Manish Acharya's Loins of Punjab Presents heralds the entry of another filmmaker to the world of Indian crossover cinema. Like many of its genre, it does deal with the NRI residing in the US post 9/11, but it does it with a bit of innovation. The masterpiece out here is the script and screenplay.

Debutant Acharya manages to bring a bunch of NRI ‘Desis' together under the premise of the Desi Idol contest, modeled on the popular Indian Idol show. It is a local singing contest organized for the Bollywood crazy in New Jersey. So yes, we do have the stereotype ‘desi' immigrant but it still manages to make for a good laugh. The ending of the film is of course an inspired ending. A coup of sorts!

The participants and the organizers of this Desi Idol show gather together at a suburban hotel for a chaotic weekend. Debutant director Acharya's film is peopled with really strange desis beginning with Bokade, the shady event manager, to the Bhangra rap singer, or the khakra-chewing Patel clan or even the American-Indian with Bollywood aspirations. The director, who himself seems to be suffering from a massive Bollywood fixation, makes an entry as well as an analyst whose job has been outsourced to India. He even breaks out into a romantic number on the night of the contest. Last but not the least is Shabana Azmi, as the scheming, publicity hungry socialite.

The director lays out the foibles and idiosyncracies of all the characters very well in the first half of the movie. The second half moves on directly to the contest itself. The film takes potshots at Indians and their hang-up regarding their colour, their cast and their food. The Patels drive all mad with their insistence on vegetarian ‘snakes.' Racism is just as strong in India as it is abroad. The in-built racism in the Indian psyche comes out really strongly in the scenes between Ayesha Dharker and her firangi boyfriend, who is in love with all things desi.

The film has been structured very interestingly. The entire idea of a Indian Idol show and a film on that is novel in itself. And then to have the show located in New Jersey for the NRI Indians adds some spice to the proceedings. Besides the obviously funny moments, the film also has a certain amount of emotion built into it. The most stirring scene being when the Indian national anthem is rendered by the white American, who wanted to sing a song from a Gulzar film, and this was the only other song he knew. Needless to say that he won the contest hands down, by popular demand. The Page 3 socialite's machinations fail and her own plan backfires on her. In her bid to win the contest and bag the $ 25,000 prize, which she would then have magnanimously donated to a charity so as not to let rival Bubbles Sabharwal grab the limelight.

Technically, the film reveals its shoe string budget, especially in the manner in which certain scenes are shot. But what redeems the film and takes it beyond these technical glitches are the script and the actors.

Jameel Khan as the shady event manager is a delight to watch. He displays superb timing and has a wonderfully expressive face. He is definitely the ‘discovery' of the film. Darshan Jariwala is also quite comical as Mr Patel who lands up at the contest with his entire clan to support his daughter. Giving him good support are Seema Rahmani and Ajay Naidu.

And last but not the least, Shabana Azmi. The promos were a little deceiving. The actress has a very tiny role in the movie but she excels as the scheming Mrs Kapoor. She is like a maestro and plays it really cool. The most fascinating scene is when she is sitting with Priti Patel, one of the contestants and she tries her best to manipulate her but finds that the young girl turns the tables on her. She is remarkable in that scene. But yes, one would have loved to see more of her in the film.

Loins of Punjab Presents is a worthy debut venture for Manish Acharya. He has shown that he has wit, intelligence, oodles of humour and the ability to be innovative. If not exactly a laugh-athon, the film is definitely worth a lot of laughs. Should crack you up.