''Kevi Rite Jaish'' is a 2012

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film directed by

Abhishek Jain Abhishek Jain is an Indian film director and film producer, producer known for his Gujarati cinema, Gujarati films ''Kevi Rite Jaish'', ''Bey Yaar'', and ''Wrong Side Raju''. In 2021, he made his debut in the Hindi film ''Hum Do Hamare Do''. E ...

and produced by Nayan Jain. The film is a satire on the fascination and obsession of the

Patel Patel is an Indian surname or Indian honorifics, title, predominantly found in the States and union territories of India, state of Gujarat, representing the community of land-owning farmers and later (with the British East India Company) busine ...

s' – a Gujarati farmer community – migration to the U.S. Over the last half century, thousands of

s have migrated to the US and have come to dominate its motel industry. The film stars Divyang Thakkar, Veronica Kalpana-Gautam, Tejal Panchasara, Kenneth Desai, and

Anang Desai Anang Desai (born 4 May 1953) is an Indian film and television actor. Desai has appeared in more than 100 television shows and 70 films, known for his portrayal of the character Babuji in the television series Khichdi and its eponymous film. H ...

. The success of the film started a "new wave" in Gujarati cinema.

Plot

In a flashback, Bachu (Kenneth Desai) and Ishwar (Anang Desai) are close friends who dream of going to the USA together illegally, though Bachu doesn't have enough money yet. One day, Bachu receives a phone call from Ishwar saying he has managed to reach the US. Bachu feels betrayed and starts resenting his friend. In the present, Bachu has two sons, Jignesh and Harish (Divyang Thakkar). Jignesh is married and expecting a child. The younger son, Harish, just like his father, dreams to go to the US, one way or another. Bachu wants to realize his own dream through his son. Harish applies for a visa, but is rejected due to his inability to give satisfactory answers to the visa officer, Derek Thomas (

Tom Alter Thomas Beach Alter (22 June 1950 – 29 September 2017) was an Indian actor. He was best known for his works in Hindi cinema, and Indian theatre. In 2008, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India. Early life Born in Mussoorie ...

). Meanwhile, Ishwar returns to India with his daughter, Aayushi (Veronica Kalpana-Gautam). Ishwar is now very successful in the United States; he has a chain of motels and is now known as the ''Motel King''. His purpose is to invest in

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

and ultimately return to his motherland and settle there. Bachu still resents his old friend, but Harish falls in love with Aayushi, in spite of his father warning against it. Harish's friend, Raheel, introduces him to his acquaintance, Kaivan (who has changed his name to Kevin), who is soon going to the US, and introduces him to his travel agent, Daulatram Chainani (

Rakesh Bedi Rakesh Bedi (born 1 December 1954) is an Indian film, stage and television actor. He is known for his iconic comic roles in films such as ''Mera Damaad'' and ''Chashme Buddoor (1981 film), Chashme Buddoor'' (1981). He has also appeared in tele ...

). Chainani assures Harish and his father that he'll groom Harish and make sure he gets the visa, but will need money, to which his brother, Jignesh promises that he'll arrange for enough funds. Jignesh borrows money from less-than-legal elements, who are now threatening him unless he returns the money soon. In a party arranged by Kevin, one of his friends warns Aayushi about Kevin, saying that he is not a reliable man and is going to the US by using someone else's sponsorship papers. When drunk, Aayushi warns Harish about Kevin, but Harish dismisses her concerns. One day, Harish finds out about the illegal racket Chainani is running for

illegal entry Illegal entry is the act of foreign nationals arriving in or crossing the borders into a country in violation of its immigration law. Human smuggling is the practice of aiding people in crossing international borders for financial gain, often i ...

to the US. Chainani also reveals that Kevin used Harish's sponsorship papers to reach the US. When all hope is lost, one of Bachu's acquaintances informs him that he has managed a fake passport using which Harish can travel to the US; Bachu and Harish agree to that. Jignesh confronts his father for always shooting him down as ''dafol'' (stupid) and threatens to sever ties with the family. At the same time there are complications in Jignesh's wife pregnancy and is admitted to the hospital. When Harish is travelling to the airport with his friends to leave for the US via the fake passport, they are assaulted by people from whom Jignesh had borrowed money from. Harish manages to escape and reaches the airport and is bade farewell by his parents. When Bachu returns to his house, Ishwar confronts him and tell him about his life and struggles as an

illegal immigrant Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

and hardships he had to endure before being the ''Motel King''. Bachu realizes his mistake and they rush to the airport to stop Harish, only to find that Harish, touched by the plight of an old lady (

Rita Bhaduri Rita Bhaduri (4 November 1955 – 17 July 2018) was an Indian film and television actress. she has also worked in Gujarati cinema. She is sometimes mistaken for Rita Bhaduri, sister of actress Jaya Bachchan and wife of actor Rajeev Verma. C ...

), deliberately did not board the flight as he decided to stay with parents, friends, and Aayushi. Bachu apologizes to his son Jignesh and the family is reunited. In epilogue, it's revealed that Harish and Aayushi are married and they're looking for their options for a

honeymoon A honeymoon is a vacation taken by newlyweds after their wedding to celebrate their marriage. Today, honeymoons are often celebrated in destinations considered exotic or romantic. In a similar context, it may also refer to the phase in a couple ...

; Harish is still insistent on going to the US for it.

Cast

* Divyang Thakkar as Harish Patel * Veronica Kalpana-Gautam as Aayushi Patel *

as Uncle Sam / Derek Thomas *

as Daulatram Chainani *

as Old Lady *

as Ishwarbhai Patel * Abhinay Banker as Raheel * Siddharth Amit Bhavsar as Kevin * Aakash Maheriya as Mehul *

as Kevin's friend * Tejal Panchasara as Bhavna Jignesh Patel * Kenneth Desai as Bachubhai Patel * Raju Barot as Old Man * Jay Upadhyay as Jignesh Patel * Dipti Joshi as Jyotsnaben Bachubhai Patel * Hemin Trivedi as match maker *

Malhar Thakar Malhar Thakar (born 28 June 1990) is an Indian actor who primarily works in the Gujarati film industry and theatre. Biography He studied at Navrang School (Navrangpura, Ahmedabad) and Sheth C. N. Vidyalaya, Ahmedabad. After nine years in ...

as Guy at VISA office

Production

Development

The director,

, is an alumnus of Whistling Woods. After finishing the course, he assisted

Sanjay Leela Bhansali Sanjay Leela Bhansali (born 24 February 1963) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter, editor and music composer, who works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of several awards, including seven National Film Awards and twelve Filmf ...

and

Subhash Ghai Subhash Ghai (born 24 January 1945) is an Indian film director, producer, actor, lyricist, music director and screenwriter, primarily known for his work in Hindi cinema. He was one of the most prominent Hindi filmmakers in the 1980s and 1990s. ...

Saawariya ''Saawariya'' () is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language musical romance film directed and produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1848 short story ''White Nights''. The film marked the debuts of Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam Kap ...

and

Yuvvraaj ''Yuvvraaj'' () is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language musical romantic family drama film directed and produced by Subhash Ghai. The film stars Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Anil Kapoor, Zayed Khan. ''Yuvvraaj'' is a musical story of a fragmented fam ...

respectively. Then he moved to Ahmedabad and made a Gujarati film. Abhishek Jain approached

Anurag Kashyap Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian filmmaker and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to films, the Government of France made him a Knight of the Ordre ...

to produce the film; although Kashyap was impressed with the script, the collaboration did not work out for the film. Divyang Thakkar, the protagonist of the film, has mentioned it as "natural progression to do a local film, rather than try" his "luck in a Bollywood film immediately." Veronica Kalpana Gautam (from

Surat Surat (Gujarati Language, Gujarati: ) is a city in the western Indian States and territories of India, state of Gujarat. The word Surat directly translates to ''face'' in Urdu, Gujarati language, Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of t ...

) was discovered as the lead female via

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and considered the film "path breaking". Anang Desai, although being a Gujarati, had never acted in a Gujarati movie until ''Kevi Rite Jaish'' as he said he "was waiting for a project that I can connect with".

Filming

The director of photography, Pushkar Singh, visited

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

a year before the principal shooting to understand the lighting conditions of the city and made a video as part of the

pre-production Pre-production is the process of planning some of the elements involved in a film, television show, play, video game, or other performance, as distinct from production and post-production. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the co ...

. The film was filmed with a RED Camera in

. This is the first time a RED Camera has been used in India for regional films. The film is shot mostly in

at 34 locations. The shooting of the film was completed in 23 days. One of the scenes in the

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

sequence required more than 500 empty liquor bottles and Gujarat, where the principal shooting took place, has

alcohol prohibition Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

, so the art director Taj Naqvi and his team started scouting for it 8 days prior to the schedule. 'ravi vaari bajaar' to posh hotels, residence to open grounds they collected these bottles and on the day of the shoot managed to get 731 empty liquor bottles. To avoid any police suspicion, the bottles were transported during the night and the art director Taj Naqvi ended up doing a cameo as a bartender in the movie. The casting director, Abhinay Banker, ended up auditioning for the protagonist's friend, Raheel, and was selected to play the role. The female protagonist, Veronica Kalpana-Gautam, is introduced in the film in slow motion as a tribute to

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

; he often introduces his blonde heroines in idealizing slow-motion shots, as a possible tribute to

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

Soundtrack

Kevi Rite Jaish features songs sung by Roop Kumar Rathod, Suraj Jagan,

Vishvesh Parmar Vishvesh Parmar (born 28 November 1983) is an Indian playback singer/ recording artist and composer, known for his composition ''Pankhida'' for the urban Gujarati Film, Kevi Rite Jaish. He was the recipient of the Binani Big Gujarati award for ' ...

, Parthiv Gohil,

Mehul Surti Mehul Surti (born 16 November 1977) in an Indian music composer and singer from Surat, Gujarat, India, known for his work in Gujarati cinema and Gujarati theatre. He has composed music for several successful Gujarati films including ''Kevi Rite ...

, Aishwarya Majmudar and Aman Lekhadia for the film. The sound track was launched on 26 May 2012 at

. The album was made available for free to download on the official website. The response to the music has been very positive, with the soundtrack being described as soulful and praised for lyrics, especially ''Pankhida'', the rock version of a popular garba song of the same name, which was a viral hit.

Release

The official poster for the film was released on 28 April 2012. The first trailer was released online on 2 May 2012 and was received positively by the audiences. The film was released on 15 June in India. The film was initially released in major

cities,

Vadodara Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ...

as well as some small cities, and also in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. In the first week, the film was released with 34 prints and increased to 60 prints in the second week due to increasing demand. After the initial success in Gujarat, the film was planned to be released in USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand and some middle-eastern countries as well, subsequently it was released in USA (at

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

) on 31 August 2012.

Marketing

The premier was held at

Cinépolis Cinépolis is a Mexico-based international movie theater chain. Its name means ''City of Cinema'' and its slogan is ''La Capital del Cine'' (). Cinépolis was the biggest cineplex chain in Mexico, with 427 theaters in 97 cities. It is also th ...

and was attended by the whole cast and crew. As part of promoting the movie, special screenings were held along with the crew at

Rajkot Rajkot () is the fourth-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the ...

and

. The makers have widely used

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

for the promotion of the movie. They released a Facebook game as well.

Critical reception

Initial reviews of the movie were positive. ''Long live cinema'' called the movie a "glimmer of hope" for

Gujarati cinema Gujarati cinema, also known as Dhollywood, is the segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema, dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Gujarati language widely spoken in the state of Gujarat. It is based in Ahmedabad. It is one ...

. Leading Gujarati newspapers reviewed the film positively. ''

Divya Bhaskar ''Divya Bhaskar'' () is a Gujarati newspaper in Gujarat, India, owned by D B Corp Ltd. It is one of the highest circulation Gujarati dailies. With the most local editions in Gujarat, it is published from Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, J ...

'' rated the movie 3.5 out of 5 stars and called it a "truly urban film" and "revolutionary". ''

Gujarat Samachar The ''Gujarat Samachar'' is the leading Gujarati-language daily newspaper published in India. Its headquarters are in Ahmedabad with a branch in Surat. It is distributed from Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Mumbai, Mehsana, Bh ...

'' also reviewed it positively. ''

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

'' praised the movie saying "KRJ in all is a funny roller coaster ride with its own share of romance, drama, apprehension, desperation, exhilaration and insanity". Leading Gujarati blog ''Desh Gujarat'' also praised the movie calling it "paisa vasool". Leading ''

'' columnist, Jay Vasavada, called it the best ''Gujarati film'' since '' Bhavni Bhavai''.

Boxoffice

The film ran more than for six weeks in

Bharuch Bharuch () is a city at the mouth of the river Narmada in Gujarat in western India. Bharuch is the administrative headquarters of Bharuch District. The city of Bharuch and surroundings have been settled since times of antiquity. It was a shi ...

, and ten weeks in

and a few other cities. The film eventually completed sixteen weeks.

Awards

2012 BIG Gujarati Entertainment Awards

The film was nominated for all eight categories and won seven of them. Film * Best actor (male) – Divyang Thakkar * Best actor (female) – Veronica Gautam * Best director –

* Best film Music * Best male playback singer –

Roop Kumar Rathod Roopkumar Rathod an Indian playback singer, pop singer, and music composer. He has performed a number of songs in Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Assamese, Odia, Nepali, Bhojpuri and Kannada films. Personal life Ratho ...

(''Kevi rite jaish'') * Best female playback singer – Aishwarya Majumdar (''Bheeni bheeni'') * Best music album * Best entertaining song – ''Pankhida''

12th Annual Transmedia Gujarati Screen & Stage awards

The film was nominated for 15 categories and won 10 awards. Film * Best film * Best director * Best story – Abhishek Jain, Anish Shah * Best debutant (female) – Veronica Gautam * Best supporting actor (male) – Anang Desai * Best cinematography – Pushkar Singh Music * Best music – Mehul Surti * Best male playback singer – Parthiv Gohil * Best female playback singer – Aishwarya Majumdar * Best lyrics – Raeesh Maniar

References

External links

* Official website at * {{IMDb title, 2365873, Kevi Rite Jaish 2012 films Indian comedy films Films shot in India Films set in Ahmedabad Films shot in Ahmedabad Films shot in Gujarat 2012 directorial debut films 2010s Gujarati-language films 2012 comedy films