Stories of underdogs are always a hit formula for movies. When it comes to American or Indian-American underdogs, the excitement increases by manyfolds. American producers Cristy Coors Beasley, Rashaana Shah, and Naveen A Chathapuram insist that was their driving force for having produced Vishy Ayyar’s American Warrior. Naveen, Rashaana and Vishy have Indian roots and are excited to get their story on the celluloid. It is an English language feature film about an Indian-American man and his struggles. In an exclusive interview, the producers, director Gustavo Martin Benites and actors Taylor Treadwell and Vishy talk about their struggles and ideas behind the film.

Vishy Ayyar plays the lead role in the film which also features Taylor Treadwell, Danny Trejo, Veronica Falcon, Omy Vaidya and Suleka Mathew. Mulberry Films and Immortal Thoughts produced the film directed by Peruvian American filmmaker Gustavo and written by Ayyar.

American Warrior has travelled several international film festivals including the International Film Festival of India 2024, Tasveer Film Festival, and San Antonio Film Festival. It was also screened at the Santa Fe Film Festival in 2024 where the film bagged four awards including Best Actress for Veronica Falcón and Best Cinematographer for Derek Fisher. The film will also be showcased at San Diego Latino Film Festival 2025 under the official selection.

Vishy tells us American Warrior is partly inspired by his own life - the film is about an Indian immigrant and an amateur MMA fighter. The film champions the universal themes of identity, redemption and second chances.

Asked about their drive for producing the film, Cristy Coors Beasley and Gustavo Martin Benites agree that the main reason was the resilience that the story advocates, adding that it was also about how underdog stories always sell better. Beasley identified with the resilience of the story. “Who doesn't like the story of an American dream? The victory of an underdog - that's a really important piece. Gustavo and I had earlier worked on a film in 2019. Right before we went to film that, Gustavo had shown me his short film Sadaje. I remember calling Vish and telling him that Gustavo is a young filmmaker whose voice would help our film.”

Indian-American filmmaker Naveen A Chathapuram insists he was impressed by the way Vishy carried himself, “his smile and his optimism”. He adds that when he was approached, the title of the project was American Underdog – a film about an Indian American being an American underdog.

Director-writer Gustavo says after reading the story, he began searching for a personal connection before getting onboard. “If I can't find a way to personally connect with a story, I can't write it. Vishy was very generous in giving me a lot of creative freedom with a story. What I focused on in the story was this theme of identity because you have to think about the originality of such stories. Why another one? My entry point was the power social media has in today’s world over swaying opinions. For me, American Warrier is about identity. It's about somebody defining their own identity on their own terms, despite what everybody else has to say about it. I wanted to present a story about a man who was essentially trying to break out of his identity. He starts the beginning of the film as a gym janitor, and it turns out that there's far more to him than just that.”

Rashanna adds that immigrants have it tough. “It is a first for Vishy, Gustavo. It was a first on many points on this film. We had a very diverse cast with Danny Trejo, Veronica Falcon, Indian Canadian Sulekha, and so many! That diverse cast was an interesting point for me. I wanted to back that and I wanted to work with Naveen. He is one of the very few Indian Americans doing extremely well in commercial Hollywood cinema in America.” She also reveals that Trejo, who is present in a major portion of the film, had just five days for the shoot.

American Warrior focuses a lot on the typically male sport - MMA - but the film has some very non-traditionally smart and strong women. The team believes a major credit for the way the characters shaped up goes to the fact that the film has ‘many women investors’. Rashaana confirms that producer Naveen and director Gustavo were quite open to their requests to “flip some of the roles”.

The director adds that he loves being challenges so it worked “miraculously well” when they flipped the genders for certain roles. “I'm really proud of what we ended up with because we had a chance to give women roles that they're not usually offered. Usually, female leads are 20-or-25 year-old women. We wanted people that feel like a part of Chicago and these gritty gyms. I love the fact that we have women who are older than usual. The female actors here helped me flesh out those characters to make them what they are.I also enjoyed what we did behind the scenes - our production office was mostly women with two female assistant directors, and two female camera operators.”

Vishay recalls that working on the film was kind of therapeutic for him, mainly because he faced similar stuff in his real life as well. “I didn't go to prison, did not do anything illegal. But, that entire emotional arc and the relationship damages coming with those, and the way I was ostracized by my own people was something I had seen. Those were all very real and felt personal.”

Vishy trained with a real fighter for more than a year before going to Chicago where he worked with the stunt team to practice and train for the action sequences in American Warrior. “That training was a brutal one. I ended up in the hospital for 18 days. I was discharged just five days before the shoot began and I had a big needle in my arm. I was heavily bandaged. (Laughs) I was shooting a fight movie with the nurse coming in every day with shots of antibiotics. The movie almost didn't happen but the credit goes to my producers and Gustavo, and the team. They made the movie possible. I can write a book on their support and friendship.”

American Warrior is set for a theatrical release in March or April and the filmmakers hope it finds as much resonance in the audience of India, as it does in the US and elsewhere.

(The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.)