{"id":14299,"date":"2016-12-22T21:14:54","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T05:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=14299"},"modified":"2018-02-07T15:10:26","modified_gmt":"2018-02-07T23:10:26","slug":"for-filmmakers-geeta-and-ravi-patel-love-is-a-family-affair","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/dipsy.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/for-filmmakers-geeta-and-ravi-patel-love-is-a-family-affair\/","title":{"rendered":"For Filmmakers Geeta and Ravi Patel, Love Is a Family Affair"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a long and winding road for sibling filmmakers Geeta Patel and her brother Ravi in the making of their film Meet the Patels<\/em><\/a>\u00a0\u2014 including not just the initial family trip to India, but many air miles racked up to attend matrimonial conventions and basically looking for love in all the wrong places while capturing Ravi’s quest for a partner.\u00a0The six-year journey to finish the film was worth it, for what ultimately became “home-movie-style filmmaking at its most boisterously entertaining” (Hollywood Reporter<\/em>). The film makes its television premiere December 26 at 9pm on PBS’s Independent Lens<\/em> [check local listings<\/a>].<\/p>\n

The film is “the unlikeliest of success stories,” wrote Kenneth Turan in the LA Times<\/em><\/a>. “It’s a documentary that began as a home movie and ended up a warm and funny feature. It turned one man’s culturally specific journey into a lively and engaging universal story made with an unmistakable sense of fun. But Meet the Patels<\/em>\u00a0is more than just a hoot. Its candor and empathy allow it to make keen points about love, marriage, family and the unexpected complications that American freedoms can bring to immigrant lives.”<\/p>\n

Mom and dad Champa and Vasant Patel steal the show with their good-humor and rib-nudging (and you can get more romantic advice and anecdotes from them in these exclusive videos<\/a>), but Geeta (almost exclusively behind the camera in the film) and Ravi, an actor and producer, had their lives changed making the film, and certainly much has changed for them since. They checked in with us to give us a few updates on their careers (including a fictionalized feature), and how the making of\u00a0Meet the Patels<\/em> brought their family closer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why did you first want to make Meet the Patels<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We made this film to explore and document the societal pressures of marriage in our first-generation Indian American family, and because we wished we had a film examining interracial situations like this when we were growing up. We hope audiences will see our story and remember that the greatest relationships take more work than we feel we can bear, and yet they lead to the greatest experiences and love of our lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced in making this film?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meet the Patels<\/em> took six years to make! The most challenging part of making this film was to allow the film to find its own voice and keep its authenticity. We tried to pay homage to the classics of the romantic comedy genre like When Harry Met Sally<\/em>, but we also wanted to allow the film to become a romantic comedy unlike any we\u2019ve ever seen before, as it was also documentary cinema v\u00e9rit\u00e9. It was important for us to reference romantic comedies throughout the film, but we were careful so that it didn\u2019t feel contrived. Sherman\u2019s March<\/em><\/a> was a strong influence as funny v\u00e9rit\u00e9 documentary.<\/span><\/p>\n

How did making Meet the Patels<\/em> (and its subsequent release) change your lives and careers?<\/b><\/p>\n

Geeta<\/strong>: This film really changed our lives. Our love and appreciation for our parents has grown immensely. We understand how hard it must have been \u2014 and still would be \u2014 to see their culture and tradition fade. We see how much they love us, and how much they are willing to compromise\u00a0so that we could be happy. We also see how brave and strong they are to try to understand us, and help us achieve our dreams and find love. We are really lucky. We want to be there for our parents, too. I also feel so much more aware of my emotions and actions. And I realize that love is more important than anything else. And that my family will always be there. And that I\u2019m really lucky to have these three crazy people in my life!<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Ravi<\/strong>: They know us better now, too. In the end, we all have a much deeper relationship because we are all much more honest with each other. While we often disagree about things, we are mostly respectful of letting everyone be themselves. Everyone in the family is pretty loud and opinionated, so it’s also good when we don’t talk at all. <\/span><\/p>\n

Other than that, I think, in getting to see our entire family as characters in a movie, we both got a chance to be truly grateful for how lucky we are to have such a wonderful family. What an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do this, and make your family closer. Oh, and mom and dad are famous now. It\u2019s exhausting. It\u2019s insane. I get calls every day from people wanting to cast them in all kinds of things. <\/span><\/p>\n