MTV Desi chief Nusrat Durrani picked Brit TV personality Tim Kash for male anchor. As a fellow well-known Sri Lankan Brit, Kash is like the male M.I.A. — if she were as lame as Carson Daly. (That’s a slam on Daly, not Kash, whom I’ve never watched.)
Since Kash isn’t an American, I’m guessing Durrani didn’t find a male anchor he liked by launch time and had to go to the UK bench. I’m also guessing that he’s champing at the bit to get an American. But maybe he just wanted one of the anchors to be an old hand at MTV.
On the right is Niharika Desai, their female face. Here are the anchors’ official bios:
Of Sri Lankan heritage but born and raised in the UK, Tim Kash hosts the daily MTV UK News show… Tim began his career at MTV at age 19, becoming the youngest MTV VJ in history. Most recently, Tim co-hosted the MTV US/International coverage of the recent Live 8 concert in London’s Hyde Park that was beamed across the world.Niharika is a film editor with a background in photography… [from] Poughkeepsie, Mumbai and Brooklyn… Niharika is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a double major in Psychology and South Asia Regional Studies. She is conversant in Marathi, can read and write the Devanagari script.
MTV Desi apparently didn’t get the ‘must refer to self as Indian’ memo. Damn you, South Asian Studies! Anil Dash says Desai may beat Apu as the most famous desi American within the next 12 months. That would be a relief, but Miss MTV Desai only beams for satellite at the moment.
… I can’t wait for the day when there’s enough Indians in the mainstream media that we can complain about the offensive way in which we’re depicted. Somewhere between Temple of Doom and Apu’s appearance on the Simpsons…
Lilia asked me the other day who the most famous U.S.-born Indian American is, and I had to think a bit. It’s not Deepak Chopra, because I don’t think he was born in the U.S., and I was told [Ed.: by the friend who asked the question] Norah Jones doesn’t entirely count, since she’s half Indian. My guess was that maybe it’s Tony Kanal from No Doubt, but apparently he was born in the U.K. Maybe by this time next year it’ll be Niharika Desai.
Asians in Media gets snarky about the music:
Initially, it is likely that most of the music videos (except Bollywood) will be of British origin until American artists get used to making their own. The regular shows will be a mixture of original programming based in America and feeds from MTV India. Last night however, the station opted to start off with the singing talents of sufi-rock singer Rabbi Shergill.
Kash apparently didn’t mainscreen-test well as host of the UK’s Top of the Pops:
The new show was hosted by MTV presenter Tim Kash until his contract expired in August 2004. It was not renewed due to his apparent lack of popularity with TV viewers.
In case you’ve been in a persistent vegetative state the last two weeks, MTV Desi is now broadcasting on DirecTV. Has anyone seen it yet? Their show lineup:
MTV Desi News: The first customized pop-culture news service for young South Asian- Americans, brought to viewers every hour on the hour by the award winning MTV News organization. MTV Desi will also feature special news packages every week covering breaking talent, events and issues relevant to the young Desi community.Live From…: MTV Desi hangs out with viewers in a new neighborhood, a live event, or someone’s living room, discovering new things and re-interpreting others from a Desi point of view, while tripping on the coolest videos.
Maximum Party: MTV Desi takes viewers deep into the party scene around the country and abroad, minus the round-the-block lines, surly bouncers, and what-to-wear anxiety. It’s the finest beats and inside access, MTV Desi style.
Bollywood on Ice: This is not your mother’s Bollywood show although she may want to watch it. In this show MTV Desi goes deep and wide – introducing U.S. audiences to the stunning diversity, exuberance and glamour of Bollywood, seen through an MTV window.
The Mirror: This program will reflect the talent and creativity of bi-cultural artists like Raghav, Jay Sean and MIA as well as musical acts like Missy Elliot, Truth Hurts and Timbaland, who are influenced by South Asian culture. Unpredictable, colorful and on-the-edge, these artists now have a platform to reach wider audiences through MTV Desi.
Video Khichri: Video Khichri derives its name from a South Asian lentil and rice dish called “khichri” which means “mixed up” and this show is just that: an unpredictable and often volatile mix-up of videos that allows the viewer to fully indulge in their most loved videos.
CY vs. CY: Cy vs. Cy is an irreverent and hilarious show that destroys all traces of boredom and tests the limits of human endurance … and tolerance. When Cyrus Broacha and Cyrus Sahukar, MTV India’s most popular VJs try to outdo each other, it’s the viewer who comes out on top.
MTV Bakra: “Bakra” is the name for goat in Hindi, but it is also means sucker. Nobody’s safe when Cyrus Sahukar and his crew hit the streets with the Bakra camera.
Heavy Mental: Its lunacy unlimited when the one-and-only Cyrus Broacha explores the weird and wild side of life.
Roadies: A wildly successful reality show created by MTV India, Roadies records the tension, humor and heat generated when you put together four guys and three girls on a 40-day motorcycle road trip.
MTV Trippin’: Cameron Diaz and her crew of friends explore some of the most exotic, environmentally unique places on the planet and seek to discover ways to preserve them.
Style Awards: Music meets fashion in the wildest, most off-beat and glamorous event featuring designers, pop-stars and Bollywood glitterati
Immies: The MTV Immies are an extravaganza like no other on the planet. The ultimate destination for movie awards with only one thing to celebrate: Bollywood. This is a breathtaking and star-studded annual event with all the sparks and sexiness of music and movies.
Eh… first new hire: a publicist who can write teh hip. Yeah, that’s [sic].
Oh great… I’m so glad the best of MTV programming has crossed over into MTV Desi.
I am thinking of leaving SM to start a Niharika Desai fan website and spend my days updating there. She’s cute and a double major. That’s all I needed to know. 🙂
ok guys, we need more pics of this Niharika …darn, now she going to cause some obsession 🙂
Manish,
Obviously not a good day for us of the damn’-this-South-Asian-crap persuasion :-). :-). Speaking of which, I don’t know if you noticed that you made that venerable mouthpiece of the make-’em-all-brownies-south-asians movement, the CSM:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0720/p02s02-usju.html?s=zmf
Take a bow, dude : you’re on camera :-). Gotta say that the reference to draggingaround mommy was hilarious, although I am sure pervies like me would love to see some hot desi MILFy mamas in phirang court houses.
I shall now recede into my Indian shell and drink some Indian Kingfisher beer and throw the empty on the next brownie claminging to be a South Asian while you bask in the glory of having scored one more notch in promoting that ghastly label to the whiteys :-).
Gujjubhai
Kash is like the male M.I.A.
Seriously? He’s on the Tiger-trail also?
Nah, just that he’s a well-known Sri Lankan Brit.
Just to nitpick a bit:
Yahoo’s Launch says that Kanal was born in India.
Wikipedia says Kanal was born in Kingsbury, England and moved to the Anaheim area. This bio repeats it:
They could use that as a description of the whole enterprise.
That’s it. I’m out.
Is it just me, or is this lineup a little on the bland side?
Here are some ideas for spicing it up:
Desitubbies: Teletubbies, except they make phonetically Hindustani sounding phonemes. (Alternatively, they could get some chubby desi kids and make them jump around.)
Harold and Kumar (Animated show): Harold and Kumar in the vein of slacker cartoons like South Park or Beavis and Butthead.
Hip hop Antakshri: Freestyle rap contest where people have to start the next line with the first letter of the last line
MatriMoney: No idea what this reality show would be, but the title is cool.
FOBCD: A variation of “Beauty and the Geek,” where an ABCD and a recent immigrant have to work together to solve problems.
Born2Bhangra: A reality show where you see college Bhangra teams training for Bhangra Blowout.
Queer Eye for the Desi Guy: Speaks for itself.
We should compile a lengthy list and send it over to the MTV Desi people.
Isn’t M. Night Shyamlaym pretty damn famous? Was he born in the US?
Manoj Nelliyattu S. was born in Pondicherry and grew up in Pennsylvania. Dash is splitting hairs IMO– the distinction between 1.5 gen and 2nd gen is pretty slim.
“Dash is splitting hairs IMO– the distinction between 1.5 gen and 2nd gen is pretty slim.”
Oh, I totally agree, I was just given the “rules” of the competition by someone else, who said Norah didn’t count. But she was the first one I thought of.
They should a Andy Rooney style segment with Amitabh, that would be hot!
Desi Life (i.e. Simple Life) — Anna and ?
Actually, I rather have music videos playing all day long. PLUS, the trailers for Roadies and MTV Bakra i saw in Delhi on MTV India last summer seemed pretty interesting.
They also had a hilarous parody show called MTV Faltoo which imitated bollywood actors and movies
I watched a lot of mtv india last summer when I was there. Are american kids these days into bollywood? Because it’s all-bollywood all-the-time on that thing…
it must be hard to be a musician in india if you aren’t doing music for movies
Excuse me?!?! Wow. Way to marginalize a good portion of your audience. C’mon Siddhartha, we don’t want that MTV…
Before you take further umbrage, Anil says someone else set the parameters on her ‘most famous desi American’ question. I wouldn’t have set them that way either.
Also, IMO a lot of this is self identification– Norah Jones, like Chilli of TLC, doesn’t seem to identify with her desi side much, at least in public.
thanks for the clarification, Manish. I’ll send the goondas home 🙂
Kal Penn is the most famous he was born in New Jersey
“Norah Jones, like Chilli of TLC, doesn’t seem to identify with her desi side much, at least in public.”
In Jones is case, it might be due to the nature of the relationship between her parents, and quite understandably, she does not want to discuss it in public. But she has spent quite a bit of time in India, hanging out with her half-sister Anoushka, and staying at her dad’s estate outside New Delhi.
Also I forgot Bobby Jindal-Born and raised in Baton Rouge, La.
Tina Sugandh will be one of the most famous American-born desis next year…man, that girl can do everything…sing, dance, write, tabla, guitar..oh man-i think she was born in India…oh well, she Rocks anyway!!!
chilli is part desi??
Tina Sugandh will be one of the most famous American-born desis next year…man, that girl can do everything…sing, dance, write, tabla, guitar..oh man-i think she was born in India…oh well, she Rocks anyway!!!
Hey!!
Not fair!
Indian-Americans posing for pic with PM of India -> not assimilated enough into mainstream America, not being ‘American’ enough etc etc. Very bad Very bad.
Separate MTV channel for Indian-Americans -> expressing unique culture different from mainstream MTV (in both India and US) etc etc. Very good Very good.
Is it just me, or is there a subtle double standard here?
re: Chilli
The main question: has anyone seen it yet? You would think MTVDesi (and close cousin American Desi TV) would want to reach out to young Desis by putting it on cable rather than DirectTV.
Is my dreams of super stardom stumbling drunkardly toward a cavern even before it started ? Bah.
Sri Lankan upbringing is getting played, Trichur-bred! holla
What about that desi dude on MTV ? I think his name is Amir or Halim or something like that.
wait .. you can only get this channel on DirectTV? What about Dish network?
you called? what can i do for you today?
(in case anyone is confused i had nothing to do with the quote above. i believe DD is asking me to amen her opinion, which i gladly do.)
peace
From http://www.mtvdesi.com: Don’t miss out on the Desi revolution. Get the best in Indian-American style, music and pop culture on MTV Desi. Call DIRECTV at 1-800-378-4179 to find out how you can get MTV Desi.
(What’s the difference between DIRECTV and DISH? I just got cable a year ago :)).
JO – DirecTV and DISH are separate satellite providers…
MTV Desi is part of the DirecTV Hindi package. Cost $30/month for 4 channels (Star Plus, ONE, Star News, & MTV Desi). Plus annual commitment required !!! Pricey ???
Her album was supposed to drop earlier this year..there is still no sign of it; there was tons of PR but still no sign of anything yet…shrug
I know everyone’s sick of identity stuff but I can’t help but say something marginally productive instead of just making short overly cynical comments. I understand why you all might be happy with this what with increased representation of something you identify with and the fun of the music and the acclaim and all, but isn’t this exactly the kind of hegemonizing “there’s only one kind of desi” identity thing that people have been objecting to all over the place on this blog?
Yes, it could be a starting point, but it’s already managed to really offensively alienate mixed-race desis (or however you guys identify) like DD and Siddartha and anyone who likes them and thinks they should be included as “authentically” desi. And now we have this: “Don’t miss out on the Desi revolution. Get the best in Indian-American style, music and pop culture on MTV Desi” which does the usual equation of “desi” with “Indain-American” I’m waiting for the implied or overt identification wtih “hindu”, “straight”, “hindi/urdu speaking” “brown” “professional” “middle class or higher” and other things as well.
come on. I can’t imagine that we, as a collective gorup of indivdiuals are this stupid that we need to buy into whatever MTV desi spoons out to us. We all have friends (or are ourselves) who don’t fit into that dominant stereotype of a desi. That doesn’t mean they and we are not desis if we choose to identify as such–what I’m saying is that there are a lot of differnt kinds of us, and that’s okay, and MTV “desi” should really recognize that.
Saurav,
Word. Nicely put.
Saurav,
Nicely said. I was going to write essentially the same exact thing.
P.
I agree, however, with the array of choices available on the TV just how do you get people to notice you unless you provide a niche? Perhaps this is what is needed to start with, and then expand the horizons more later.
As always, very thought-provoking and well put, Saurav.
Personally, I was prepared to be down with the whole MTV desi thing, but the more I learn about it, the more I think it’ll just be like… regular MTV. (cringe) And yeah, if they don’t think I “count” then I’ll go back to Discovery channel.
Though I’d give “Queer Eye for the Brown Guy” a look, for sure.
Plus most of their target demographic seems to be of the cable generation, whereas aunties & uncles have dish & directv because they want to stay tuned in to cricket matches, Kkusum and all the Ekta Kapoor crap.
But that’s the entire premise regular MTV runs on these days…
i completely agree with saurav as modified by DD’s last point:
mtv gonna do what mtv do, which is pimping and ho’ing (in addition to showing videos of same).
i’ll have something good to say about cable the day they let you pick and choose the exact combo of channels you want, a la carte. under that framework i’d gladly get mtv desi.
as it is i spend too much dough to get hbo, and the french channel tv5, and my fix of international soccer.
i can get my desi flava online — and from you guys, of course.
peace
Just for the (straight) guys, I think they should take “Queer Eye for the Brown Guy” and flip it on its head. Maybe a show where they take a regular brown gal and slut her up a bit. They could definitely help. That would prob’ly bring in a sizeable male demographic and maybe also keep the “South Asian” bickering at bay for a while.
Hahhahha!! Yeah..I’d get cable just to see that! His subtle beatdown of Charlie Rose was priceless..
And to add to chorus – very well put Saurav. I couldn’t agree more. My expectations of MTVanything are always pretty low, but it would be nice if they tried to live up to our idealistic expectations. Of the 13 shows mentioned above, 3 feature the Cyrus duo, and another 3 are about Bollywood. So much for variety.
Attacking MTV’s programming is like taking a stand on child porn. Way to go guys. And without overly cynical comments. Sepia Mutiny would your unread personal blog.
I’m not used to people agreeing with me here; maybe I should stop being civil so I can get back in my comfort zone 🙂 Thanks for the props 🙂
Anyone have any suggestions on what to do, if anything? If I typed up an e-mail to them, would anyone be interested in signing on or getting a copy? Yes, I know there are potentially more important things to worry about.
Yeah, I was working on the premise that pointing out MTV is a marketing tool to teenagers more than a cultural entity might be a little obnoxious in this context 🙂
Where are VH1 Desi, Fuse Desi, and BET Desi, anyway? I would totally watch Girlfriends Desi, and BET News Desi.
I bust cuz I love, baby-doll! My issue is you didn’t just say you’d like to see a variety of voices on this channel. You’ve already accused it of being fascist and un-inclusive. I’ve seen MTV India in Bombay and yes it’s just like MTV here. Mostly crap. But it was great to see that gorgeous Rabbi Shergill video. There will probably be similar “Oooooh” moments on the channel here for the eleven or so people that get to see it.
I kind of agree that Saurav might be jumping the gun a bit. As far as I can tell, the person who excluded mixed-race desis from their definition of “authentically desi” was some acquaintance of Anil Dash’s, and not someone who has anything to do with MTV Desi. So that leaves the use of “Indian-American” in a blurb on the “How to get MTV Desi” webpage. From a (non-exhaustive) glance at the MTV Desi website, my impression is that they seem to favor the use of the terms “South Asian” and “desi,” apart from that one instance (which I agree is unnecessarily exclusive). So maybe we should give the web page editor the benefit of the doubt on that one.
Since I seem to have become an apologist for MTV, I guess I’ll also point out that hidden among the crap like “Real World/Road Rules Challenge #372” and “Camera Whores Date” are some decent shows like “True Life” and “Made.” I guess I figure the network that gave us “Daria” can’t be all bad. Just mostly bad.
Wow…you’re right. Thanks for catching me on that! I can’t believe I did that. Your other point seems pretty legit too, ads. I guess I’ll withhold judgement on the inclusivity thing on MTV Desi until I hear more about it or actually see it. Not sure I’ll do the same about the “corporate shill” thing, though 🙂
I think what made me jump the gun is that that the argument I made applies to a lot of other examples of American “South Asian” or “desi” things that I’ve seen, even if it didn’t in this instance.
I’ll take your word for it, I guess. I refuse to put in the time to actually watch it anymore 🙂
Anyway, thanks for putting out there what you did.
“brown” will be defined by popular vote. there will be a few subsidiary brown sub-identities, but it won’t be a world of identification-plentitude….
I dont know about you, but Im already ready for MTV India 2.