The romance of illegality. Review on Green Card Fever Movie

''Green Card Fever'' is a movie made by Bala Rajashekaruni starring Vikram Dasu, Purva Bedi, Deep Katdare among others.

What does an expatriate do when he/she is truly bored and has too much time/money on their hands? Make an inane movie about the plight of the people seeking a better future in a hostile, strange land or how they have lost a sense of who they are by trying to fit in a society which is not very approving of outsiders.

It must be a way of telling their kids how to appreciate the things handed to them on a platter. But I thought you talked to them about it and not make a movie and shove it down the throats of audiences in the guise of ''socially conscious art''.

Chris Rock comically put forward a very important point in one of his shows:

'' the issue in the world today is not exactly racial discrimination but segregation based on economic class''. Every country has its own peculiarities, but it is peculiar only when seen through the eye of the stranger. The stranger should realize that he/she is also seen as peculiar by the same people he/she thinks are weird.

This realization is present in almost every person, unless they belong to the two sub-species called The Americans and of course The French.

Coming to the story the movie begins with a shot of an INS detention facility and food being ''kicked'' into the cells. A prisoner Murali (unable to pronounce last name) played by Vikram Dasu narrates his woeful tale. He's part of a ''drama troupe'' which came to the US on a ''cultural exchange'' trip and he managed to overstay his invitation. He goes to a slick-haired lawyer Omjeet Singh (Deep Katdare) to ask for help in obtaining his permanent residency card. As usual Mr. Singh is a play by the rules lawyer (read a failed lawyer) who refuses to help him.

So Mr. Musician goes to a sleazy immigration agency with a lawyer who reminds the audience as to how the Chinese cannot be trusted with Indian cases. Nice work, Mr. Director in promoting South East Asian harmony. Meanwhile after jokes about half&half and multiple occupancy apartments in a ghetto the hero meets up with his room-mates who take him to a ''conference'' which hosts a matrimonial meet. Here he meets a cynical girl, Bharathi (Purva Bedi) who mouths the standard dialogues expected of an American girl of Indian origin and complains that no Indian guy is man enough to ask her out for a date.

Well, she should realize that the only reason she's not being asked out is

1. She's Coyote Ugly

   
   




2. The guy's parents put a chastity belt on him before leaving home and hid the key.

   
   

Meanwhile Mr. Singh does pro-bono immigration work on the urging of his grandfather who tries to remind him of his roots or of the color of his skin, whichever does the job of convincing a lawyer to hand out freebies. Bharathi runs into the arms of Murali after being ''mistreated'' by her Caucasian boyfriend's family. When your ego is deflated it is always good to have a willing backup.

The film goes on about the budding romance between Murali and Bharathi, his struggle with remedying his illegal status, the politicking between the Chinese and the Indian lawyer and Murali's experience with incarceration. The movie finally ends with Murali's speech about the visa system and a plea to match Al Pacino's rambling in ''Scent of a woman''.

The movie doesn't deviate from other movies of its genre because of its condescending nature saying what ''poor Indian sods'' do to escape a life of poverty. I am not debating the validity of some of the scenes shown in the movie, but just the approach to addressing the issues. It never takes into consideration the ''what ifs'' like if the economic status of India was good, would race be an issue. A level of superficiality and assumptions is inculcated into the movie which can either be interpreted as ignorant or intentionally saying ''let me in and shut the door''.

Of course, showing the ''ABCD''(a term which still confuses me, hence the quotes) girl with a heart of gold is as ludicrous as Heather Graham playing the good-looking 19th century English hooker with a heart of gold in ''From Hell''. A movie which can be conveniently missed unless you want to torture yourself with self-pity about the injustice of the immigration system if you are a wannabe immigrant or to feel smug about morphing from an ''alien'' to a ''human'' by taking up citizenship.