though on one side, films like Mississippi Masala had a "very empowering effect" on him, he would "love to work" in films like Mr. and Mrs. Iyer and Bombay Boys. "I came to India three years ago and just loved my country. You know I can speak Gujaratibut broken Hindi" and he burst into child-like laughter that makes you admire even his incapacity. After all, his genes are from your country!
 

by Rebecca Murray
Kal Penn at the Premiere of "Malibu's Most Wanted"
©Rebecca Murray - All Rights Reserved.

KAL PENN AND KEILI LEFKOVITZ

So tell me about playing a rapper in this movie.
KAL: It's interesting. I mean I did a lot of research for the role, similar to my research for “Van Wilder.”

Did you?
KAL: (Laughing) No, absolutely not. There are three of us, myself, Keili and Nick Swardson. We play Jamie Kennedy's best friends from Malibu. We want to be rappers so badly. We really just had a lot of fun doing it. The role itself is like driving fast cars, wearing really expensive clothes out of rap videos, and walking around with the whole 'bling-bling.” As you can see on the posters, we walked around with fake diamonds. It was fun, it was a really good time.

KEILI: [We are his] posse.

KAL: A crew, a clique.

KEILI: I'm like a Jewish girl from Malibu who thinks she is Queen Latifah. I'm the toughest of the bunch.

KAL: No, no…

KEILI: Oh yes I am. I'm the only woman.

KAL: We have a lot of money and I got to drive this Mercedes that I would never yet - hopefully soon - drive ever in my life.

KEILI: Nick had a Jag and I had a Cobra. I could not get out of it. You know, I could not get out of that car.

How much freedom did Jamie Kennedy give you with his script?
KAL: Jamie gave us so much… It was like, "Bro, bro, let's just improv, bro." He's awesome. He's so great to work with. We would improve back and forth, on and off camera.

Last time I spoke to you was at "Van Wilder" and you were working on a CD. What happened with that?
KAL: Yes, I was. It's coming out in August. Actually, alright, here's the deal with it: It was supposed to be coming out in August to coincide with another film that I'm in called "If You Were My Girl." And that just got pushed - today, I found out - to December. So I need to figure out what to do because I wanted to release it sooner than later. It's finished, it's all ready to go. So I may do a smaller release on my website and then once the movie comes out in December, I'd do a wider release.

What's your role in “If You Were My Girl?”
KAL: In “If You Were My Girl,” I play Kenneth. It's actually a remake of “Can't Buy Me Love.” So in the original “Can't Buy Me Love,” Kenneth is the redheaded kid who… how do I describe this?

The dorky guy?
KAL: The dorky guy. I was going to say, “You sh** on my house,” but I wasn't sure if you could edit that. That's like his famous line - “You sh** on my house, man.” It's him, except it's rewritten with more of an edgy twist. So I play Kenneth, he's a dork but he's only a dork in the setting of the film. There's three of us that are skaters so instead of being like the traditionally nerdy guys, we're just a little offbeat. The school is more of an urban setting, so in a city school, the skater kids are kind of outcast. It's a fun role. I just heard it tested well, so I'm hoping it does well.
 

 KAL PENN (Taj)

Director Walt Becker said he allowed you to adlib some scenes, including your interview scene.
Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I was so glad to be able to work with someone like Walt. He is very about the moment which was great as an actor, especially with the comedy. Things just kind of evolve when you are doing a scene and he's all about capturing that.

Were you hesitant or did it bother you to be asked to do the stereotypical accent?

 At first it did. I didn't get the full script - all I had was 3 or 4 pages for the audition scenes - and on top of it it said the character's name and a little blurb about the character and his scenes. I saw his name was Taj Mahal and that he had an Indian accent and I was like, “That's it. I'm sorry, I'm not going to audition for this.” I called my agent and she said, “I think you might actually be surprised with the nature of the character if you read the script.” I didn't want to jump to conclusions about that so I read the script. The thing that struck me the most was that he's a character who turns out to be Van's best friend and his assistant, and he advances the plot of the film. His whole reason is that he wants to get laid which was, to me, a lot different than a lot of the two or three line parts that are unfortunately out there for Indian actors - the 2 lines at the 7/11 where it's just about degrading the guy behind the counter. I saw a huge difference between that and "Van Wilder," just because of the nature of the character.

 I asked the writers what their motivation was for making this guy Indian, why didn't they make him anything else? Surprisingly they also said they knew they wanted him to be an exchange student just to add some flavor to the character but they didn't know he would be Indian; they were toying with the idea of him being British or South American or African or East Asian. They decided Indian because there's never really been an Indian character with more than those couple of lines. I thought that was wonderful.

You were born in New Jersey and graduated from UCLA. What was your life like before college?

 I was born in New Jersey and [it's the] very clichéd story of always having liked being in front of people. There are videos of me when I'm 3 singing songs in front of company and stuff. My parents kind of hoped it would be a phase and that I'd be a doctor or something like that. I went to a performing arts high school and they were like, “Fine, go. You'll see, you'll see.” I went there and towards the end of that they started getting supportive. They talked to some of my professors and they were like, “Wow, he really does love doing this.” I applied to a couple of schools, and among them I think I was just going back and forth between UCLA and NYU for their drama school. I decided I wanted to come out here (LA) mostly because I wanted to do more film and TV as opposed to just theatre. I had done mostly theatre in high school and community theatre - that's how I got started.

Do you find it's been more difficult to find roles where your nationality doesn't play a major part?

 It's definitely been a challenge. I'd say it's about 50-50. Half of the roles that I go out for are specifically South Asian or ethnic and the other half are pretty open. It's always a challenge because even if the casting director is open to all ethnicities, you'll read for it and they'll send you to the producers and you'll do a good job for the producers but either the producers or the network might not be sure if they want to take a risk. It's kind of a Catch-22 because I wouldn't say that it's outright racism - if they've never had an Indian guy without an accent before then how's that going to do? Are people going to accept it? Are they going to see the movie or are they going to see the show? Is it going to do well with the numbers? That goes with any character regardless of race in terms of specific types for characters.

Are you interested in being a part of the film industry in India?

 Those films don't generally appeal to me. They are larger budget, escapist, song and dance kinds of movies. I would love to continue to work in Hollywood because I was born in America and I would just love to work here.

Is this the first time in your life you've actually been able to support yourself through acting?
 Yes.

How does that make you feel?

 Wonderful, it's like a dream come true. A friend of mine asked, “When you work those 18 hour days doing a film or on a TV set, doesn't that get to you?” The only description I had [related to] driving back at 5am from "Van Wilder" or an episode of “NYPD” that I did, knowing that I'm going to make someone laugh or cry. At 5am with no energy, going down an open freeway is the best feeling in the world because that's exactly what I wanted to do, is to do this.

What was it like on the set? Did you all get along?

 It was a lot of fun. There was a great energy from the first day. It was a fun script; it's pretty light-hearted. You know it's a situational comedy with really cool characters and I think everybody was just having a great time doing it, from the writers and the producers to Ryan, Tara, Teck, and myself. It was really nice to come in every day and know that you were doing something fun, that you were hopefully going to make people laugh. We were making ourselves and the crew guys laugh so much that it was so fun. It had an overall good energy. My agent had called me before I started filming, and said, “You should just know that from previous clients, sometimes when you do films with younger actors and crew and people, sometimes egos get a little out of hand.” I was scared when she said that but there was nothing like that. Ryan is so down-to-earth and Tara is amazing to work with. Everyone was so great and I'm not just saying that. For a first, big movie experience, it was awesome.

Were you familiar with Lampoon movies?

 Oh yeah. Recently I was looking online and there's a bunch of lost Lampoon movies that I didn't know about. I remember when I was in 4th grade, going to see “European Vacation” with my best friend at the time and his dad. I remember there were like boobs in the theater and I thought, “Oh, my mom doesn't want me to see that!” I kind of peeked around my hand, very confused. I'm like, “Should I tell my mom that that's what I saw? She'd get really mad.”

Has your mom seen this?

 Yes, she did. I sent my parents to see the New York screening.

What did she say?

 I was terrified. I made them read the script beforehand. I was scared that they might be offended - not necessarily the accent but the fact that their son had boobs in his face and all their friends are going to see it. My dad calls me after the screening and I asked what he thought. He said, “Congratulations” and I said, “Really?” He said, “Yeah, that was really, really funny. Don't get me wrong, if you weren't in it it's not really my kind of movie to go see on my own, but I think it was really funny. There were some funny things in there. So don't worry.” I said, “Okay, what did mom think?” He said, “Well, your mother didn't really understand what was in the donuts so I'm going to put her on the phone.” I yelled, “Dad, dad, please don't! Can you explain it to her? I'm not talking to my mother about what was in there.”

When casting directors see this, they may see you as the Indian guy. How will you resist other stereotypical roles that aren't as sensitive as this?

 That's something I'm talking to my manager about right now. I haven't been through this experience before so that's actually something I'm - I don't know if concerned is the right word - but definitely anxious about. I want to use this as a platform to get a role that is ethnic neutral - just a guy in college or wherever I can fit that's based on the content of the role. If I'm offered the 2 line Indian role, I've always said I don't have a problem playing a cab driver or 7/11 owner as long it's not about being the cab driver or the 7/11 owner. If it's about the character, then to me that's important to tell the story. It will be a challenge to see how that evolves.