In the opening minutes of “Meet the Patels,” comedian and actor Ravi Patel shares some important facts about himself: 1. He has recently broken up with Audrey, his American girlfriend of two years, whose existence has so far been kept secret from his Indian parents; 2. He is almost 30 years old; 3. He has never been married. This, in Indian culture, is considered “code red,” in Patel’s words.
The rest of this funny, warm-hearted documentary follows Patel’s attempt to undo that state of romantic emergency by finally accepting his parents’ efforts to set him up with potential Indian brides. Meanwhile, sister Geeta — also single, also working in the entertainment industry and, with her brother, a director of the film — shoots the entire tumultuous, year-long process. After Ravi circulates his “biodata,” the Indian match-making equivalent of an online dating profile, through his parent’s vast network of contacts, he embarks on what he refers to as a “world tour of dating.”
To ensure that the sample size of potential soul mates is as large as possible, Ravi travels to several cities across North America to go on blind dates. He introduces himself, at his parents’ urging, to Patel-approved women at weddings. He even engages in pseudo-speed dating at a “Patel matrimonial convention,” a gathering designed to enable U.S.-based Patels to make love connections with other Patels. (As the movie explains, Patel is such a common last name in India that it’s not incestuous for one Patel to get hitched to another. In fact, it’s considered the ideal.)
With its appealingly conflicted hero and generous sense of humor, “Meet the Patels” has the breezy touch of a scripted romantic comedy. Ultimately, however, this documentary is less about meet-cutes than it is about family, cultural assimilation and the responsibility that a child of immigrants might feel to honor the values of his parents and his homeland.
Because Geeta Patel is often shooting on the fly, many scenes in “Meet the Patels” are poorly lit and haphazardly framed. To counteract this and to add more visual texture to the film, some interactions are rendered via animated sequences.
But even when the visuals aren’t perfect, it’s impossible not to care about the people on screen.
Come to think of it, that’s a perfect metaphor for the lessons imparted by “Meet the Patels,” a movie that reminds us that any attempt to control those we love is futile.
