Can two Asian actors – one an Indian and the other a Korean – be regarded as All-American? And can Hollywood actually make a comedy with them in the lead?
They can – and it did.
The result is a cool $16 million at the box office!
New Line Cinema’s ‘Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle’, starring John Cho and Kal Penn, is a wild, subversive comedy that blows away a lot of stereotypes.
As Kal Penn, aka Kalpen Modi, wrote on his website: “We don’t have stereotypical accents, we don’t passively tread through the story, we’re not asexual or hypersexual, there are no martial arts scenes, one dimensional cab driver segments. We play a couple of all-American guys who happen to be of Indian and Korean descent.”
“It’s unprecedented for a mainstream comedy to have two Asian leads – that is something that doesn’t happen,” says Gitesh Pandya, box-office analyst for CNN Financial News and the editor of Boxofficeguru.com, an online resource for the motion picture industry: “ And then for a major studio to release it and put it in 2000 theaters and have the stars on Jay Leno – it’s never been done before and so it’s very groundbreaking.”
“I think this is a kick-ass movie that you’ll have fun watching – and so do a lot of other people,” says Penn. “ I might be biased since I’m IN the film, so I’ll quote my mom (she loved it too.) I believe her words were, ‘Very nice, beta.’
She was joined by Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper who gave us ‘Two Thumbs Up’ (the physical gesture, not the Indian soda). A.O. Scott from the NY Times loved it, as did the LA Weekly, Hollywood Reporter, Village Voice, Washington Post, and more than 75 other papers and magazines. I mention those just in case you don’t trust my mom (ALWAYS trust my mom, by the way. She’s ‘always right’, OK?)”
Indeed, his mom is probably right, for The Hollywood Reporter predicted, “This hard to resist buddy movie is destined to become a midsummer comedy sleeper” while Variety noted, “Cho and Penn are an absolutely perfect duo of clowns suited for the young, smart set.”
Made on a $9 million budget, the film was in the top ten for two weeks, opening in 2135 theaters. It’s already grossed $16 million, and the estimate is $20 million in North America alone. Says Pandya, “ Between the run at the theaters and then video and DVD, you’ll have a huge cult following for this movie.”
Wacky pothead he may be in the movie, doing everything from getting stoned to breaking into prison to riding on a real live cheetah, Kal is pretty down to earth in daily life. The only thing he shares with his screen persona is a crazy sense of humor.
Pandya, who is also the producer of ‘American Desi’, Kal’s first feature film, recalls the day Penn came in for a casting call in the summer of 1999: “He’s a real fun guy plus we’re both Gujarati – he has the funniest Gujarati jokes that you’ll ever hear! He’d created a whole bunch of different characters, caricatures that had unique identities – so he had Godfather Kaka, which is like a mafia uncle, and he has Back Aunty, an aunty who’s always complaining about her back. He’ll come up with jokes on the spur of the moment – accents and characterizations – it’s really, really funny stuff.”
Penn, 26, was born in Montclair in New Jersey and grew up in Freehold where his parents who emigrated from Gujarat – still live. Unlike other second-generation Indian Americans who often pursue their parents’ dream career, Penn had always pretty much followed his own dreams. He trained in theater in the New York area and after high school, he moved to Los Angeles to study at School of Theater, Film and Television at the University of California.
After appearing in the Emmy award winning comedy, ‘Express: Aisle to Glory’ on HBO, Penn did several guest appearances on ‘Spin City’, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, ‘Sabrina, the Teenage Witch’ and ‘The Steve Harvey Show’. He also had roles in ‘NYPD Blue’, ‘The Agency’, ‘Angel’, ‘That’s Life’ and was a series regular on ‘Brookfield.’
The big screen beckoned with a role in the comedy ‘National Lampoon’s Van Wilder’ and he was also seen in ‘Malibu’s Most Wanted’ and ‘Love Don’t Cost a Thing’. He also starred in the independent film, ‘Where’s the Party, Yaar?’
So while fans wait for the sequel to ‘Harold and Kumar’, they can catch Penn on NBC’s ‘Homeland Security’ and in the Warner Brothers film ‘A Lot like Love’ with Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet.
Nor is he just your average funny guy: In the short film ‘American Made’ about a Sikh family grappling with issues of identity and assimilation in the wake of 9/11, he plays a very different role. He will also be seen in another drama ‘Dancing in Twilight’ with Sheetal Sheth.
Purva Bedi, his co-star in ‘American Desi’ recently acted with him in ‘The Arrangement’ a yet to be released movie which also stars Lisa Ray and Ismail Bashey. She says, “He’s always been aware of the issues of South Asian actors and trying to make a difference in the day to day auditions, dealing with casting people and getting on a set and trying to get them to change their minds about stereotypes about Indians.”
In ‘Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle’, Kal manages to turn stereotypes on their head and have the last laugh. In an America where immigrants have to prove themselves everyday, he not only fits in but also does things his way.
A strict vegetarian in real life, you see him gobbling White Castle burgers by the dozens. But does he give up his values? Not really – the scene was one big illusion – those beef burgers that he was gorging on were made of soy!
In a way – in the film and in his lifestyle – Kal Penn shows how you can be an American on your own terms – be a vegetarian and a burger eater too! Even his stylish Hollywood name – Kal Penn – is derived from his very Gujarati given name – Kalpen Modi. This guy is giving nothing away – and losing nothing – as he rides his cheetah all the way to the bank!
ON THE BURGER TRAIL
You go into ‘Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle’, popcorn in hand, expecting not too much. After all, it’s supposed to be a summer buddy movie, and like the youth movies of that genre, will have its share of sexy babes, crude jokes and bathroom humor. Well it does have all of that, but surprisingly it also has smarts and a lot of heart. And you come out smiling.
The movie revolves around two roommates – Harold Lee (John Cho, who starred earlier in ‘American Pie’) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn). Harold is stuck in a dead-end banking job where his racist colleagues bully the stereotypical number-crunching Asian, getting him to do all their work. Nor can he get up the guts to talk to his pretty neighbor in the elevator.
Happy-go-lucky Kumar is the complete opposite of his panicky, hard-working pal – a brilliant student, he’s out to subvert his own future, partying like there’s no tomorrow and trying to avoid medical school so he doesn’t have to follow the path of his father and brother, both doctors.
A mouth-watering ad for White Castle hamburgers on television takes the stoned duo on a quest – and what a night it turns out to be! Wild Asian parties, breaking into prisons, picking up a hitchhiking Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser), hang-gliding off a cliff, riding an escaped cheetah are just some of the events of a very astonishing night. Just about anything and everything happens – Kumar even conducts a major surgery on the run!
As the tantalizing hamburgers recede further into the night, the quest becomes about something much more than mere burgers and by the end of it, Harold and Kumar have discovered a lot about themselves. Like the cowardly lion in ‘Wizard of Oz’, Harold gets back his courage, and Kumar discovers that he wants to be a doctor after all.
Unlike many other films of this genre, ‘Harold and Kumar’ is more than a mindless comedy because it takes on racial stereotypes head on. The writers Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg very deliberately took on these issues in a fun, subversive way.
“We always felt that studios might be scared of making a film starring an Asian and Indian character,” says Hurwitz. “We joked to each other that if the movie ever got made, it would end up as ‘David and Jason Go To McDonalds’.”
The film, directed by Danny Leiner (‘Dude, Where’s My Car?’), keeps you careening on a wild roller coaster ride, as things get crazier and crazier. But there’s such chemistry between Penn and Cho- and such sweet vulnerability in them both – that you get totally involved in their outrageous problems. And when finally the nasty punks, the creepy colleagues at work and the racist cops all get their comeuppance – you have a big grin on your face. It’s Paisa vasool!
© Lavina Melwani
