- With help from his cousin, an emigrant of India adjusts to life in Houston while attending college.
- Harish Kumar Patel lives with his mom and dad in Valsad, Gujarat, India, where he is studying Electronic Engineering. His dad, Satish Kumar, wants him to re-locate to the U.S., live with the Bakshis, study, and marry the girl of his choice. Harish must first go through the blessings of an Astrologer, Bholey Shankar Maharaj, who blesses him, informs him that he will meet a girl whose name will start with "P", who he will marry. An overly excited Harish travels all the way to Houston, Texas, U.S. where he is met fondly by the Bakshi family, consisting of Mrs. and Dr. Bakshi, Mohan, and Deepu. In keeping with the fear and paranoia after the September 11 attacks, Mrs. Bakshi has made it a practice to place American flags in the front pockets of her sons, and she does it now for Harish as well. Mohan is around Harish's age and shows him around the campus. Harish meets with a beautiful Malyalee girl, Priya, and falls in love with her. But things do not go as planned when Harish finds out that Mohan actually is a snob, who hates F.O.Bs. (Fresh off the Boat) Indians like him; the girl Priya is actually in love with another young man by the name of Raju, and her name's not Priya - it's Supriya; and due to Harish's accent, oily hair, & c. he is not being invited to the party where everybody else is invited. Looks like Harish is headed for more pitfalls than he had bargained for, and it also looks like the Maharaj may have been wrong after all.—Anonymous
- Harishkumar Satishkumar Patel (Sunil Malhotra) is a geeky student from a small village in Gujarat, India who is attending the University of Houston, while living with his uncle (his father's best friend). His uncle, Dr. Bakshi, has an American-born son who is Hari's age, Mohan Bakshi (Kal Penn). Hari is shy and studious, while Mohan is irresponsible and too much into himself. Mohan tricks Hari into drinking alcohol, but Hari continues to be the good boy. Hari goes nuts inside a supermarket.
Mohan, known as Mo, is a very popular Indian student at UH. He shows Hari around the college (The univ center, bookstore, cafeteria) but then stays away from him because of Hari's nerdy ways. He dresses like a dork.
Hari, meanwhile, is overly excited because of an astrological prediction that was made by a holy man. The famous astrologer told Hari that he'll meet his Sapno Ki Raani (the girl of his dreams) in America and her name will begin with alphabet "P". Hari then meets Priya (Tina Cherian), a Malayali studying fashion, and falls in love with her. Priya sat in the Digital signal processing class by mistake and fell into Hari's lap while trying to get out. Hari falls in love with her at first sight. Hari makes friends with Shyam Sunder Balabhadrapatramukhi (Sunil Thakkar). Sunder teaches Hari how to look cool & not FOB (Fresh off the boat). Hari runs into Priya at the computer center and helps fix her mouse by cleaning "the ball". Priya uses Hari to do her math homework.
Mohan is undeclared, meaning he doesn't know what he will be majoring in. He is totally directionless. In the meanwhile, Mo falls in love with Janvi Valia (Serena Varghese), a Punjabi girl, but things don't go as planned when Mo invites Janvi to a party. Janvi is doing an anthropology project where she is interviewing all Indians on campus and cataloging their experiences in America, after arrival. Mo promises her 50 interviews in one night if she comes to his party. Janvi accepts. Janvi shows up to the party with her camera, but the owner was stopping FOB guys from entering and Janvi confronts him. In response, the owner finds Janvi's camera hidden in her purse and breaks her cassette, wasting all her effort so far.
Dr Bakshi finds that Mo has spent a lot of money on car speakers and other idiotic stuff. He wants Mo to work at a restaurant to pay off his credit card bills. Dr Bakshi leaves him no choice when he cancels Mo's credit cards. Hari and Mo are forced to work together at India Day. Janvi befriends Hari. She hates Mo for mistreating his fellow Indians. Meanwhile, the promoter is throwing another party, and he doesn't want any Fobs near his party this time around. Mo doesn't inform Hari about this party at all. The name of the party is Desi Fever, and Hari feels this is the event where Priya and he will fall in love with each other. He begs Mo for an invite. Mo says he doesn't know where the party is. Hari knows Mo is upset about Janvi and suggests that he do something original for her. Mo serenades her with a Hindi music tape. This backfires as Janvi is offended by Mo's gesture that makes fun of his Indian roots.
With Hari's help, Priya gets a C+ on math test. Hari finally manages to score tickets to the party by calling into a radio show program, which was giving away 5 VIP tickets as a prize. But then Hari finds that Mo had been intentionally holding back sharing the party details with him, and that Mo never wanted Hari to attend this party. Hari is hurt and leaves the house to stay with Shyam. Mo feels bad. He fixes Janvi's broken tape and finds Hari's interview on it where he hopes to become Mo's friend.
The party night arrives. Mo calls Janvi and says that the tape is fixed and wants to return it to her. He goes to her home. Turns out Janvi is the daughter of a convenience store owner, from whom Mo has purchased all manners of things like camera rolls (for taking photos of chicks) and condoms for the parties. Recently Mo had even lectured him on how India has so much sex, and yet parents don't want to talk about it. Mo changes his clothes into an Indian attire, so Janvi's father doesn't recognize him, and he is able to take her to the party. Shyam tries to convince Hari to go to the party. Eventually Hari relents. Hari finds out that Priya's real name is Supriya, and it doesn't start with a "P". Eventually's Janvi's father finds Mo's clothes hidden in his dryer and heads to the party to confront him.
While dancing, a girl falls on Hari, and her name is Poonam. Hari's faith in the world is restored. Mo apologizes to Hari for his behavior to Hari and they make up. Thats when Janvi's father arrives and beats Mo up. He wakes up in a dumpster. Later that day, he calls Janvi and her father and explains everything. They both forgive him. In the film's conclusion, Mo learns important things about his culture, and Hari overcomes his challenges. This film is primarily a comedic portrayal of young Indian Americans going through life.
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By what name was Where's the Party Yaar? (2003) officially released in Canada in English?
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