''ABCD: American Born Confused Desi'' is an Indian
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
-language
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
film directed by
Sanjeev Reddy
Sanjeev Reddy is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter.
Career
Sanjeev Reddy made his directional debut with ''Login'', which is based on cybercrimes and its effects on netizens. ''The Times of India'' in its review wrote: "Re ...
and produced by
Madhura Sreedhar Reddy
Madhura Sreedhar Reddy is an Indian film director, producer, and distributor who works in Telugu cinema. He started his film career by music label Madhura Audio and eventually turned as a director with the film Sneha Geetham in 2010.
Reddy als ...
. The film stars
Allu Sirish
Allu Sirish (born 30 May 1987) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Telugu films. He debuted as a lead actor with '' Gouravam'' (2013) and later went on to appear in films such as ''Kotha Janta'' (2014), ''Srirastu Subhamastu'' (2016), ...
and
Rukshar Dhillon
Rukshar Dhillon (born 12 October 1993) is an actress based in India who primarily works in Telugu films. Dhillon was born in London and brought up in India. She made her debut in 2016 with the Kannada '' Run Antony.'' She went on to star in Telu ...
. The phrase
American-Born Confused Desi
"American-Born Confused Desi" ("ABCD") is an informal term used to refer to South Asian Americans particularly of Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin, born or raised in the United States, in contrast to those who were born overseas and later s ...
describes Indians born in America, who have difficulty in balancing their ethnic culture within the majority non-Indian American culture. The film is a remake of the
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...
film of
the same name starring Dulquer Salmaan and was released on 17 May 2019.
Plot
The story revolves around two spoiled youngsters, Aravind and his cousin Bhasha. Avi is the son of a millionaire who is settled in New York, while Bhasha's mother left for Paris with her new husband. Aravind and Bhasha enjoy their luxurious life by driving expensive cars, going to pubs, etc. Avi's father decides to send them to India, telling them it is a vacation, but then blocks their credit cards, forcing them to live in poverty in Andhra Pradesh, where they eventually become famous. Aravind and Bhasha try to stay at a hotel, unaware that their credit cards have been blocked, but are soon aware of this fact and try to escape from the hotel to avoid paying. However, they are caught by the hotel manager, who confiscates their visas until they are able to pay. Avi and Bhasha are given very poor accommodations by Avi's father. They try to make money by trading fake bills but are duped.
Both Avi and Bhasha join a college to finish their MBA (which was forced to do by Avi's father). Later in the college, he meets Neha and Avi falls in love with her. After a series of events, Neha too reciprocates her feelings towards Avi. Aravind inadvertently becomes a candidate for the Mr. Fame award, and realizes that he can return to America by winning the award and receiving the prize money (500,000 rupees). Bhasha and Avi participate in a protest to increase their popularity, but the event ends up in police lathi charge. Although the event increases the popularity of Aravind and Bhasha, it also draws the attention of Bhargav, another Mr. Fame candidate and the son of a minister, who tries to break up the protest through violent means. Amidst the violence, Aravind is finally able to understand and sympathize with the struggles that people born into poverty experience. Avi wins the Mr. Fame award, but confesses the motives behind his actions onstage. Aravind chooses to stay in India and complete his degree.
Cast
*
Allu Sirish
Allu Sirish (born 30 May 1987) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Telugu films. He debuted as a lead actor with '' Gouravam'' (2013) and later went on to appear in films such as ''Kotha Janta'' (2014), ''Srirastu Subhamastu'' (2016), ...
as Aravind Prasad
''Avi''
*
Rukshar Dhillon
Rukshar Dhillon (born 12 October 1993) is an actress based in India who primarily works in Telugu films. Dhillon was born in London and brought up in India. She made her debut in 2016 with the Kannada '' Run Antony.'' She went on to star in Telu ...
as Neha
*
Raja Chembolu as Lanka Barghav
*
Nagendra Babu as Aravind's father
*
Kalyani Natarajan
Kalyani Natarajan is an Indian actress who has appeared in Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi-language films. She played prominent roles in '' Saivam'' (2014), '' Pisaasu'' (2014) and ''Mahanubhavudu'' (2017).
Career
Kalyani had an interest in theatre ...
as Aravind's mother
*
Vennela Kishore
Bokkala Kishore Kumar (born 19 September 1977), known professionally as Vennela Kishore, is an Indian actor and director who works in Telugu-language films. Known for his comic roles, he was given the moniker "Vennela" after his first feature f ...
as Kishore
*
Master Bharath as Bala Shanmugam "Bhasha"
*
Kota Srinivasa Rao
Kota Srinivasa Rao (born 10 July 1942) is an Indian character actor known for his work primarily in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He has also starred in a few films in Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam. As a former politician, Rao has ...
as Koteswara
*
Subhalekha Sudhakar as Barghav's father
*
Dammu Devena as Devena
*
Viva Harsha
Harsha Chemudu (born 31 August 1990), popularly known as "Viva" Harsha, is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Telugu films. He started his acting career with the viral web series "Viva" on YouTube with which he came to be known as "Viva ...
as Santosh
*
Samba as News Reader
*
Appaji Ambarisha as Principal
Production
Geeta arts
Soundtrack
The soundtrack of the film was composed by Judah Sandhy and lyrics by Bhaskarabhatla, Krishna Kanth and Tirupathi Jaavana.
Release and marketing
The film was theatrically released on 17 May 2019. The film was also dubbed in
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
and directly premiered by Goldmines Telefilms on Dhinchaak on 20 February 2021.
Critical reception
The film received mostly negative reviews criticising the performances and lack of a story and screenplay.
References
External links
*
2019 films
2010s Telugu-language films
Indian comedy films
Telugu remakes of Malayalam films
2019 comedy films
{{2010s-Telugu-film-stub