ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi (2013) User Reviews

Novel & Comedic Approach On Current Affairs. ♦ 83%

[nairtejas · 8/10 · 12 July 2013]

ABCD gives out a bad impression from its posters and trailer. But, it has more than meets the eye and I am transfixed with the base, the story and the plot.

Starting with the two lead brats, it goes on to tell you the tale of how they manage their lives in Kerala, India after being born and brought up in New York. What is surprising is that every thing they do is unpredictable. The viewers will predict something else and the next sequence will totally be different. That is the charm of ABCD in the first half. Second half takes a narrow political turn, but is funnier as well. Both halves wonderfully frame the current affairs in Kerala and how the people there need only an inkling to create brouhaha.

Performances are great. Jacob Gregory pulls it off very well and he is the funnier guy. Dulquer Salman acts over-cool, but he's okay. Lalu Alex is very sharp while the lead actress has equivocal stances. Music is catchy & apt but I have heard many of the tunes before. Score is inventive. Editing is fine, so is the direction.

The running time of 170 minutes makes us question the intentions of the makers, and with the climax so cold, it felt like it ended abruptly. I had expected a more unconventional turn of twists. But, overall, ABCD scores!

BOTTOM LINE: Fresh writing delivers chewable entertainment stuff.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Profanity: Strong | Nudity/Sex: No | Vulgarity: Mild | Violence: Strong | Gore: No | Smoking: Mild | Alcohol: Strong | Drugs: No

ABCD( American Born Confused Desi ) : so am I Confused!!

[jijoijk · 6/10 · 27 June 2013]

ABCD is a movie set in a new premise and narrates a fresh story. It starts off well but loses its focus n clarity post the 1st half. ABCD is the story of a a young man Johns living his luxurious youth life in New York. Certain situations in his and his buddy Korah's life lands them up in India and they are forced not to go back. Why and what they do next is the movie..

ABCD becomes less engaging and slow post interval. Though the climax comes as a relief for the audience, by then we would have already been wondering why this isn't over yet.

ABCD has very few scenes that makes us laugh. But they seem isolated and artificial in the narrative. Johns and Korah's situation in Kerala was not well exploited in the script and that results in the dullness of the movie. The script, the characters should have been much more smarter, crisp and engaging. Then this would have been too good. ABCD falls short of what it could have been.

Performance wise Dulquer needs some polishing in the acting department. Jacob Gregory manages off well. Tovino's debut is not bad. Aparna Nair did her part smooth and nice. But apart from all these,, the show stealer was Gopi sunder with the Background Score. Loved the way he used the windows and apple tunes in a fun scene. Though there are certain scenes without any dialogues BG score makes us laugh giving the scenes a comedy touch. Thumbs up for him (y)

Go in without any expectations for ABCD. If you are a dulquer fan, may be you will like this.

2 spoiled men learn about India

[theparent · 8/10 · 9 February 2020]

ABCD refers to South Asian Americans born and raised in the USA, in contrast to those who were born overseas and later settled in the USA.

Two spoiled young men: Johns, son of a billionaire, and his cousin Korah, whose mother left for Paris with her new husband, enjoy their luxurious life in NYC. After a disco fight, Johns's dad sends the boys to India for safety, telling them it's a vacation. But Dad blocks their credit cards, by which they must live and attend college through poverty. They tell their college mates they opted for this lifestyle to learn about their motherland. Their made up story gives them celebrity status and they become famous.

Best Movie ever in Malayalam

[YadhuDeHosure · 10/10 · 24 October 2015]

I had started this movie almost with no expectations since I had seen many political scenes involved in preview. Then the BGM fixed me to the seat. The story was fresh and made us wonder how better can it get,I was not a DQ fan, but this made me a die- hard one. About the acting DQ had done a very role of a playboy-Brat- type and Aparna as a matured-responsible- one. The script is brilliant . This movie showed a satirical part of politics in Kerala. Honestly speaking I had watched around 80 times and still didn't get bored . I'm sure everyone will just love this movie full of life and Zest . They should take more movies like this.

Confused title says it all

[divyakurian · 5/10 · 30 December 2018]

I thought it would be a good movie but it didn't appeal. Two rich spoilt brat are sent to Kerala to stay with minimum money by which they can sustain and learn something useful. But at the end it didn't make much of a difference and some things were unreal so didn't stand out. Lalu Alex is a legend actor and his performance is always great. Korah was funny. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this movie.

Loud but amusing .....

[PimpinAinttEasy · 4/10 · 7 February 2017]

This film appears on TV all the time. It is apparently very popular among Kerala's youth. I found it to be a mostly loud but also amusing and watchable.

Two spoilt yuppie NRI's arrive in Kerala and are put to a test by their rich father to see whether they can survive like poor Malayalis do. His intention is to teach them the value of money and hard work. They bumble along and some of their antics were quite funny.

Dulqer is not much of a comedian but then these are still early days in his budding career. Jacob Gregory's performance must have been made in the editing room. Aparna Gopinath with her pseudo intellectual look was annoying as always.

The plot reminded me of some of the 90's films starring Jayram like Witness, Nagarangalil Chennu Raaparkaam and Varnam. All of these films involve two unemployed youths trying hard to get by.

Martin Parakkat the director later went on to make the insufferable Charlie.