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wetha Regunathan’s Forever Tonight is about the American dream… or rather the illusion of it. A deeply personal story that explores cross-cultural identity and what we lose at the expense of fitting in, an Indian American teen attempts to fulfill her high school prom fantasy in this vibrant coming-of-age tale. Regunathan’s film is striking in its portrayal of cultural “otherness” and the achingly visceral feeling of hopefulness that many immigrants, first-generation, or people of color feel in the States as they try to assimilate to American ideology. A heartfelt critique of what so many hold dear in this country, prom becomes a fitting catalyst for a character who must come to grips with being both Indian and American. 

“I’ve spent most of my life shuttling between two worlds”

Lekha, strikingly performed by newcomer Nivita Chaliki, is the kind of character that we hope to see more of in the coming-of-age genre. Her strength and bravery in how she goes after what she wants despite her parent’s wishes, gives agency to the struggle that many young teens face in trying to straddle two cultures while growing up in America. Her journey is one that many people will relate to and is perhaps one of the most nuanced explorations of how a cultural divide can be something to overcome and yet doomed from the start.  

“I’ve spent most of my life shuttling between two worlds – the individualistic, libertine public American sphere, and the modest, communitarian South Indian household. In the process I had to learn how to regulate my own desires and code switch,” Regunathan tells Short of the Week. 

In Lekha’s desire to make it as an American girl, she goes after the cute boy in hopes of being chosen rather than tokenized. But while Lekha gets the boy, Forever Tonight is no John Hughes film. That romanticized version of prom is shattered at the realization that she’ll never quite fit. Ultimately, Regunathan’s film glaringly points to an undeniable truth: We live in a society that touts its color-blindness in public, but won’t rise above that very line of thinking.

“I was once an American teenager. My hair was frizzy and black, and it hung past my shoulders. I wore Converses and thick black-framed glasses inspired by Rivers Cuomo. But I was also my mother’s Indian daughter, a gangly and uncomfortable facsimile with strange desires,” Regunathan reflects. 

Paying homage to classic teen films that give all kinds of callbacks to Breakfast Club, Regunathan wanted to evoke nostalgia for bygone fashion, playing with florals, pastels, and faux formalwear. In contrast to everyone else, Lekha fittingly wears a pink chiffon skirt, hand-drawn converse, and a corsage faux flower and ribbon corsage that would make the 80s proud. Regunathan’s prom is the epitome of the American Dream and while it’s not all it’s cracked up to be, Forever Tonight carves out a narrative surprisingly filled with hope in the face of adversity. 

An official selection of the Maryland Film Festival and Hollyshorts, Forever Tonight received an Honorable Mention for Nivita Chaliki’s performance of Lekha at the Indian Film Festival of LA. Regunathan now has a number of projects in the works and is currently in pre-production for another short film called Wire & Cloth that was the recipient of an Alfred P Sloan production award and plans to film it this year.