ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi

ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi
Official Poster
Directed by	Martin Prakkat
Produced by	Shibu Thameens
Screenplay by	Martin Prakkat Naveen Bhaskar Sooraj-Neeraj
Story by	Sooraj-Neeraj
Starring	Dulquer Salmaan Jacob Gregory Aparna Gopinath Tovino Thomas SP Sreekumar Sijoy Varghese
Music by	Gopi Sunder
Cinematography	Jomon T. John
Edited by	Donmax
Production company	Thameens Films
Distributed by	Thameens Films & Tricolor Entertainments
Release dates	June 14, 2013 (2013-06-14)
Running time	167 minutes[1]
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	5.65 Crore

ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi is a 2013 Malayalam comedy film directed by Martin Prakkat, produced by Shibu Thameens under the banner of Thammens Films.^[2] It stars Dulquer Salmaan, Jacob Gregory Aparna Gopinath and Tovino Thomas in the lead roles. The film features music composed by Gopi Sunder, whilst cinematography is handled by Jomon T. John and is edited by Donmax.^[3]

The film deals about the journey of two young American Malayalees to Kerala with the title based on the term American-Born Confused Desi.

The Khaleej Times calls it one of the "remarkable box-office success[es]" of the year.^[4]

Plot

The story revolves around two spoiled youngsters: Johns Isaac (Dulquer Salmaan) and his cousin Korah (Jacob Gregory). Johns is the son of a billionaire named Isaac (Lalu Alex) who is settled in New York, while Korah's mother left for Paris with her new husband. Johns and Korah enjoy their luxurious life by driving luxurious cars, going to pubs etc. One day, they are arrested by the police for beating up a guy in a pub, who takes revenge by attacking Johns' house. Johns' parents convince him to go to Kerala in India with Korah for vacation. Although reluctant at first, Johns and Korah leave for India.

In India, they are shocked when they realize that their bank accounts are blocked by John's father, in a last attempt to teach them how to lead a simple life. They decide to sell their laptop, iPad and mobile to meet daily expenses. They also learn from John's dad that they have to live with a monthly expenses of 5000 rupees. His dad also force them to go to a college. With no other choice, they start to live a simple life. In college, they meet a tomboy named Madhumitha (Aparna Gopinath), whom Johns falls in love with. In an attempt to impress Madhumitha, Johns makes up a story that they came to India to help the poor by leading a simple life. A news editor overhears this story and publishes an article in the newspaper about Johns and Korah. Following this article, Johns and Korah's news goes viral and they become public idols across Kerala.

Meanwhile, Ravi Varma (Vijayaraghavan), a minister in Kerala, dies and his son Akhilesh Varma (Tovino Thomas) decides to take his position as minister. During this time, Johns and Korah go missing after a protest against the police.They later show up in Madhumitha's house, asking her for some money for the flight ticket so they can return to America. Fearing that Johns and Korah's publicity among the poor would affect his election, Akhilesh ambushes Johns and Korah when they were about to leave for America. They are eventually arrested by Akhilesh's supportive city police commissioner (Sijoy Varghese). They are soon shocked to learn that the Government is deporting them back to New York after being fed up by their doings. Johns' father arrives in the airport to take them, only to be surprised to learn that Johns and Korah have became famous in Kerala.

The movie ends with a series of events that took place after Johns and Korah left India. Akhilesh lost the election and many homeless people got their houses built by the Government as a result of Johns and Korah's protests. Johns sent the money Madhumitha gave them for buying the flight tickets. He also confessed to her that he loves her, but Madhumitha declined it although she loves him back too. Although Johns and Korah learned a lot from their time in India, they are still troublemakers who are enjoying their life in New York.

Cast

• Dulquar Salman as John
• Jacob Gregory as Korah
• Aparna Gopinath as Madhumitha
• Tovino Thomas as Akhilesh Varma
• Vijayaraghavan as K.P. Ravi Varma
• Lalu Alex as Isaac John, Johns' dad
• S.P.Sreekumar as Lloyd Fernu
• Shivaji Guruvayoor as Vennala Gopalan
• Sijoy Varghese as Police Commissioner
• Chempil Ashokan as Zachariya
• Kalpana as Mariyamma
• Sajini Zachari as Susan, Johns' mom
• Nandhu as Kunjachan
• Kalasala Babu as Chief Minister
• Santhakumari
• Thampi Antony as Thampi

• Nawas Kalabhavan as Saji
• Savannah Schechter as Johns' Girl friend

Production

Development

Martin Prakkat informed that though the project was announced a few months before it's shoot, acquiring the licence to shoot in the US delayed the commencement of the project.^[5] Sameera Saneesh was chosen to be the costume designer for the film, which mainly was of modern fashion, since the story has the lead characters who are from the states. Bipin Chandran has done the additional scripting for the film, acclaimed editor Don Max who has been the editor for many popular films was chosen to be the editor, the production controller is Alex E. Kurian along with Rajesh Menon being the production executive and the chief associate director is Linu Antony.^[6]

Casting

Initially many actresses were considered such as Isha Talwar the Thattathin Marayathu fame. As per initial reports theatre artist Aparna Gopinath would play a prominent role in the movie, not playing the heroine but a character who appears throughout the story. Aparna Gopinath has associated herself with ‘Koothu-P-Pattarai’, an avant-garde theatre movement of Chennai, and had also acted in renowned plays like ‘Six Characters in Search of an Author’, ‘Woyzeck’, ‘Moonshine’, ‘Sky Toffee’, ‘Sangadi Arinjo’ based on seven short stories of Vaikkom Muhhammad Basheer and several Shakespearean plays and was also part many dance workshops before her acting debut with this film.^[7][8] After Ustad Hotel, Dulquer plays another non-resident Indian Malayali, which was indeed challenging for him, as he wanted the character to look different from the earlier one. Aparna Gopinath plays Madhumita, the female lead. Madhumitha befriends the two youngsters at a certain stage in the narrative.^[9] Jacob Gregory plays the character of spunky Korah. Korah dresses in hip hop clothing favoured by African American youth, complete with bling, baseball cap and Afro haircut. A mutual friend of Martin Prakkat and Gregory suggested his name to Martin when the director was on the lookout for someone to play the lead along with Dulquer Salmaan. Jacob Gregory auditioned for the role and had been in Kerala for two months. Martin Prakkat had trained Jacob Gregory for the film in his own home and introduced him to the ways of Mollywood. Jacob Gregory had been part of the film from the scripting process itself.^[10]

Filming

The pooja for the film was held on October 17, 2012 at IMA HALL near Kalloor Stadium Kochi and the shoot of the film started on October 18, 2012 at Kochi.^[11] The shooting was announced to start in March 2013 in U.S and the rest was shot in Kerala.^[5] Acclaimed cinematographer Jomon T. John is the director of photography in the film. New York was the main location for the scenes shot in America. The cinematography has an eye for detail and the visuals are just vibrant. With most of our theatres now being converted to 2K projection, the audience will get to see the beauty in its original work. Photographer-turned-director Martin's directorial debut, Best Actor also brought out colourful visuals and Jomon's previous works, Beautiful, Thattathin Marayathu and Ayalum Njanum Thammil, have already earned him the distinction of being the most popular Director of Photography in the industry in 2011-2012. There were a few scenes that had to be canned in the USA. They saw some really big houses in San Francisco but director Martin Prakkat was just not satisfied. He had something even grander in his mind and the search took him to Chicago, which had an amazing touch.^[12] The shooting for college scenes were inside the Federal Institute of Science And Technology (FISAT) campus near Angamaly, with Dulquer Salmaan and Jacob Gregory facing the camera, along with a group of newcomers. The filming a few ‘montage cuts’ that will be shown in between the songs were shot at the college. The two lead actors are seen planting a sapling amidst encouragement from a group of students and a couple of teachers. The original plan was to start the shooting of the film in the U.S. but that had to be changed after it became difficult to get the required permission and the visas. So the schedules were altered and the scenes in Kerala are wrapped up first. The Photographic stills are by Anoop Chacko.^[9] The shooting of the scenes in New York began on May 15, 2013 and the cast and crew wrapped up shoot on June 3, 2013.

Critical reception

Unni R Nair of Kerala9 stated that the movie is a "confused mess to an extent" and was "not up to the mark", but gave 3.5 stars in a scale of 5.^[13] Sudheer Shah, writing for IndiaGlitz, awarded the movie 6.5 stars out of 10, concluding that "ABCD is one movie that must not be taken with any bit of seriousness." and that "If you have a few hours to laugh out for simple jokes that are not that intelligent, this is your movie."^[14] Shekhar of OneIndia gave the movie 3/5 stars, called the movie "a wonderful comedy entertainer, which has an interesting story" and said that "If you are comedy lover, don't miss to watch this film."^[15] Aswin J Kumar of The Times of India wrote that the movie is "watchable for the chemistry between Johns and Kora", giving it 3 stars.^[16] Rahul of Metro Matinee rated the movie as Entertaining, while stating that "it entertains in full throttle, asks the right questions and provides moments of emotional ecstasy and angst, all of which is part and parcel of a feel good movie."^[17] Paresh C Palicha of Rediff awarded the movie 2.5 stars, and wrote that the movie "is a showcase for Dulquer Salmaan; nothing more, nothing less."^[18]

Soundtrack

The music of the film is from Gopi Sundar. The soundtrack features a remixed version of the song "Nayaapaisayilla" sung by Mehaboob for the 1960 film Neelisally. This version will be sung by Junior Mehaboob.^[19] The movie also features Anna Kathrina Valayil.

References

External links

• Official website
• ABCD at the Internet Movie Database