Happy Hour: Raising a Toast to South Asian American Stories and Representation in Cinema

- On the sidelines of the Tribeca Film Festival, separate parties were hosted to celebrate the two films that made the lineup.

Ravi Kapoor, the director of âFour Samosas,â says his film is âabout finding your people, finding your village.â So, while working on it, he stuck to his âvillage,â and found the people who he loves to work with, and people who support his work.

That love and support were in full display on June 10 at a late-night party at the trendy Baar Baar restaurant in New York, to celebrate the world premiere of Kapoorâs film and its ensemble South Asian American cast at the Tribeca Film Festival. With a champagne flute in their hands, members of the film fraternity raised a toast to the film, its cast and crew, and of course to South Asian talent and representation across industries. The room was packed beyond capacity with both industry vets and newbies, as well as filmmakers, producers, and publicists.
The cast and crew of âFour Samosasâ walked the red carpet as they posed for the cameras and gave interviews to the desi press. Their peers and supporters also walked the red carpet, gushing about the film.

âFour Samosasâ stars Venk Potula, Sonal Shah, Sharmita Bhattacharya, Nirvan Patnaik, Karan Soni, Meera Simhan, Summer Bishil, Sujata Day, Smarat Chakraborti, and Sreejit Nair, among others.
The plot of the film revolves around the âhappy-go-lucky, underachieving, wanna-be rapper Vinny (Potula), who is dismayed to learn that his favorite ex-girlfriend Rina (Bishil) is planning to marry his smarmy arch-nemesis. Determined to disrupt the wedding as well as fund the dreams of his family and friends, he and his band of neighborhood pals concoct a plan to steal Rinaâs dowry jewels from her fatherâs supermarket safe. Tribeca describes it as a âlighthearted and engaging film, which is âa feel-good love letter to Indian American culture and norms in this tale of putting it all on the line in the name of love.â
The event was organized by Jitin Hingorani, CEO of Jingo Media, the PR & Marketing firm representing âFour Samosas,â and âComing Out With The Help Of A Time Machine,â at the festival. âSouth Asian representation at a mainstream festival like Tribeca has never been more relevant,â Hingorani told American Kahani. âWe jumped on the opportunity to celebrate these milestones and gather the community to generate much-deserved buzz about universal stories captured through the South Asian lens.â

The following day, many gathered at Hingoraniâs second event at Michelin star chef Vikas Khannaâs New York home to celebrate âComing Out.â It was a perfect evening for the rooftop venue as the filmâs cast and crew mingled with others from the film fraternity to celebrate the filmâs success.
Khanna lauded the actors and director Naman Gupta for making a poignant film on a socially relevant subject. Also in attendance was Bollywood actor and philanthropist Vivek Oberoi. He said âComing Outâ could teach parents dealing with the coming out of their kids to operate âmore from the heart, more from the place of love,â with their children, ârather than a place of judgment, or the fear of being judged.â

(Photo credit Sachin Mital Photography)
âComing Outâ tells the story of Sid, (Karan Soni), who, when coming out to his traditional Indian parents, uses his time machine to reset the day in an attempt to make sure everything goes perfectly.
Gupta is currently developing a TV series based on the film, he announced at the event and said the one-hour drama series will be a uniquely South Asian sci-fi drama.