entertaining movie that falls short of being the movie that it could've been, but i must applaud the effort. of the three "indian americans growing up" stories (american chai, american desi, abcd), i would rank this in the middle. though chai may have had the best cinematography, the low budget american desi was still the most entertaining. if there were a more charismatic hero chosen than aalok mehta to play sureel, the film as well as the relationship between him and the drop-dead gorgeous sheethal sheth would have been not only more compelling but infinitely more believable. though i must concede that the recurring theme "all things indian are not bad" was well developed, especially in its culmination when ajay naidu's character took in a drunk sureel and let him see what he was all about. good try.

I really enjoyed this movie a lot. It may be a low budget, first-time effort but I came away with a sense of exhilaration that few movies have provided lately. The story of an Indian-American college student at "Jersey University" gives an insight into the Indian culture that can be compared to any other race. Typical parent-child disagreements are highlighted hilariously many times in the film. Aalok Mehta plays a musician pretending to be a pre-med major. His acting is good & his musical talents are even better. Sheetal Sheth plays his love interest. She is a very pretty, very capable actress who lights up the screen. The rest of the cast performs very well. It is part comedy. part musical, part Indian, part American, but all fun ! Director Anurag Mehta ( Aalok's brother ) shows enormous talent & potential. I am looking forward to the Mehta Brothers' next project. I just hope this movie gets to reach a big enough audience so it can get the credit it deserves. I strongly recommend it to movie lovers of all ages and nationalities.

WHAT!? I cannot believe someone wrote this thing and I can't believe someone paid money to have it made! The most predictable movie EVER. I can't believe after all the bad movies in the history of film, someone would still be writing this cheese. The Mehta's get respect for effort and actually getting to make the film, but I feel bad for the poor representation of Indian-Americans. It's your classic tradition versus modern tale, but this time with Indian-Americans and music. Bad jokes, horrendous stereotypes, plain bad acting, save me! Take away the dirty jokes and you have something that would most fittingly be called an "after-school special from 1991."

"American Chai" is a good effort by first time director Anurag Mehta. He also wrote the screenplay, which is OK, but not noteworthy in any way. There's nothing new to the story, a boy pursuing his dream of becoming a musician, even though his father wants him to be a doctor. The value of the film lies in the other conflict, between cultures. The American born son, Sureel, is all American, whereas the father still adheres to many Indian traditions. The film provides a tiny glimpse into this American/Indian culture.Aalok Mehta, Anurag's real life brother, plays Sureel. To put it mildly, I think his acting leaves a lot to be desired. He's not alone in this regard. Aside from Paresh Rawal, who plays the father, most of the performances were merely adequate. This is not surprising, in that, Rawal is an accomplished performer in India.The music was good, and I think Aalok has a future there, but otherwise, this is just a run-of-mill movie.