On our News tab, Haldiram writes:
Noureen DeWulf (of “Americanizing Shelley“) is featured in a new spoof of sports movies (a la ‘Not Another Teen Movie’) called “The Comebacks” – while she plays a football player (who wears part of her sari over her uniform in one shot??) her character’s name (why do people think confusing American Indians and South Asian Indians is funny?) and the other bizarre scenes in the preview do not make one optimistic. Time will tell if it’s another Harold & Kumar-like breakthrough – or just offensive.
In The Comebacks, Noureen plays Jizminder Featherfoot.
Wow.
There are so many things wrong with that character’s name, my head is paining. But it gets better– they don’t just mash up Native Americans with desis; one scene depicts faux athletes training…while Jizminder gyrates like a belly dancer, up on a platform.
Maybe I am getting anxious about further filmy humiliation for no reason. Over at WorstPreviews, they don’t even mention Noureen/Jizminder, despite her memorably madcap adventures on the field, during which she tackles someone while wearing her helmet AND a chunni!
Eh, what am I so upset about…East is all East, right? Aladdin, turbans, Ayatollahs, Jasmine, Ali Baba, Taj Mahal. I wonder, since we’re conflating everything, could we claim Esther as one of our own? I have always loved her. Persian, Indian…close enough. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must wrap up this post. I’m running late– I was supposed to bhangra outside my teepee, for no discernible reason, a full hour ago.
I will take “Taj Badalandawala” over “Jazminder Featherfoot” anytime .. Well not that way!..just the name.
i wouldnt hold my breath waiting for this to be another harold and kumar, unless they are making fun of peoples confusion with 2 kinds of indian in her character. actually, i am holding my breath.
Puliogre said:
I suspect that’s it, in which case–I’m actually giggling a little bit (I hate having to explain!). Other than that though..looks like a flop.
…as part of an onam celebration.
Wow, it really does suck. The part that I really couldn’t figure out is how they’re parodying “Dodgeball,” which was itself a parody…?
Oh, and “Jizminder Featherfoot” is offensive and stupid.
Looks like a terrible movie and I have a feeling we’ve seen all the funny parts in the trailer.
Also, type of over-the-top stereotyping is far less insidious than what we saw in 24 etc.
There is a great movie to be made, (something in the vein of “The Thirteenth Warrior”) of Indian American meets American Indian -though of course this isn’t that movie.
Everyone gets made fun of in a free and variant society, so I don’t see anything wrong with 1 movie in 2007 having a “Jizminder Featherfoot” character. So long as there are numerous multidimensional desi characters in other, similarly well-budgeted movies coming out this year.
we’ll have a desi president of the united states earlier than decent media representation. btw, both will never happen, in case you were wondering.
Damned Columbus! Imagine the horrors if he had actually reached India, and yet his offensive legacy lives on in stupid jokes at the expense of…(sigh!)
just cause he misnamed the native north americans in the late 1400’s doesnt mean that this mistake would be made by people today. i would think “damned ignorant sp00ge-for-brains” would work, given that the problems are being caused more by the ignorant idiots that give us problems, as opposed to someone that has been dead for centuries.
offensive, of course.
but you guys, look on the bright side: matthew lawrence, the most talented young man in hollywood is making movies again!! not since mrs. doubtfire have we seen such fine work from this great and underrated genius!
Fair enough.
“…I have a feeling we’ve seen all the funny parts in the trailer.”
Which funny parts? I must have missed them as I watched ANNA bhangra outside her teepee…;-)
Two words: videos please.
Seriously though, why not?
“I knew”, said Columbus, “That the Earth was not a rhombus. But I am a little annoyed, To find it an oblate spheroid.”
— attributed to Edmund Clerihew Bentley
I got this Indian squaw, the day that I met her Asked her what tribe she with, red dot or feather? She said, “All you need to know is I’m not a ho, And to get with me you better be Chief Lots-a-Dough.”
-Jay Z, Girls, Girls, Girls
(Interesting aside: in the video, both “red dot” and “feather” are censored.)
I’m going to conflate the defunct(?)Abhi post ” Ask a Desi“. I met a Desi family living in the states that were [protestant] Christians, & Israeli citizens, one son was performing his mandatory military service back in Israel….I think I got that right, it was from “the mom” while we were working together on a kitchen cleanup thingy. I know of the Ethiopian Jews; DNA test, airlifts to the ‘homeland’ etc, but is there a “lost” Desi tribe as well? Recently in my Church here in the UK, I met a Pakistani lady who was raised as a Jew , in Pakistan, but is now a Christian.
What’s up?
Hi Dilettante – In Kerala we’ve had a Jewish community there that goes back to the 15th century if not later. In the 40s it was at its peak. Forgot where they came from. There’s still the Jewish Synogogue in Cochin (I visited it for the first time last year) – Cochin is also called Jew-town, b/c that’s where the majority of the Jews who came to Kerala settled.
Also there are Jewish communities that came at different times to Bombay and I’m pretty sure other parts of india – I’m sure if you wiki it you’ll find more.
Most of the jews in Kerala emigrated to Isreal in the 1940s so they are almost all gone from the Kerala population.
I still say damned Columbus! From understandingprejudice.org: “The United States honors only two men with federal holidays bearing their names. In January we commemorate the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr., who struggled to lift the blinders of racial prejudice and to cut the remaining bonds of slavery in America. In October, we honor Christopher Columbus, who opened the Atlantic slave trade and launched one of the greatest waves of genocide known in history.”
I have a weakness for slapstick, what can I say? Except, maybe, lighten up people. Its a stupid movie, that will be forgotten three hours after its watched. Reserve this anguish for someone who put more thought into a flick.
17,
Yes, there are Jews in India .
Check the News tab on Sepia Mutiny – there is a post today about the “Lost tribe ” from India there
Noureen had a small role in Ocean’s 13. I personally didn’t find the trailer (or Noureen’s role/name) offensive, but I won’t be running out to see this movie either. They’ll probably make fun of all and sundry in this movie – it’s a silly HW comedy.
PS – there was a very interesting article on the malabar jews last year, about their dwindling numbers. i wonder if they will start an inter-marriage scheme a la parsis. of all the communities, theirs is the oldest jewish community in india. there is also a sizeable one, i think, in pune.
thanks PS,Runa!
Bess, If Columbus reached India, Indians would be speaking Spanish. Then at least when some random Latino approaches me I would know enough Spanish to reply.
PS – there was a very interesting article on the malabar jews last year, about their dwindling numbers. i wonder if they will start an inter-marriage scheme a la parsis. of all the communities, theirs is the oldest jewish community in india. there is also a sizeable one, i think, in pune.
that would be interesting b/c I love the multiculturalism in Kerala (as in all parts of India) and the continuing tradition of Jewish culture would be lovely. The Cochin synagogue was so beautiful inside. The best thing about Jewish history in Kerala, is the tradition of freedom of religion so Jews were able to practice their religion w/o oppression. Of course the tolerance that was given to the Jews didn’t apply to the lower-caste Hindus in Kerala until recently. I’ll have to look for the Malabar Jewish article.
Re: Red dot vs feather. We shouldn’t make fun of poor folks that can’t afford maps.
Santosh, I though you spoke Spanish!
Sirc, Why ya’ll got to be so mean? “that question that i got at miss teen usa was not the easiest question and with ten million people watching me LIVE, i was nervous
yeah like you wouldn’t be
so to you girls out there.
get a life and stop being so mean
i did not even have time to think about it
i am smart, not a dumb blonde like you think
kthanks
Marathi Jews often get confused w/ Goan Christians. Sample first names: Danielle, Mabelle. Usually followed by very Maharashtrian last names like Talegaonkar etc.
Joking that desis are (tapping hand over mouth) “aw aw aw” Indians is so 1985!
Because that’s the last time some idiot in school made that joke to me or actually was a “damned ignorant sp00ge-for-brains”
Then again, last year I actually had some guy in a bar ask me what tribe I was from. And there is no way in hell it was a bad pick-up line because it was in the Castro and hew as gay.
I’m not offended by this, I just think the director/producer/writer is not funny as in his joke is stupid and old and got played out a long time ago. But I do love me some slapstick and potty humor.
Wait, these same people produced Wedding Crashers, which had a pretty nice Desi wedding in it, so maybe there’s hope for this Comebacks thing. I don’t mind being associated with American “Indians”, as I find I understand sweat lodges and other stuff better than my Euro-American friends, and I deplore the historically documented mistreatment of American peoples by Eurosettlers, but hey, Jizminder is a pretty fugly name, Featherfoot or no. Maybe there’s a Badalundabad element, one hopes. If not, a pox on this movie.
For more on Jews in India, read In an Antique Land by A. Gosh.
The trailer doesn’t have anything funny. It’ll be in theater for a weekend or 2 and the straight to dvd. But it’s still good to see desi’s getting opportunities in Hollywood.
¿qué? agradece al traductor de Google*
“Marathi Jews often get confused w/ Goan Christians. Sample first names: Danielle, Mabelle. Usually followed by very Maharashtrian last names like Talegaonkar etc.”
I did’nt realize that there were Marathi Jews, I’m a Marathi Christian by the way and not Goan 🙂
I saw this trailer in the theater right before Superbad, which is so so funny. I heart Judd Apatow.
The part that bothers me most is (please forgive my dirty mind) her name is JIZ-minder. It triggered this gag reflex in me. And the sari over the football uniform was disturbing as well.
My guess is they’ll parody Bend It Like Beckham, although the main character in that film didn’t play soccer in a sari or any other desi clothes. Oh wait, I guess she ran from her sis’s wedding to the soccer game – whatever, silly details aside, the whole concept looks stupid.
Now if Judd Apatow would make a film about interracial marriage – seriously – his films are raunchy as all get out, but he’s also fairly sensitive to women, and I could see him producing such a film (ideally with a Desi lead) and doing a great job.
For some reason I remember a connection between Alibag, Maharahstra and Indian Jews. Is there a famous synagogue there?
“Damned Columbus. Imagine the horrors had he reached India, and yet his offensive legacy lives on in stupid jokes at the expense of…(sigh)”
Preaching to the choir, bess. So, if Columbus would’ve made it to India, does that mean the African slaves, would’ve been singing Hindu Negro spirituals?
alot of indians in the west conflate indian and american indian when it suits — supercat and his biggest fan apache indian, all those guyanese deejays (there was a good song – “indian hold the bow and not the rifle” something or other), others. Does it cause the same anger?
seriously, is this whole Native + East Indian conflation thing a common idiocy in the US? because the only place i ever hear of it here on the SM site. i’ve never heard anyone commit that particular sin here in Canada. please, no one prove me wrong and tell me stories of their Canadian neighbour who suffers from geographical impairment ala Ms Teen USA South Carolina.
Neale,
There are beautiful synagogues in Mumbai(Byculla, Fort,Panveletc) and Pune ( Lal Deval which is a magnificent building and my favorite + 1 other ) .Per wikipedia “At one time more than a dozen synagogues existed in these small coastal communities where communities of Jews lived, including at Pen, Alibag, Panvel, and Mhasala, but today many are closed or marginally operating due to the much dwindled Jewish population”
Regarding the Jay-Z thing, there’s this article from 2004 about hostility and patronising native americans.
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0416,veran,52833,1.html
TOO LATE!
What’s remarkable is not that the person greeted First Nations with a cheery “Happy Republic Day!” letter on Jan 26. What’s remarkable is that it was done by STEPHEN HARPER, the current Prime Minister for weeping out loud!
To be fair to him, he did it before he became PM. To be fair to the rest of us, the Canadian public elected this geographically-challenged person to be their PM. I know little of Canadian politics, but he must have been one hell of a charismatic leader on everything else.
This movie looks horribly stupid.
Eh, if it happened to me in real life, I might be annoyed ( although long-suffering). But it’s Just Another Spoof Movie, and in that context it is kind of funny. And c’mon, she’s playing football etc! At least she’s not someone’s zen-yet-slutty airhead girlfriend.
Haven’t we seen enof tasteless / tasteful Hollywood spoofs to take this seriously ?
to pingpong @ 44: oh frick. i’d forgotten that one. i heave a sigh.
i work in the music biz and i met her– 1. Noureen DeWulf is the only desi who has EVER STARRED in an OSCAR winning film (West Bank Story), so cut her some slack, she is a pretty damn good actress, you can see her in American Dreamz acting with Hugh Grant as well–would not be surprised if she is the first indian to win an actual oscar for herself 2. She is one of the first and only Indian people to make Maxim Magazine’s Hot 100 List (checkout maxim.com)–this year she was number 100 3. She is RAD and the nicest person one will ever meet 4. She is beyond talented–if you dont believe me, just watch her in some of her films or tv shows. 5. This movie is a parody which means it is a spoof, they are making fun of the fact that alot of people dont know how to differentiate between types of ‘indians’–
thats all–i only met her once but i can tell you she is a STAR and the real deal, she was super nice to me respectful and yet i could tell she was a movie star by her aura
i think noureen dewulf is hot. i dont understand why we can’t just a) remember that noureen is probably doing her best to get decent roles. it is HARD to be an indian access. b) we should support her and others trying to make it in hollywood.