''Hyderabad Blues'' is a 1998 Indian

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

written, directed, and produced by

Nagesh Kukunoor Nagesh Kukunoor (born 30 March 1967) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter and actor known for his works predominantly in Hindi cinema, and few Telugu language films. He is known for his works in parallel cinema, such as ''Hyderab ...

. Primarily shot in the English language, the film explores culture clash from an

Indian American Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...

's perspective, vacationing back home in

Hyderabad, India Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the '' de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern In ...

and finding himself a foreigner in his own land. The film starred non-mainstream actors, including Kukunoor in his directorial and acting debut, as well as his family members and friends. The film heralded new age Indian independent cinema. Hyderabad Blues was premiered at the

Eros International Eros International Media Ltd (also known as Eros India) is an Indian motion picture production and distribution company, based and originated in Mumbai, India. Founded by Arjun Lulla in 1977, it is one of the leading production and distributi ...

Mini Theatre, Mumbai; the

Denver Film Festival The Denver Film Festival is held in November, primarily at the Denver Film Center/Colfax, in Denver, Colorado, now the Anna and John J. Sie FilmCenter (Sie FilmCenter). Premiere events are held in the Buell Theatre and Ellie Caulkins Opera House ...

, the "View From Abroad" section of the First MAMI Film Festival; as well as the National Centre for the Performing Arts in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. It was premiered as a three part television series in

Doordarshan Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...

. Hyderabad Blues garnered the "Audience Award for best film" at the Peachtree International Film Festival in Atlanta, as well as the

Rhode Island International Film Festival Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) takes place every year in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island as well as satellite locations throughout the state. History Started in 1997, the Festival is produced by Flickers, the ...

. In 2018, Hyderabad Blues, celebrated its 20th anniversary with a special screening in

by "Drishyam Films" where it was featured in the "Indie Film Masters" edition. Hyderabad Blues was followed up by its direct sequel

Hyderabad Blues 2 ''Hyderabad Blues 2'' is a 2004 Indian drama film written, directed by Nagesh Kukunoor. The film is a direct sequel to Kukunoor's earlier work ''Hyderabad Blues'' produced by Kukunoor, Devika Bahudhanam, and Elahe Hiptoola. Kukunoor for his portr ...

which was released in 2004.

Plot

The protagonist of ''Hyderabad Blues'' is Varun, played by the director, Nagesh Kukunoor. The movie revolves around his visit to his homeland after 12 years in the USA and his resulting

culture shock Culture shock is an experience a person may have when one moves to a cultural environment which is different from one's own; it is also the personal disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration ...

. The movie is a

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

, following Varun's attempts to romance an Indian doctor and balance the local customs of

arranged marriage Arranged marriage is a type of marital union where the bride and groom are primarily selected by individuals other than the couple themselves, particularly by family members such as the parents. In some cultures a professional matchmaker may be us ...

with the Western tradition of

dating Dating is a stage of romantic relationships in which two individuals engage in an activity together, most often with the intention of evaluating each other's suitability as a partner in a future intimate relationship. It falls into the categor ...

. The dialogue is primarily in English and

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 ...

, with some

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 de ...

spoken as well.

Cast

as Varun Naidu * Rajashree as Ashwini Rao *

Elahe Hiptoola Elahe Hiptoola is an Indian film producer and former actress. Her credits include producer of ''3 Deewarein'', ''Hyderabad Blues 2'', ''Iqbal'', '' Dor'', and '' Dhanak''. Early life Elahe Hiptoola was born in Mumbai and resides in Hyderabad. C ...

as Seema Rao *Vikram Inamdar as Sanjeev Rao *Anoop Ratnaker Rao as Harish Chandani *D V Ramana as Darshan Naidu *Revathi Alwar as Kusuma Naidu *Anne Chengappa as Shashi Naidu *Zain-Ul-Wara Zaheer as Sandhya *Vidhya Uthappa as Woman riding scooter

Production

In producing the movie, Nagesh Kukunoor invested the money he made from his engineering career in the United States. It was made on a shoe-string budget of

Rs. Rupee is the common name for the currencies of India, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, and of former currencies of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates (as the Gulf rupee), British East Africa, B ...

1.7 million (roughly equivalent to U.S. $ 40,000) and shot in 17 days entirely in Hyderabad, India.

Release

The film performed well commercially.

References

External links

* {{Nagesh Kukunoor, state=collapsed 1998 films Films set in Hyderabad, India Indian drama films Films about Indian Americans English-language Indian films Films about immigration to the United States Indian independent films 1990s Telugu-language films 1990s Hindi-language films Asian-American drama films 1998 directorial debut films Films directed by Nagesh Kukunoor 1998 independent films Hindi-language drama films 1990s English-language films 1990s Indian films