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American Desi set to gross $ 1 mn

Arthur J Pais

"Get out of the business of predicting the box-office," a friend told Gitesh Pandya last week. "You cannot even predict your own movie's fate."

By any reckoning, Pandya is one of the most visible and best known of movie forecasters in America. Apart from his Boxofficeguru.com, he is often interviewed by CNN, Fox TV and USA Today for his expert opinion about the box-office potential of mainstream movies.

When American Desi, a film co-produced by him and directed by older brother Piyush was about to be released, Pandya told his friends he was expecting the film to gross about $ 200,000.

It grossed over $ 310,000 in its first weekend.

The second week, he thought the movie would fall off by about 40 per cent. The spring break was over, and the young crowd that had given it a standing ovation at many screenings, was back in schools and colleges.

Pandya was wrong again.

The movie, a campus comedy, made about $ 282,000 last weekend, a mere 8 per cent decline from the first weekend. It has grossed about $ 662,000 in 10 days, comparing very well with Taal that had grossed about $ 1 million for the same period. But then remember Taal was an expensive film. American Desi, made for about $ 250,000, will surely be profitable the coming weekend. If the movie continues at its current pace, it will gross over $ 1 million. Taal grossed about $2 million.

"The word of mouth has been very strong for our film," Pandya says. He doesn't, of course, admit that he gave far lower box-office figures than his expectations because he did not want to fall flat on his face. The film has done far beyond the expectations of everyone connected with it.

He also says that in several theaters in New York and Los Angeles, non-Asians are seeing the film. A review in The Wall Street Journal has definitely helped, he believes.

While The New York Times, New York Post and many other newspapers roasted the film, calling it shallow and insensitive, the Journal was more than pleased with the film.

The first week, if at all you saw non-South Asians it was because their desi friends pulled them along. But now the mainstream audiences are coming by themselves.

'The writer-director, Piyush Dinker Pandya, takes on more than any first feature could reasonably sustain,' the Journal noted. 'Action, slapstick, eclectic music from David Bowie to Hindi hip-hop -- though he handles much of it with impressive skill.

'Mr Pandya tells a story of conflicted assimilation that's been told before, but he and his exuberant cast invest it with fresh energy and winning humor,' the Journal added. 'American Desi is a strong beginning and a welcome arrival.'

Pandya says many people are returning to his movie because they missed many jokes the first time.

"They are coming back for the comedy," he says, adding that it has also emerged as a very good date movie.

The film is being shown on 37 screens. Pandya expects several new cities including Miami and Charlotte to be added in the coming weeks. (http://www.americandesimovie.com/Theaters)

"The enthusiasm for the movie is infectious," he says. "It is going to be around for a long time."

C V Raghav contributed to the report.

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