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This isn’t one of those documentaries that’s going to change the world or our understanding of it, although the insights into Indian culture are fascinating. REASONS TO GO: Clever combination of documentary and rom-com. Fresh out of a breakup with his American girlfriend and freaked out that he’s almost 30 and single, Indian American Ravi Patel goes on a family vacation to India with his head and heart spinning. Nothing seems to work. Ravi’s two year relationship with pretty red head (and completely Caucasian) Audrey Wauchope has just ended; he was so hung up on his parents approval that he never told them that he was dating an American girl, fearing that they wouldn’t accept her. With that, Meet the Patels is a journey of self-discovery, but it’s not Ravi’s alone. The interludes illustrated with simple black-and-white drawings work brilliantly to convey the emotional intent behind such moments while preserving the family’s privacy.

Still, even he seems baffled by the barely discernible nuances between Patels and their respective territories when his father explains it all to him, map in hand. It’s his parents’, his sister’s—it’s the journey of anyone who’s ever felt pressured to settle down, to accept tradition and one’s lot in life, and to try to find happiness within those boundaries.

His sister Geeta tags along to record everything, as she has from the beginning. However, having parents that exasperate their children (and vice versa) is pretty much universal and the love and affection in this family is clearly universal. Except my family was with me the entire time…The entire time.”. Part home movie, and part romantic comedy, Meet the Patels is a documentary crafted by brother-sister team Ravi V. Patel and Geeta V. Patel. NEXT: A Faster Horse. He goes to a Patel convention (apparently that’s a thing) and does a speed-dating thing there. ComingSoon.net is a property of Mandatory, an Evolve Media, LLC company. However, it is the kind of movie that will put a smile on your face and remind you that there is nothing better in this life than your family, however you chose to define it. She’s older than Ravi, and also single, but she claims her parents have given up on her, so her perspective as the sibling free of such pressure and familial scrutiny is vital to fully grasping Ravi’s situation. ( Log Out /  The screening I attended at the South Asian Film Festival in Orlando was largely attended by Indian families who laughed loudly at some of the cultural things (like parents calling multiple times during a date) that American audiences might not get. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. (2015) Documentary (Alchemy) Ravi Patel, Geeta Patel, Champa V. Patel, Vasant K. Patel, Meredith Philpott, Audrey Allison Wauchope. Next, we follow Ravi on his dating frenzy, in which his parents put their networking skills into overdrive. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. He is set up on Biodata, a matchmaking website aimed at Indians. This is as much a family home movie as it is a documentary and a romantic comedy as much as it is a home movie. Early in the film, Ravi calls out Geeta’s lack of cinematography skills, pointing out where the microphone drops into the upper corners of the frame, or her questionable focus, or her shaky hand-held shots.

Ravi is desperate to find love and is willing to do whatever it takes. In lighthearted voiceover (which runs throughout the film), Ravi likens his now-existential trip to find himself to Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir, Eat, Pray, Love: “I was that girl. The crux of the film lies within Ravi’s (and, it’s implied, many Indian Americans’) life crisis: The former investment banker-turned-actor/comedian is nearly 30 and still single, which sends him—and his traditional Indian mom and dad, Champa and Vasant—into panic mode. “Meet the Patels,” a documentary directed by first-generation Indian-American siblings Geeta V. Patel and Ravi V. Patel, is often riotously funny. During the India trip, and in meeting with his extended family, Ravi decides to do whatever it takes to find a wife.

Ravi admits that the tradition is weird, yet totally normal to first-generation Indian Americans like himself.

Ravi wants to find love, pronto, so he and his sister Geeta document his search, touching upon universal themes of family and cultural appropriation despite the specifically personal nature of their narrative. In essence, Ravi seems to be looking for a female version of himself—or he’s looking for another Audrey. CRITICAL MASS: As of 10/7/15: Rotten Tomatoes: 83% positive reviews. With each date, Ravi can’t help but compare the women to his ex-girlfriend, which leads to some very raw interactions between Ravi and his parents. And Champa, a well-regarded matchmaker within her community, is dismayed that both of her children aren’t yet married: She has her pride and her personal reputation at stake. FAMILY VALUES: A few mildly dirty words and thematic content. MPAA Rating:PG (for thematic elements, brief suggestive images and incidental smoking), Screenwriters:Matthew Hamachek, Billy McMillin, Geeta V. Patel, Ravi V. Patel, Starring:Ravi V. Patel, Geeta V. Patel, Champa V. Patel, Vasant K. Patel, Audrey Alison Wauchope. But something revelatory happens during the course of Meet the Patels: We watch as a family learns to communicate, honestly, with each other. The film begins with a breakup between Ravi and his red-headed American girlfriend, Audrey, who he’d been dating for a couple years, keeping her secret from his parents the whole time. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Though he’s reeling and depressed after the end of his first real relationship, he travels with his parents and sister on their annual vacation to India.

She also inserts herself into the film when necessary, often heard but not seen. Struck with how overwhelmingly happy the marriages are of his Patel family and friends, and with the help of his legendary matchmaker mother and life advice spouting father, Ravi decides to embark on a worldwide search for another American Patel just like him. This is a family everyone is going to be charmed by.

REASONS TO STAY: Gets a little bit monotonous in the middle. All Rights Reserved. Ravi fills out his “biodata”—an infosheet for making matches—that asks detailed, pertinent questions about such “values” as skin tone, caste and religion, replete with headshots and resumes tailored for potential relationships. Add to that the pressure of one’s family to get married and have kids and it falls under the category of “how is this even possible?”. Ravi Patel is an actor and filmmaker who was born in the United States to Indian parents. He looks to his parents’ and others’ successful arranged marriages and agrees at least to consider a semi-arranged marriage, set up by his mom, dad, aunties, uncles or whomever else might know of an eligible woman—ideally also named Patel. His sister (and the audience) tag along on some of his awkward first dates, and his parents are only happy to help foot the bill on 15 dates across North America, including various weddings, Indian websites and even a Patel Matrimonial Convention. Genre: Comedy, Romance, Documentary. Christine N. Ziemba is a Los Angeles-based freelance pop culture writer and regular contributor to Paste.

To complicate matters, things are heating up again with Audrey whom Ravi never really got over and when his parents find out, the curry is going to really hit the fan. ©2020 All Rights Reserved Copyright. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Ideally, according to the film, the lighter the skin tone the better, but these dating qualifiers are casually brushed aside, and Ravi and Geeta miss a pretty obvious opportunity to delve further into prejudices within the Indian culture in terms of race, religion and social status, especially coming from a film that explicates its cultural differences quite overtly.