Chutney Popcorn
1999 comedy-drama film by Nisha Ganatra
title: "Chutney Popcorn" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1999-comedy-drama-films", "1999-films", "1999-lgbtq-related-films", "american-comedy-drama-films", "asian-american-lgbtq-related-films", "comedy-drama-films-about-asian-americans", "1990s-english-language-films", "films-directed-by-nisha-ganatra", "indian-independent-films", "films-about-indian-americans", "lesbian-related-films", "american-pregnancy-films", "lgbtq-related-comedy-drama-films", "1999-american-films", "english-language-comedy-drama-films", "1999-directorial-debut-films"] description: "1999 comedy-drama film by Nisha Ganatra" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chutney_Popcorn" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary 1999 comedy-drama film by Nisha Ganatra ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox film"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Chutney Popcorn |
| image | Chutneypopcorn.jpg |
| caption | DVD cover |
| director | Nisha Ganatra |
| writer | Susan Carnival |
| Nisha Ganatra | |
| producer | Susan Carnival |
| Nisha Ganatra | |
| starring | Nisha Ganatra |
| Jill Hennessy | |
| Sakina Jaffrey | |
| Madhur Jaffrey | |
| cinematography | Erin King |
| editing | Jane Pia Abramowitz |
| music | Karsh Kale |
| released | |
| runtime | 92 minutes |
| country | United States |
| language | English |
| :: |
| name = Chutney Popcorn | image = Chutneypopcorn.jpg | caption = DVD cover | director = Nisha Ganatra | writer = Susan Carnival Nisha Ganatra | producer = Susan Carnival Nisha Ganatra | starring = Nisha Ganatra Jill Hennessy Sakina Jaffrey Madhur Jaffrey | narrator = | cinematography = Erin King | editing = Jane Pia Abramowitz | music = Karsh Kale | distributor = | released = | runtime = 92 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = Chutney Popcorn is a 1999 comedy-drama film starring, directed and co-written by Nisha Ganatra, in her acting, writing and directorial debut. Ganatra plays a young lesbian Indian American woman called Reena. Jill Hennessy plays her girlfriend Lisa, and Reena's mother and sister are played by real life mother and daughter Madhur Jaffrey and Sakina Jaffrey. The film explores the conflict between Reena's sexual and national identities as well as her mother Meenu's attempts to come to terms with the Western lives of both her daughters.
Plot
Reena is a young Indian American lesbian who lives and works in New York City. Her sister Sarita, who is happily married, discovers that she is infertile. Reena offers to be a surrogate mother for her sister's baby, hoping to improve her relationship with their mother, who disapproves of Reena's sexual orientation. Sarita and her husband accept Reena's offer, but Sarita begins to have second thoughts. After Reena becomes pregnant, her relationship with her girlfriend Lisa suffers. When the baby is born, Reena and Lisa are reunited, as are Reena's family.
Cast
- Nisha Ganatra as Reena
- Jill Hennessy as Lisa
- Sakina Jaffrey as Sarita
- Madhur Jaffrey as Meenu
- Nick Chinlund as Mitch
- Cara Buono as Janis
- Ajay Naidu as Raju
- Daniella Rich as Tiffany
Critical reception
Awards
Chutney Popcorn won several film festival awards between 1999 and 2001 including at the San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, the Paris Lesbian Film Festival and L.A. Outfest. It was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie in 2001.
References
References
- Ember, Carol R.. (2004). "Encyclopedia of diasporas". Springer.
- Winter, Jessica. (October 2010). "Raging Against The Raj". [[Interview (magazine).
- Singh, Jaspal Kaur. (2009). "Representation and Resistance". [[University of Calgary Press]].
- Welsch, Janice R.. (2005). "Multicultural films". [[Greenwood Publishing Group]].
- Caswell, Michelle. "Chutney Popcorn: An Interview with Nisha Ganatra". [[AsiaSource]].
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::