Waris X

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Movie candyman A. Lane has just revealed more info about Waris Singh Ahluwalia’s part in Spike Lee’s new film Inside Man. He reports in the New Yorker that Ahluwalia plays Vikram Walia, a Sikh hostage in a bank heist who’s disrespected by the cops coming to save him. It’s his second character named Vikram:

Magazine photo shoot: two hours

Sauntering around armor room in a cape: priceless

The more it sags as a thriller, the more it jabs and jangles as a study of racial abrasion. A hostage is released, and an armed cop shouts, “He’s an Arab!” The hostage replies, “I’m a Sikh,” and you can hear the weariness at the edges of his fear…

“Grand Illusion” offered the ennobling suggestion that national divisions were delusory, and that our common humanity can throw bridges across any social gulf. To which Lee would reply, Nice idea. Go tell it to the guy who just had his turban pulled off by the cops. [Link]

… the ethnic vaudeville is pure Spike…. in-your-face all the time: Inside Man resounds with stray assertions of irate identity like… “What the fuck–give me my turban!” The latter demand, delivered by a Sikh bank employee to the cops who are questioning him, readily segues into a diatribe against post-9-11 profiling, the onrushing complaint coming to an abrupt bada-boom when [Denzel] Washington’s partner (Chiwetel Ejiofor) dryly observes, “I bet you can get a cab, though.” [Link]

There are a couple of references to institutional racism and post-9/11 angst… [Link]

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p>Imagine that, a caper flick which discards the cliché of only casting white or black actors:

Through the main protagonists and bank hostages, Lee presents a multi-racial panoramic view of New York at present. [Link]

It may seem like a predictable cliche, especially to the director’s detractors, that he so intently underlines the ethnicity of even the most minor characters; ‘What the fuck — give me my turban!’much is made of the rainbow brigade that constitutes the hostage group: the white woman who talks loudly on her cell phone; the young Sikh hostage who, when released, strenuously complains of being mistaken for an Arab; the glam Albanian sexpot who knows how to play her cards, and the young black hostage whose ultraviolent “Kill Dat N*” computer game gives pause even to Russell. [Link]

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p>Reena Shah (The Guru, American Chai) and Jay Charan also have parts in a large ensemble including Denzel Washington, Christopher Plummer, Jodie Foster, Willem Dafoe, Clive Owen and Chiwetel Ejiofor. ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ bookends the film, which means the Dil Se soundtrack lives on via Bombay Dreams and now Inside Man. With the Bombay instrumental theme in Lord of War, whoever’s advising Hollywood knows how to pick the hits.

Reena Shah

Jay Charan

The film is even hip enough to open with “Chaiyya Chaiyya,” one of the biggest Bollywood hits last year, then close with the same song remixed with rap. Very cool. [Link – thanks, tipster]

Terence Blanchard’s score tends to the grandiose, although some Bollywood rap interludes are quite catchy. [Link]

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p>Try eight years ago — the gorgeous Dil Se came out in 1998.

Watch the trailer.

Related posts: He got game, Wes hearts Waris, Waris’ star turn: The Life Sikhquatic, Sikh fashionista in ‘The Life Aquatic’

29 thoughts on “Waris X”

  3. Is the desi community in New York large enough to be seen as part of the city fabric now, in the same way that desis are in London/Birmingham/Manchester? Because I have noticed that in the last few years, you see more and more browns in American movies.

  5. Thanx for the heads up. I can’t wait to see it. I’ll be taking my whole NYC Sikh posse with me for sure.

    Is the desi community in New York large enough to be seen as part of the city fabric now, in the same way that desis are in London/Birmingham/Manchester?

    Absolutely. There are nearly 2 million Indians in the United States (at least legally) and the concentrations are mostly in CA and north east NY/NJ (nearly 700.0K) with notable #’s in Texas and Illinois/Michigan area. NYC Pop is 8 million. You can’t go to a bar or restaurant or store or walk down the street without spotting 20 desis.

    When you have Indians visible in major shows like ER, Crossing Jordan, Beauty & the Geek, Apprentice and various visible media positions on NPR, CNN, local TV and they are watched by popular culture they are absolutely assumed as part of the mainstream culture.

  6. Maybe he read my complaints about the treatment of desis in the “25th hour” rant 😉

  7. I had been planning on seeing the movie before, but now that I know Waris has a speaking role I definitely have to go see it …

  8. Anyone knows if the soundtrack is available? I definitely wanna hear the chaiya chaiya remix.

  10. “[Drumming my fingers, just waiting for Pattie to show up in these comments ;)]”

    Heh heh…. I’ll keep you entertained in the meantime; though, be forewarned that I’m not nearly as amorous as Pattie 😉 Will this do?…………..

    Wowee, wowee, wowee!!! That Waris is a hottie! Gawd, I love me some sardars!!! Woo-hoo!!!

    all in good fun, Pattie, all in good fun 😉 I know you can do a better job, than me, of demonstrating your affections…

  13. Pattie ~ Do you have any single sardarni cousins who love sardars as much as you? For Ennis, of course =)

    If Ennis had show up at the Subswara event last week he’d have encountered a club full of hottie sardarnis!!

  15. gues what, ennis…a bit delayed (was in ER with jaw pain…legit excuse) , but i’m here! i too am planning to see the movie, and OOOHHH does he EVER look good! hooooottt daahhhhheeeeaaammm…..flinging the droollllll! oye….fuuuzzzzzzzzzzz city baby! mm…….now my mind is spinning with that and the navtej mentioning the other day….woooooahhhhhhhhhh..and to ahs, ahs is cute too. 🙂

    all in good fun, Pattie, all in good fun 😉 I know you can do a better job, than me, of demonstrating your affections…

    lol….no probs! 😉

    Pattie ~ Do you have any single sardarni cousins who love sardars as much as you? For Ennis, of course =)

    nope, all my cousins are male, or non-sardarnis who wouldn’t know what a sardar or a sararni is, and keeping them away would be best advice. (they don’t have the same appreciation for beauty and goodness….they would be the kind to chide and chastise.) however, looking to the bright side….. oooh…no comment. If Ennis had show up at the Subswara event last week he’d have encountered a club full of hottie sardarnis!!

    hmmmm…why didn’t they use proper air conditioning?! my cat is a little sardarni, and likes fuzzy sardars…and i have seen bits of ennis’s dhari, soooooo….i’ll hook him up with muffy ji.

    but first, we have to get waris with a sardarni….kiran, you listening?

  16. Pattie Kaur here is an article on Monty Panesar the first Sikh to play cricket for England with his life story and pictures from when he was a kid.

  17. all in good fun, Pattie, all in good fun 😉 I know you can do a better job, than me, of demonstrating your affections…

    all in good fun indeed! hehehehhehehee…..ahh…i admit, they don’t beat MY SARDAR, but boy…..sooo wonderful to admire anyway! and i’d ever give up my sardar for other sardars, but to know that such amazing creatures exist, and that i can have the pleasure to make note of this…..ah…bestill my heart, and those dharis, pagdis, and sweet faces!

  18. thanks jay! 😉 ayyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! i missed this article! wow…..ooooooooooo wooooooowwwwwww..

    ok, tooth pain gone, pattie proceeds to faint. woooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww…and drool…..whew….

  19. my cat is a little sardarni, and likes fuzzy sardars…and i have seen bits of ennis’s dhari, soooooo….i’ll hook him up with muffy ji.

    Dayaaammmmmm. Oye come on Ennis deserves more than a fattie cattie you know a real girl sardarni. Ennis come to NYC I’ll hook you up with all the smokin sardarnis I know.

  21. Dayaaammmmmm. Oye come on Ennis deserves more than a fattie cattie you know a real girl sardarni. Ennis come to NYC I’ll hook you up with all the smokin sardarnis I know.

    i was trying to keep ennis a GOOD singh. i mean hell, if you wanted to go that route……oo. never mind. i can be conatacted rpivately reguarding further information.

  23. I grew up with and attended Sikh camps w/ Waris back in the day. I gotta give him props not only for representin’ in popular culture like he does but for the fact that the man keeps it real… He has not let any of his newfound fame go to his head.

  25. I want that phrase to become a meme. I want to be able to go up to random cops in NY and say “What the fuck! Give me my turban!”

  26. I want that phrase to become a meme. I want to be able to go up to random cops in NY and say “What the fuck! Give me my turban!”

    heheh…i’d love for those cops to be shown publicly who the REAL terrorists are, by their ignorant comments. and of all things, these are COPS, supposedly the upholders of the law, and they’re far worse tha who they’re chiding. ssaaddddddddddddddd….

  27. Awesome movie – just saw it. I have to admit I was agitated after his first real scene but I should have had more faith in Spike. He made up for it in the second scene. (Don’t want to go into details if you’re planning on watching)

    I am now a Waris fan =) Now I just need some moola to support House of Waris.

  28. thanks sonia! it does indeed look really good…..i’ll have to get it on dvd prolly, but it did look good, so it’sa must now. god, my movie list is growing. i better get painting so i can pay for my list!