Who said desi accents weren’t sexy? One in particular will keep me glued to the TV every Monday night, starting next Monday on the NBC sci-fi drama Heroes.
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Desi-licious |
The most heated debate [by critics] centers on “Heroes,” NBC’s bold new drama about everyday people who discover they have extraordinary powers (one can teleport, another can fly, a third is impervious to bodily injury) and ultimately band together to fight evil. (Think “X-Men” meets “Lost.”) Our panelists are deeply divided on this show — they either love it or seem to be disillusioned with the genre. [link]
Looks like with this show, NBC will be finally be able to tap into the ‘sci-fi drama for Gen X’ market that had been previously cornered by the soon to be defunct WB. As for my new television crush with the delicious desi accent — it is Sendhil Ramamurthy, who plays the Indian geneticist turned New York cabbie Mohinder Suresh.
A tenured genetics professor at the the University of Madras. His father Chandra was also a professor until he disappeared from India and the accredited academic world years ago after raving about a “global event’ that would change mankind. He thought his answers would be in New York… Chandra was murdered. Mohinder moves to New York to find out why his father was killed. [link]
Boys, you can have your Lakshmi-the-cooking-show-host because us girls will have Ramamurthy-the-geneticist- professor-who-will-solve-the-mystery. The Heroes site has delicious videos online to be sure to get you addicted well in advances of the Sept. 25th premiere. If you are a fan of the intrigue that was behind Lost (first season), or a comic book geek for superhuman abilities, then this show is sure to be your cup of chai. Join me in my new Monday night obsession, as I’m sure other female mutineers across the nation will be sure to do, in a swoon worthy weekly television event.
Except that bloke in the wheelchair is actually the most powerful one of all of them, since he can read and control minds. No, baldy had mutant powers up the arse, but desi-man here gets none.
Also, that bloke in the wheel chair was Jean-Luc Picard! No desi man was ever a captain in Star Trek. Well, except one.
Whatever boys- I’ll take smart geeky professor that will solve the mystery (it does seem like he has the power of holding the key to everything, which is powerful, no?) over a guy with a superpower any day.
Anyone else enjoying clicking the refresh button today? 😉
True, we had to settle for assistant chief engineer.
Sigh They always kill off the ethnic dude first.
One uncle in my neighborhood insisted that Captain Kirk looked Indian. I couldn’t quite see it, unless we’re talking of Indians like Karan Kapoor.
Yeah, taz :). Don’t be, don’t be.
Everyone on this thread must immediately give up 50 cool points for turning the discussion to…Star Trek.
Seriously.
C’mon. Hand ’em over.
ME ME ME
i’ve never seen one episode in my life..so likley 1000 points taken away or added to the ‘cool’ness factor.. i swear this is getting to be like the show ‘popular’…
Chick Pea and Taz:
me too. But hey, it’s a lot more fun than clicking the refresh button on Browndating.com 😀
And Chick Pea, I’ve never seen the show “Popular.” I don’t know how many cool points I’d have to give up for that…
salil: popular was a overly sarcastic take on high school popularity.. of course it was a great shows..and as most great shows (if not all) they get cancelled as my favorite one arrested development recently went to the graveyard (bad bad bad move fox…)–salil if you haven’t seen AD then hand over all your cool points..
Protest!
GujuDude runs outside and sets his bundi on fire.
Well, I did love Arrested Development, too, so I’m going to keep like…12 points.
Though I do think The Wire is the best show on TV. Y’all gotta put that in the TiVo lineup. 🙂
As far as the objectification of men is concerned, I’m totally against it unless the man in question is me. In which case, objectify away! I am strong, I will survive.
Maybe even flourish. 🙂
Of course, it’s that wonderful brown tan he has 🙂
(Finkie losing 100 more points)
oh, HELL-o. thank you for making my nap-filled hungover sunday oh so much better, taz.
salil — here are my 50 cool points. jean-luc picard rules.
Thank you, Taz :).
Salil, What is your problem with Star Trek fans? They are just like everyone else. Cool is a state of mind. 😉
Besides, the willingness with which Star Trek fans let their cool points be taken away points to a sad lack of self esteem :)…I hereby call for a picture gallery of hot Trekkies (I’m willing to contribute my pic to the cause ;))
Uh…I always thought that hot Trekkies could only be caught on camera in Cardasian or Klingon outfits. Oh yeah, and there must be some freakin’ quantum singularity in the tachyon field at the same moment.
X Men meets Lost cannot be too bad! I’m looking forward to it!
Actually, you’d surprised at the variety available to science fiction fans these days.
Abhi,
thank you (I think) for introducing me to yet another SF oddity: Femtroopers.
The pictures are odd. Am I the only guy who thinks these girls are not hot? I’m flashing back to when Triumph the Dog freaks out when that one dude takes off his helmet and goes, “Hi, I’m Colonel Sanders…”
But these…these comments are hysterical!
In all seriousness, though…I watched a certain amount of The Next Generation during my college years, and maybe a bit after. But the thing that really bothered me about Star Trek was how obnoxiously clean and understandable everything was. The aliens were never anything more than humans with odd bits of crap glued to their foreheads; the most alien race would have been Vulcans, who weren’t alien so much as autistic.
Most science fiction television leaves me clammy, though. I enjoyed Firefly / Serenity for daring to be a little different, and whimsical. But not much else really draws me in.
I actually happen to be a ridiculous science fiction fan, though I must insist…I am also a science fiction snob. The serialized pulp of Star Wars and Star Trek novels makes my stomach churn with dread. Give me Ender’s Game, Bruce Stirling, or Ian McDonald…or give me something else (probably South Asian). 🙂
I guess this qualifies as a threadjack. Oh well. From attractive desi dude to an exploration of science fiction. You never know which way the discussion will turn on SM.
Salil-
I take away all your cool points with that last comment… 😉
Abhi-
You were just waiting for a moment to post that link up on SM. Waiting… Nerd.
I never had a complex when the womenz axe me out but I will now. Thanks guys.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. I can’t even keep up a poser attitude for long. Sheeze.
Well, what can I do? It’s not like y’all didn’t know I was a geek already.
In other news, I’m thinking about writing a science-fiction script for a satire on Japanese monster movies. I will call it…Tanzila.
Hee. 😀
Salil.
THIS is war.
I saw the ads to the show whilst on my trip to the US last month… …unfortunately, Middle Earth would probably not get to watch the show until next year some time.
My main interest would be Milo Ventimiglia – of course, second to Mr. Ramamurthy!
I believe you are thinking about this other tan person….
i didn’t recognize him from the photo but this same sendhil was famous for stopping traffic and inspiring drool on a certain new england college campus back in the day. his then long-term girlfriend was the target of some desi verbal voodoo but when i finally met her she turned out to be one of the most intelligent, earnest and well-read women i have ever met. just mentioning this because i think good taste in women makes a specimen of eyemithai (mocha or otherwise) all the more de(si)licious.
anyhow, ten years later and i’m glad to hear that he’s doing so well (and still lookin soooo fine!)
[‘eyemithai’, ‘macaca’, ‘machang’, ‘kundi’ – i see a desi slang dictionary in the making]
i would crush his tamil money-maker if i was a) in prison b) gay
this fool wishes he had my samosa-powered belly jiggle
p.s. everyone in the “know” knows that a proper treatment of good science fiction must consider the original works of Dr. Who.
Star What?
now if i can only find my Dalek costume…
Always good to see a good desi winning hearts
That is one attractive man.
What’s all this? A heart-throb actor with Tamil roots? Time to bust out the Kannadhasan:
தேக்கு மரம் உடலைத் தந்தது சின்ன யானை நடையைத் தந்தது பூக்கள் எல்லாம் சிரிப்பைத் தந்தது பொன்னல்லவோ நிறத்தைத் தந்தது*
The teak tree gave its body => The teak tree gave you your body The baby elephant gave its walk => The baby elephant gave you its walk Flowers gave their laughter => Flowers gave you their laughter Wasn’t it gold which gave its color? => Wasn’t it gold which gave you your color?
— Originally sung to one of MGR‘s characters, but I suppose this guy comes in a close second… 😛
my memory is sketchy on the tamil script…
தந்தது –> is that k – ru – k – ka ?
what does it mean. It looks like quite a catchy song.
ok. i was talking out of my behind there. my knowledge is very sketchy… just some names that i remember from hoardings – written in tamil and english. pardon me if i insulted anyone – but i am curious at the wordplay – the one word could be used in different context.
kavita: here here… 🙂
Sorry hairy_d! Here’s a transliteration:
thEkku maram uDalai thanthathu chinna yaanai naDaiyai thanthathu pookkaL ellaam chirippai thanthathu ponnallavO niRaththai thanthathu
as for this:
I tried to think as dirty as possible, but I still don’t know what you meant. You did, however, spark a memory of an argument I once had with my aunt about whether there was an innuendo in one of the songs we were listening to.
If any of you know of good innuendos in Indian film songs (any language) please contribute here!
/* end threadjack */
By the way taz, the only reason I started thinking about Tamil songs was to try and get *@#&$@#^ing Mariah Carrey out of my head and damnit! It isn’t working! Make it stop, make it stop!
🙂 no man..no innuendo.
I just meant that தந்தது was used to end each line. I am sure it made for a catchy song – but I wasnt sure what it meant.. i’m guessing it probably could be translated as …
the teak tree, its body it gave the baby elephant, its walk it gave the flowers, their laughter they gave
etc.
thanks for the clarifications.
while i can quite imagine the gushes from the ladies… i’m oddly reminded of ann coulter… coulter was ridiculing berry for embracing her inner black woman and negating her irish roots in her oscar speech… the article took a twist in which the long tall one went all out praising denzel for ‘training day’… for anyone who’s seen malcolm x, philadelphia… you got to hand it to the man… he took on a dark character and brought it to life.
anyhow, my point being is that sendhil could easily pass for someone from southern europe… not that there’s anything wrong with it… but let me think back… does nayone remember that beauty from togo who was hailed as the first truly black supermodel… everyone before that was a colored version of an ideal…
catch my drift.
He needs a haircut!
UMM: umm… no! long and sexy… ;)… he’s brown candy for the female macacas allright.. no change needed.
Sin (#14):
chick pea (#91):
not just!
oooohhh!! and he’s a southie!! HOORAY!
89 Hairy Are you, by any chance referring to Alek Wek?
Hairy D:
The guy’s good looking, but southern Europe? I don’t think so…he looks very Indian.
southern europe? he isn’t the most chocolate brother of all time, but he is certainly not light-skinned. seems like this guy is much lighter.
Oh great, skin colour again.
Yeah he’s hot and I’m not even gay.
Since we are talking of desi heroes does anyone know if there are any desis in any professional sports (minor league baseball counts) here in the US? How cool would it be to have someone named Karsanbhai Somabhai Patel in the NFL.
shodan: It might be Wek – but my memory is of a person who was much much darker… but i think you get my point. that ramamurthys ‘good looks’ are very conventional – oddly so, given that he’s being positioned as a misfit.
amitabh: i am not begrudging him his ethnicity by any means – he cuts a fine figure anyhow – but he is definitely the kind of guy that people would tell, “o! you dont look eendian”.
yeti: it’s not about dark. it’s the features… the kind of guy that people would could “pass” as being from south america, italy, portugal, brazil whereever… except from ye olde desh- but i suppose the good news is that this guy is being positioned as being a cabbie with an indian accent (i only heard the video a few minutes back after post #89).
speaking of the video – i have a bad feeling this was designed by bean counters – factoring in the target demographics – saying x% of the asian with a y% hit ratio + z% of the indian with a k% hit +… = 12M hits a week -> advertising revenues of $25M –> gravy. anyhow… a desi in the band is worth two in the bush. so general woohoo all around.
Vijay Singh in golf…if you consider pro wrestling a sport, there’s a desi who calls himself Sonjay Dutt…I was playing my MLB 2005 game the other day (which has real players), and there was a player on a minor league team named Singh…but the minor league rosters do include some fictitous players, so I dunno about that one.
Any football fans? I’m sure there must be some desis in college football, or maybe even the NFL, haven’t paid attention to football in a while…