Ravi Patel, who has directed and acted in comedy documentary "Meet the Patels" along with his sibling Geeta, said he would love to star in a Bollywood film and experience the whole song-dance routine.
"Bollywood really excites me. It is the biggest form of cinema in the world and certainly it would be great to be in something that my parents would love and watch. As an actor it would be fun to do something so different like dancing and singing. I would like to do it sometime," Ravi told PTI here.
"Meet the Patels" is being screened in different places in Egypt like Zawya Art house in Cairo and its branch in Alexandria besides the US Embassy in Cairo.
Ravi and Geeta's visit came as part of the American Film Showcase (AFS), which partners with US Department of State's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs and USC School of Cinematic Arts and aims at building a people to people engagement through film in 40 countries around the world.
The AFS inspires individuals and communities to tell their own stories.
"It's been an incredible journey so far. We are honoured to be selected as part of this programme. It's been fulfilling to be able to share our film with such a new, wider audience here in Egypt and it also great to learn about Egyptian culture and films," Ravi said.
Ravi and Geeta have been here for three days during which they visited many Egyptian filmmakers and learned about the film movement here.
Talking about the film, Geeta said, "Our film is a comedy and it's about family. I think it has been great to see how the Egyptian culture is so similar to India. It seems that the culture is full of humour and families are very close.
"It has been fun to be able to share that similar culture through the film," Geeta said, whose film is available for Egyptian audiences via Netflix.
"Meet the Patels" shows first generation Indian-American Ravi Patel, almost 30, in his search for love as he struggles to find the balance between his Indian heritage and American upbringing.
The comedy film also reveals how love is a family affair
through a film that started as a family vacation video.
"I think these relationships will allow us to tell better stories and hopefully we can continue this relationship forward. It's been great to meet Egyptian people who are very warm and nice. Here we got a sense of family which reminded me of our Indian culture," Ravi said.
The film, which is not a traditional documentary and more like a Hollywood film, discusses how some people refuse to cope with the changes in the world.
"When you are from a culture, you have to marry from the same culture. But what happens when you are interested in someone from a different background, a different religion. I think that is something which people face," Geeta said.
"It is time for such conversions of cultures and we wanted to make a film that creates a dialogue about that," she explained.
Ravi is known for his work on "Scrubs", "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", "Transformers", "Powder Blue" and "The New Normal". Being an actor in the US with a recognisable Indian-looking face, Ravi said he didn't see that as problem.
"I started acting eleven years ago and being an Indian helped me at the beginning because I was one of the few Indians that was playing India specific roles... I was fortunate to book those roles and I was able to actually build a career.
"Now, people around the town know me for my work and trust me as an actor and not just an Indian actor and as a result now I play a diverse of roles," he said.
"Meet the Patels" will be released in India on Netflix probably in four or five months, according to director Geeta, who has written and directed her upcoming feature "Mouse".
