New Netflix film about ordinary suburban south Asian life in America
When we meet Monica Chowdry in 2005, the eight-year-old is on top of the world as champion of Scribbs National Spelling Bee. Fast-forward to present day: grown-up Monica (writer-director Sujata Day) is still living at home in Greensburg, Pennsylvania with her ailing mom Jaya (Anna Khaja), making a living tutoring a new crop of future overachievers while hesitating to make any big moves in her own life. Monica faces an unwelcome disruption in her mundane routine when her older brother Sonny (Ritesh Rajan) reappears from out of the blue. A sweet-natured, fitness-obsessed goofball, Sonny blithely refuses to address his bipolar disorder, and Monica is wary of embracing his presence lest they repeat past traumas.
Known for her role on HBO’s INSECURE, Day has crafted an assured directorial debut that pays loving homage to Bollywood fantasy while offering a refreshingly nuanced look at a complicated South Asian-American family. An effervescent, feel-good film packing a genuine emotional punch, Definition Please is a lovely meditation on mental health, cultural expectations, and the universal challenges of growing up.
With her infectious personality and unique sense of humour, Pittsburgh native Sujata Day has firmly established herself in Hollywood as a performer, creator, writer, and director. Sujata is known for her starring role as CeCe in Issa Rae’s The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. She's recurred for three seasons on HBO's Insecure. Sujata is a Sundance Lab fellow, Sundance Film Festival influencer, and Sundance Collab advisor. Her short film, Cowboy and Indian, sold to a major studio for series development with Sujata writing, producing and starring. She served as HBO Visionaries Ambassador in 2019. She directs This Is My Story, a series in which beloved storyteller LeVar Burton narrates real life personal experiences of everyday racism.
Sujata's debut feature film, Definition Please, was acquired by Ava DuVernay’s Array and will be released on Netflix on January 21. She says, “I’m an Asian American filmmaker telling a story that humanises AsianAmericans. In light of #StopAsianHate, Definition Please is relevant nowmore than ever in speaking to the current moment. Storytelling is our biggest weapon in fighting racism and changing hearts and minds. I made a film that normalizes us and makes us relatable, not othered. After years of auditioning for stereotypical parts in Hollywood, I created my own characters. My superpower is my authentic POV as a first-generation child of immigrants growing up in a small American town. If we didn’t write these roles for ourselves, they simply wouldn’t exist. My film is not autobiographical, but still deeply personal to me. Definition Please is my love letter to South Asian American families who stay true to their Indian culture but have also embraced the potential of the ‘American Dream.’”
Reflecting on the American dream, she says, “who or what defines us? Is it an early success you never live up to? Is it a parent who expects too much of us? Is it the judgement of others? In Definition Please, my characters explore personal answers to these universal questions. Using humour and pathos, my film tackles ubiquitous issues of family ties, loss of a loved one, and chronic sickness— all through the unique lens of a South Asian American family.”
The film is now available to watch on Netflix and also stars Ritesh Rajan who has also started in Jungle Book and Star Wars Rebels, Anna Khaja from The Good Place and Silicon Valley, Parvesh Cheena from Outsourced, Lalaine from Lizzie McGuire and Jake Choi from Single Parents.