Indian-American model Shazia Deen recently starred in a music video for the Marc Anthony song ‘Ahora Quién.’ In cascading ringlets, silk scarf and trenchcoat, she’s dressed as an old-time starlet and looks like a million bucks. Watch the video.
Shazia was born in India, her father being part British and Punjabi and her mother born and raised in Delhi. She moved to California when she was three… she has gone on to make 15 national commercials and Ad campaigns for such major companies as Skechers, Kodak, Nike, Hanes, Payless, Diet Coke… She has been studying acting in Los Angeles for 4 years and has guest-starred on TV shows like the Andy Dick show… She has also just finished a two and a half year course in Ayurvedic medicine… [Link]
Deen may be part Anglo, but that jawline is classically Punjabi. From her demo reel, she also seems to have played Latina and Iraqi. Racial passing is actually more interesting in real life than the pixelated vacuity of the image biz. It’s part hidden talents, part undercover spook: The Bourne Identity, The Long Kiss Goodnight.
The postracial premise is interesting, I’ve lived it, meeting someone attractive who unexpectedly turns out to be desi… it’s the unfolding of hidden wings… Even funnier is when someone you meet seems fairly whitewashed, then, months later in the right context, totally busts out with a tender oldie from, say, Umrao Jaan, with flawless pronunciation and full-bore eyelash flutter. It’s a hell of a bender. [Link]
Passing was also one of the most fascinating things about Bollywood/Hollywood, a parody in two parts: a charming and very meta first half, a leaden and inept second. Casting the half-Polish Lisa Ray as Sue/Sunita, the non-desi desi, was clever on too many levels to parse. The flick proved men do make passes at a girl who passes.
Bolly/Holly also had that thrilling, swing version of ‘Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo’ and its shapeshifting singer. Sanjiv Wadhwani belts the filmi standard in a bad Amrikan accent, but he’s just playin’, dawg. He morphs into fluent Hindi and again into jazz vibrato. So hot. 
The song plays over the closing credits; über-grandma Dina Pathak and wrestler Killer Khalsa boogie with a drag queen (Ranjit Chowdhry) wrapped in geisha. I forgave the bad acting for this scene alone. Watch the clip.
‘Ahora Quién’ (‘Now Who’) is on Marc Anthony’s Amar Sin Mentiras (To Love Without Lies), released last year. Anthony proves the market for elegiac cheese, like a fondue pit, is bottomless.
Here’s my review of Bollywood/Hollywood. Hear more desi-Latino collaboration here.
hmm..interesting review…always hesitated from picking up Bolly/Holly perhaps now I will….
“Don’t hurt my face, here take this” No woman has said that to my face, but I know they’re all thinking that!
I hope everyone knows what that means. Shazia chechi must be very good at this.
American Desi used the same sleepy idea as well, Indian boy shocked when hot girl turns out to be Indian. However another thing connects Bollywood/Hollywood with American Desi, they’re both horrific.
I will admit, with some trepidation, that every other weekend, I make a trip to Devon Street, and after a tongue-numbing dipslay of mastication at Sabri Nihari, stop at Al Mansoor with but one question.
“Do you have any of those new Indlish movies?”
Invariably, without but a cursory glace at the cover to convince my wife that we don’t actually own the thing, I buy any of the DVDs they put in front of me.
As a result, I’ve seen just about every one of these movies ever made. My favorite of the whole genre, without a doubt, is Flavors. I starte watching with the same expectations, and by the time the first ten minutes were up, realized that this was going to be a very different movie.
It tells the story of several different but interconnected Desis in the ten days before a collating event: a wedding. It makes fun of the sterotypes while doing something very interesting: it makes us actually care about some of the characters.
Manish,
dear friend, I have to disagree with you on this one, well partly anyway. I found the direction in Bolly/Holly inept, I reads better as a script (kind of cleverly written I thought), but watching it was like seeing something underwater-sort of slow and muffled, it lacked the “jutkaness” that the film required, considering its particular understanding of the Bombay film. Also, one small correction: the grandma was Dina Pathak , not Zora Sehgal.
BB, the difference is that Purva Bedi is closer to the stereotypical desi look than Lisa Ray is.
Krishnan, I was bored of the desi American movie standbys by the time I saw Flavors.
Shashwati, I agree the movie was slackly paced, but the first half was sly. I’ve seen far more movies with good technicals and bad writing than the reverse. OTOH, the second half sucked on both levels, lots of eye rolling. (Thanks for the correction btw.)
bollywood/hollywood was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, absolutely terrible on every level
krishnan,
are you the krishnan I know? By that I mean from Evanston? (hesitant to put your last name up here if you are)
B/H was annoying and tedious, probably the worst american desi film i’ve ever seen. Lisa Ray’s character was poorly developed and was limited to being caustic and disdainful towards traditional desi culture. She passes herself off as the good indian girl while quietly and secretly contemptuously sneering at the aunties/uncles and their ways. One would expect some sort of synthesis from the bollywood/hollywood dichotomy, but there was actually nothing productive that came out of the equation in this movie, IMO.
I thought the original American Desi was the best of the whole genre!
but there was actually nothing productive that came out of the equation in this movie, IMO.
i agree, it seems to me that all the indie desi flicks these days serve more as an arena for shock value rather than actual messages or stories. American Desi wasn’t great either, but at least it somewhat showed the abcd culture/clash that many indians here deal w/. However, the majority of these movies are just thrown out there to show indians kissing or implying/having sex w/o any rhyme or reason. hell look at Bride and Prejudice, what the hell was that all about? Other than Gurinder Chadha’s continuing fascination of eradicating the desi man in place of all white studs?
I wouldn’t lump Bolly/Holly with desi American films at all. It was much bigger budget ($2M) and visually more polished. The leads are Bollywood stars, unlike the desi American indies. You might as well claim Pardes or Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge were desi American films.
I wouldn’t lump Bolly/Holly with desi American films at all. It was much bigger budget ($2M)
well, there’s one way to burn $2mm.
i’m not trying to change anyone’s mind if they liked the movie or not, i just saw no story, message, or aspect of desi life that was truly explored, discussed or made light of. I did find out that the same guy who could play Shakaal in the movie Shaan (Kulbushan Kharbanda, the croc pit gave me nightmares) was ok w/ acting like a madman/lunatic in his boxers, that for shock value the sister was pregnant and that we never really got an answer whether or not Lisa Ray had sex w/ the white guy in the club. Not to mention Rahul Khanna would get absolutely torn apart by anyone in a real fight, but that’s besides the point.
I wouldn’t lump Bolly/Holly with desi American films at all…
That’s too strong. Deepa Mehta has lived in Canada for at least 20+ years. Funding for her film came from Canadian sources. Lisa Ray was born and raised in Canada before she tried her hand at modelling in India (and I believe she no longer lives in India anyway)…Both she and Rahul Khanna can hardly be considered “bollywood stars” (Rahul Khanna is undeniably Indian but I dont know what films he’s acted in other than Deepa Mehta’s)…And isnt the film set in Toronto and doesnt it deal with American/Canadian desi identity issues? (this is from what little I remember before walking out so I could be wrong abt that last bit)
Ray made her career in India, as did Khanna (born in Bombay, VJ for MTV Asia). Deepa Mehta’s best-known movies all deal with the subcontinent, and though the movie mentions 2nd gen Indian-Canadian issues, it’s mainly a Bollywood parody.
IMO it doesn’t come across as a 2nd gen point of view at all. Like I said, it’s like Pardes; not quite as broad a stereotype of the 2nd gen, but not natively 2nd gen either.
And it definitely doesn’t feel like an indie, like the on-the-cheap, hardscrabble American Chai, American Desi, ABCD, Flavors, Where’s the Party Yaar? genre.
Deepa Mehta is a tedious hack, and she hasn’t made a film worth watching to date. Rahul Khanna is very pretty though.
Rahul Khanna is better known for his role in Deepa Mehta’s elements trilogy, “Earth“, alongside Aamir Khan.
Personally, I don’t think Deepa Mehta is a hack at all. B/H was a light tromp that made fun of the tedious identity-crisis films of the time. Maybe she just wanted to make something light and fun, instead of fighting off attacks and protesters, as she has in the makings of all 3 movies, “Earth”, “Fire” and the recently finished “Water”.
All of Mehta’s movies have dealt with typically off limits topics, or topics that people feel so passionately for or against, that extreme reactions almost accompany Mehta in any endeavour. Perhaps tired of all the tamaasha, she just decided to try her hand at a light comedy… It wasn’t brilliant, that’s true. But I found it enjoyable, and frankly I think we all know an individual or 2 that resembles a character in the movie. For that alone it was good laughs. Plus Ranjit Choudhury in drag is worth the cost of the DVD alone. The dance sequences totally sucked, but the soundtrack is hot upbeat stuff. (if you can stomach a few too many Sonu Nigam tracks)
All 3 movies of the elements trilogy are very emotionally dense, well acted, and thought provoking. They are movies that stay with you long after the film is over; movies that challenge your own views on society, your role in it, and what blinders we all wear in interacting with each other. In fact, perhaps “Earth” should be assigned to anyone wishing to comment on the “South Asian vs. cut out the muslims” debate… (granted, I haven’t seen Water, as it has not been released yet, but all the preliminary PR and information suggests it will be better than Earth)
the fact that Earth and Fire were banned both in India and Pakistan, and riots have followed the filming of Water suggests that maybe this woman has something deeply though-provoking to say and the extreme conservatives are uncomfortable with her challenging the status-quo…
Or she could be a scandal monger. I prefer the former.
I think it’s the latter. But I’m willing to be convinced otherwise. At least she’s ‘thinking outside the box’.
“attractive who unexpectedly turns out to be desi”
Did you know that Queen solist Freddy Mercurry was a desi? cool huh?! I love his songs.
She isn’t thinking outside the box; her movies are entirely typical, smug liberal critiques. Fire made me so mad I wanted to throw a molotov cocktail at someone myself. I lie in fear of the garbage she’s going to churn out with Water…no doubt she will be pointlessly applauded for her “courage” though she presents critiques all too familiar to her chosen audiences already (now if only VHP types will learn to shut the hell up and stop giving her free publicity). Fire. Earth. Water. I mean, her conceit is remarkable.
That’s why I said I think she’s a scandal-monger; a controversy-courter. I completely agree that her films are shite. What I meant by thinking outside the box is that she’s making headlines. With bad films no doubt, but I like people who rock the boat, even if it’s by going for the lowest common denominator. Imagine if controversial films started coming out all over India, SOME would be good and it would be a revelation. It would give birth to new genres of Indian cinema. I WANT more controversial Indian movies. The films of Mehta that I have seen, I have disliked. But she gets points for attempting a new topic. And working on the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles!
It is only very recently that I realized the chorus yells “Bismillah!” in Bohemian Rhapsody. If only I had this knowledge over 10 years ago when Wayne’s World came out!! I would have been The Man in junior high….*sigh
um, I mean, even more of The Man. yeah thats it.
This is to Manoj about his comment about Shazia Deen and Ayurveda. i believe waht she went to school for is clinical Ayurvedic medicine and not “massage”. I highly doubt she is massaging anybody!! I also went to school for this and it is more lifestyle counseling and herbs. She probably just went for self growth and is persuing Acting, As she should be… Anj
My older sister is “half” desi. On the artificial construct and slippery slope of race, you would never know it. In fact, compared to my sister, the ladies featured in the article look alot more desi; in other words I’m surprised that they’re only “part” desi and would never even guess that they weren’t even “whole” (hair colour, eye colour etc. are more comparable to me – a “whole” desi).
Anyways, that’s besides the point. What I really wanted to contribute is the impact of our appearance/perceived race on our lives. My sister, being half-desi, had light brown hair and green eyes and pale skin, with the features of our father. At indian functions/parties, people were both implicitly and explicitly rude to my sister. I noticed it, too, and it made me feel uncomfortable and angry. They would stare, and even come up and ask why we had a white girl in our family, and then gossip amongst each other. Very ugy. Sometimes they would even speak in hindi /punjabi in front of her, not thinking the “white” girl would understand (she did). Some of the men made idiotic assumptions about her being promiscuous. It was such bullshit. On the other hand, if she took me to the playground with her, her friends would ask her why her sister wasn’t white – the tables turned.
While I have a story or two about racism I’ve experienced by society at large, within our extended family and community, my sister suffered from excessive scrutiny, stereotyping and judgement. Ugh. The memories are depressing me… Please don’t tell me about how I as a visible minority have it arguably worse in the real world and in the long run. I am well aware of that; I’m just pointing out it hurts me that during her formative years she was treated as an outcast.