| Flavors | |
| Director: | Raj and DK |
| Producer: | Anupam Mittal Raj and DK |
| Starring: | Reef Karim Anjan Srivastav Bharati Achrekar Pooja Kumar Rishma Malik Anupam Mittal Jicky Schnee Sireesha Katragadd |
| Music: | Songs: Lesle Lewis Score: Mahesh Shankar |
| Cinematography: | David Isern |
| Editing: | Frank Reynolds |
| Runtime: | 118 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English Hindi Telugu[1] |
Flavors is a 2003 romantic comedy film written and directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D.K., concerning Indian immigrants in America.
Flavors tells the stories of 13 different main characters in four parallel story lines.
The marriage of NRI Rad (Anupam Mittal) to his American fiancée Jenni (Jicky Schnee) brings his Hindi-speaking parents (Anjan Srivastav and Bharati Achrekar) to the US where they quickly adapt to American ways.
Meanwhile, Kartik (Reef Karim), tries to maintain a long-distance relationship with his friend Rachna (Pooja Kumar) while her aunt (Sangeet Sharma) tries to set her up with a well educated man Ramana (Manan Katohara).
A bored housewife Sangita (Sireesha Katragadda) is neglected by her workaholic husband Nikhil (Gaurang Vyas). She calls her Telugu-speaking mother and spends her time doing household chores. Unbeknownst to her, Sangita's husband lost her job and been laid off a while back but was too embarrassed to tell her.
Candy (Rishma Malik) has to deal with her roommates Vivek (Gaurav Rawal), Ashok (Punit Jasuja) and Jas (Gaurav Rawal). Vivek who is depressed after he lost his job and learns that his lover from India, Gita, has already got married with someone else.
How all these characters convene at Rad and Jenni's marriage form the rest of the story.
The directors Raj and DK play stars on the make believe soap opera Love Pyar Etc.
Flavors was an official selection at the Cairo International Film Festival, the Hamptons International Film Festival, the Milan Film Festival, the Hawaii International Film Festival, the Bangkok International Film Festival, the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Asian American International Film Festival and the Mumbai Film Festival.
Flavors received mostly positive reviews form critics. Vivek Kumar of Rediff said that "Filmmaking is all about captivating your audience; it is the business of filmmaking and Flavors succeeds in this business venture."[2] Screen called it "innovative" and "entertaining"[3] while Dave Kehr of The New York Times termed it "bright, good-spirited and blissfully short".[4]
In India, Flavors averaged per print and was the second top grosser in metro theatres for its opening week behind Vaastu Shastra.[3] In the US, the film grossed around $150,000 on 14 screens.[5]
For their work on Flavors, Nidimoru and Krishna DK received a nomination for Best Emerging Directors at the Asian American International Film Festival in New York. The film also won the President Award at the 2003 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. Pooja Kumar received the Screen Actors Guild Emerging Actor Award for her performance.[6]