Just a little nudge to remind you that Fox’s “The Lot” is on at 8/7c tonight; I wrote about it last week and judging from the 200+ strong comment thread, you might want to tune in for yourself. It’s an otherwise awful reality show, but its one bright spot is contestant Shalini Kantayya, a filmmaker we’ve received many tips about– and for good reason.
Shalini came to India in 2001 when she made her first feature on the Kumbh Mela. The Fulbright scholar wanted to make a movie that connected her to her motherland. Raised in America by a single mother, she was in search of her roots. She has also just made a film with Nandita Das.
“My love for visual storytelling also became integrated with my love for human rights. I always considered myself a humanist and was always inspired by stories of ordinary people who overcome seemingly insurmountable hardships. Filmmaking is not just my profession; it’s my calling,” [link]
Last week, Shalini created a brief, moving film about a gay South Asian comedian named Vidur Kapur, who is based in New York. His take:
“We filmed the entire short in one day. It was exhausting but we had incredible chemistry working together and a lot of fun,” he says. “She’s very organised and hardworking, yet sensitive and compassionate.” [link]
To me supporting Shalini is about more than rooting for the brown girl in the ring. I appreciate the themes she is moved by:
Vidur is very positive about this film that goes beyond being an entry for On The Lot. “It’s important to generate awareness and acceptance as Asians in the USA. A movie like this is so important to get people to question their beliefs and assumptions,” Vidur adds. “Besides, my manager believes Shalini and I should be nominated for a GLAAD media award for this movie.” [link]
Even if you’re on the fence about her, consider this– wouldn’t you rather see her survive another round? If you’re not impressed at all, I’m not telling you that you should VOTE BROWN; I don’t think anyone on this site is about that kind of blind, unexamined loyalty. But if you’re not sure…what’s the harm in seeing more of what she’s got?
“Connected her to her motherland”!!!!!
Do they mean her mother’s land? She is an American.
Maybe she was born in India? I really don’t want to split hairs here.
if people use the phrase mothertongue, why not motherland? since that phrase was used to define her roots, ‘mother’ connotes source – and beyond america, one can argue that her ‘source’ culture comes from india. in any case, it’s all so subjective – how she defines herself, rather than how others choose to define her. oftentimes, i feel a much stronger emotional bond with india than with the states, and i’ve lived in the states all my life.
anybody know who else made it from last week’s round? or who was elimnated? i don’t know the rules of this show, but i assume there is at least one elimination a week?
Thanks, ak. I may be hyper-sensitive about such semantics, and if so, it’s b/c my second year of blogging was filled with virtual interactions with…this…person…who kept ranting and throwing expletives at me, telling me I had “no right” to India, etc. As if he owned it and couldn’t spare any. It was absurd.
From the official website, which is annoying:
I hope she gets voted off, so then she can come back to NY.
Speaking of film, this is my favorite piece of equipment., cuz it’s a telescoping jib, see it grows to a certain length (for wide shots), then collapses back down for tight shots. when it collapses, you wouldn’t even think it ever reached the full length. I wonder if SK’s used it.
A N N A…her theme song is umi says!!!! i’m watching now.
I fucking hate this show. So confusing and its website is the worst. We can’t vote for her tonight.
mmm hmmm. ok. this is normal.
i want this show in the UK!!!! the website is my enemy
Its competing with the NBA finals timeslot….wait, why do I care…San Antonio will probably win…hahahaha..back to the Lot
curly, don’t waste your time…we don’t get to vote for her/see her work this week, AFAIK. i’m not disparaging the other contestants, just the show itself. you can watch the videos after, online, and those are the best part of the entire quagmire.
This is something that I have always found interesting. Being a DBD, I guess I can never relate to going anywhere but India where I grew up to get in touch with my roots. But I have been trying to understand the ABD roots idea, which I have seen being mentioned often in coverage of ABDs. Interestingly after getting to know more ABDs, I find these statements even more puzzling. Here is my thought process on this –
ABDs are American, their roots are American. They probably grow up in an environment which is desi at home, their folks are in most cases (until now) purely desi but that at best would make them have a feeling of ‘wanting to know more’ about things Indian. A curiosity factor and a soft corner at best, but roots would be a strong word for that.
Most of the ABDs I know have a clear view of their identity, Americans with an Indian background. A balance of two cultures at most but that again makes me feel that if they are so sure about their identities, where does this roots in India question come in.
ANNA, you’re welcome. i’ve recently had the ‘honour’ of being called a ‘fake’ indian, by someone who was non-desi, no less. sometimes i think people should keep their (uninformed) opinions to themselves.
ardy – you generalise, and simplify, far too much. there is no way that you can lump all ABDs in that category. in fact, i would say your portrayal of ABDs is inaccurate as applied to a large number of people. also, you have overlooked several factors, such as visits to india, language, arts etc. which strengthen ties to india.
cannot desi be a part of that identity? i don’t understand why you are confused…
ak, are you calling Ardy a DBCD?
Does that mean that you are made of tofu, but smell like curry?
rahul, i suppose the C is more apt for ardy, than for me.
re fake indian (FI) – indeed, i am made of pizza/bagels, but smell of chutney. sometimes i smell of horlicks, chole bhatura, and pani puri. i suppose i am the epitome of fusion food. sometimes i wish i were made of (jai-ya’s) pad thai. sigh.
ak, you are large, you contain multi-foods.
I concur with Ardy. ABDs are as American as Colin Powell or Obama. Just curious, does the MSM constantly harp about Obama’s Kenyan heritage? I know that the Indian heritage of Bobby Jindal is cited often. Why is child of one set of immigrants considered American but not the other?
Ak – Mother tongue is mostly used in the context of ‘primary language’. For most ABDs primary language is English. So if Tamil were to be the language of your mother then the correct usage is “mother’s tongue” not mother tongue. Similarly motherland is often used to mean country of origin aka allegiance. In this case, Shalini may owe her primary allegiance to India despite an US passport although that is doubtful. I would suggest the “Tebbitt” test to check if it is motherland or mother’s land.
My mother tongue is not English so am open to correction.
If not ‘roots’ what other word? Have you heard of this? I think you don’t understand the concept of ‘roots’ as it’s used in this context. It’s a place of origin – even if you’re displaced, it’s still a starting point for your history. I met a “brown girl’ that spent her life in germany, her parents were german (white), but she was born in India – never spent a day in India in her entire life, but still considered her roots in India. (That the location of our meeting is a place called, “crazy horse ii” is irrelevant)
Each person has a varying degree of how “American” they feel, and it’s a time-varying function. Ask the one’s in NY how “rooted in America” they felt on Sept 12, 2001. You’ll get different answers.
Sure, we say things like “yo whats up dude” and eat McDonalds, but I think saying “our roots are American” is ridiculous. Any ABD that truly believes he has more relatability to FDR than Subhas Chandra Bose is living in some kind of fantasy world. If anything, our “petals” are American, but for some of us, our roots clearly lie in India.
The issue of strengthening our roots is something that people have looked into for a long time, be it in India or here. I’d recommend this.
Talk about splitting hairs!
LMAO, good one.
HMF – I think you may be right that I am not sure what you guys mean when you say roots and thus I don’t understand the concept of going to India to connect with the roots. To me when I think of roots, it immediately brings to mind the place where I grew up, my family and yes the culture and everything that was around me when I was in my formative years. That is also probably because it was a simplistic situation where there was just one culture to deal with. Thats the benchmark I try to apply when I think of ABDs and roots (obviously incorrectly since you guys have to work with e a more difficult situation here) and all those become equitable to an American surrounding with the desi culture inside the home and family.
The idea that a ABD feels displaced as you mention and thus the question of roots comes in, itself seems a little strange to me considering the whole idea of America being a melting pot and that you guys are as American (as the white man next door in terms of your American values (I say this in a good way, freedoms etc). Why does a brown person feel displaced despite growing up here while a white man would never talk about German roots or Scandinavian roots, just ancestries. I have not seen that movie but I would add it to my netflix queue.
Ak – Maybe I am over simplifying but when someone says roots, I would think of a stronger affinity to the roots, a core – than the petals. If you guys said your roots are American and petals Indian it would be easier to understand. And I do agree that exceptions may exists, but a lot of ABDs seem to be more desi roots than vice versa. But then again, like I said my interpretation of roots is different.
ardy – please understand that for some there is confusion and for others, there is not. i would say most ABDs are well-adjusted – and they fit easily into american society, though we still highly value the culture of our family/parents.
as for roots – you talk about childhood and growing up – i spent every summer until the age of 16 in india, often for at least 2 months, spending time between various relatives’ houses. i still go back at least once every 2 years. how can that not be a part of my roots? i still feel you generalise too much – so many ABDs actvely take part in desi culture, and it’s just a part of their existence – without having there be any confusion.
i suppose it is a more a matter of exposure – and for some american-borns – desi or not – that exposure is more easily accessible. others, whose immigrant ancestors are long gone, only have the choice of american culture, and not any secondary culture. i know plenty of ‘white’ americans who are very much tied to their italian, irish, french etc cultures. to each his/her own.
Well, at least you caught the careless assumption that it’s a single place/culture. Me, personally, I grew up in a very ‘Indian’ household. I could say I know more about customs/culture than most DBDs.
When it comes to it, I’d say your roots are where you draw your entity & essence from.
Dude, I dont mean to sound rude, but if you ask this question with a serious face, just pickup a book and see how this society has treated non-whites vs whites. Myself, and a lot of people I know are constantly reminded in subtle, seemingly inconsequential ways, that we’re ‘foreign’
I’d say one doesn’t even need to go this far. Roots has a concept of foundation, something that’s not necssarily practiced or kept in constant awareness, yet exists anyway.
Most that I know, (even 2nd gen. immigrants) relegate it into neatly fit categories:
Irish = drinking Italian = food and big families French = kissing
A good friend of mine had parents who emigrated from Norway, she knew what a fjord was. that’s about it, the white immigrant acceptance as “American” is simply too high. Something needs to get nudged out.
Don’t forget lutefisk.
Ok, let me disclaim before tempers get too high. Please don’t take my questions as an attempt to say ABDs have issues or anything such. I am just trying to understand something which I don’t and I don’t mean any offense here. And thanks for replying patiently so far. And I am not assuming carelessly, I am assuming based on my limited understanding of these issues and thats why I am asking these questions so that I don’t make such assumptions.
I guess the next question that comes to me is – is this a norm for most ABDs or an exception. And when you say roots are your source of essence, then I again wonder why would it be Indian instead of being partly American and partly Indian.
Your point that ABDs have parents strongly connected with India while white people don’t have something similar I think is quite valid and would explain a lot of tihngs
I guess you may have a point there. But I have been here less than a decade and there are so many times when I don’t even consciously remember I am in a foriegn country. And when I do remember this, it’s more (for me) I think because of the differences in things than anyone doing something directed at me. Sure there are instances of discrimination in subtle ways but even that I feel is present everywhere – even in India we have discrimination of various castes which sometimes does get a little in your face.
Anna, thanks for the post. It is exciting to have Shalini on the show. The “On The Lot” website is very confusing. Next week, they’ll air the remaining 5 contestants’ films. Our girl Shalini is safe for now, having survived last night. I’m assuming their next film assignment will be in two weeks, when we’ll have a chance to vote for her next. But, who knows with the schizophrenic nature of this show!
From my understanding, visits to India are farely commen for ABDs, maybe not to the extent ak has gone.
I find it silly for an ABD (whose parents are DBD) to say their roots are “American” to any significant degree, when I look at myself, not as a single individual, rather as part of a lineage or as a single domino in a long train – most of that is clearly Indian. Eating cheeseburgers doesn’t make our “roots” American.
I had the same experience; I spent a significant portion of every year until High school visiting India, and since then I have lived there for a year and returned several times. All told, I would say in 24 years of life I’ve made at least 18 trips and spent at least 3 years of my time there. That is why I consider myself Indian-American.
On the other hand, I know Indian kids that never go back, or have been back like twice. They have a superficial knowledge of things like language or Bollywood, but they don’t really understand living conditions, lifestyle or what it is to live in India. Those are the people who I would call ABCDs. Also, you get a similar problem with immigrants who never go back, and are wedded to their idea of what India or “Indian culture” is. Then you tell them that things are completely different now, 20 years later, and they just refuse to believe it. Most of my cousins in India (who are admittedly upper class) are way more forward and modern than some of the Indian people I meet here in American.
As for Shalini, I’m always down to support any Indian making his way in the Arts, as long as they don’t resort to pandering or exoticizing, sari-border henna style.
Damn, I guess Shalini’s story is the Crying Game.
There’s like a civil war going on, in the Indian community, we have Indian-Americans, and then there’s ABCDs. And ABCD’s have got to go.
i think the term ABCD has got to go. plus, who even came up with that term – DBDs? i don’t think other people should be in the position of naming ABDs confused, esp. when it is clear that we are not some homogeneous group.
HMF (#34): way to channel Chris Rock.
Ooh, I have an idea! Let people choose their own identity rather than try and come up with rules that they may never apply or follow just so things are tidier and more comfortable in your head. If I say my roots are in India or my roots are in America, it really doesn’t mean much. I don’t have literal roots, they’re metaphorical, based at least in part on how I’m feeling that day.
And today I’m feeling pretty cranky, so I say my roots are in the movie “Aliens.”
My roots are up there. And if I’m feeling Brit enough, I’ll say routes. What’s with the defeatist pronunciation stateside?
Thanks SM.I had no idea we had an Indian-American director on this series! “Love in 2007” was pretty mediocre.But I liked the documentary. She comes out as a confident and passionate director.I’m going to follow her progress on this show! On an uneventful note, the person who typed her interview on that website misspelt Gandhi. Groan.
“Also, you get a similar problem with immigrants who never go back, and are wedded to their idea of what India or “Indian culture” is. Then you tell them that things are completely different now, 20 years later, and they just refuse to believe it…”
G-Unit this is a situation a lot of desi kids find themselves in growing up…it effectively locks them out of the american mainstream (dating, partying: pure corruption) and out of a true dialog with a rapidly changing India; forces them into marriage by age 22 and strands them ill prepared for life in the 21st century…and the irony is the parents feel that they are completely righteous in their own mis-guided ways.
Ardy, ‘roots’ is a fairly subjective thing; it can be self-defined, and it can be defined for you by others. And I’m pretty sure the definition varies from person to person. Let’s say there is a Gujarati kid raised in the US. Depending on his own intellectual processes, when he grows up he may feel that his roots are in Gujarat. Or, he may not really feel that way at all. At the same time, I may look at him and feel that his roots are in Gujarat (regardless of how he feels about it), or, I may look at him and feel his roots are NOT in Gujarat (again, regardless of how he feels about it). So there’s no right or wrong answer, a lot of it boils down to opinion and perception. And it’s mostly an intellectual thing that everyone figures out for themselves eventually. How you define roots is not necessarily how others do.
Amitabh,
Although I understand the broad gist of your comment, I am still a little confused about other defining your roots for you. I feel it is your own process and other can not put a definition to it. Others defining it is akin to most Americans perceving second generation Indians to be foreigners when they are born and raised in America.
That’s right…and they still might feel that way regardless of what we think about the subject.
I think the question then is of semantics, others can think of it any way they want but you and I are the only ones who know what our roots are. I used to think that discussions about roots are similar to origins which will obviously be a mixture of our ancestors and us. Off topic do you believe your roots to be in India or in America?
My roots are from India. Which is not to discount the huge impact and influence that growing up in America has had on my life on virtually every level. I grew up in NJ…in a way I’m from NJ…but my roots are not from NJ. Even though growing up in NJ may have had more of an impact on my very personality and identity than my roots in India did. But still. That’s my take on it, anyway.
Hey, in Shalini’s first “On The Lot” film — ‘Love in the Yeah 2007’ — wasn’t the goofy desi singing telegram dude played by that actor from the “7-11” plays, Debargo Senyal? I saw the “7-11” show here in Manhattan two years ago, and I think I spotted that actor in there…
Hey Amitabh,
Thanks, btw I wasn’t being an asshole by putting you on the spot. I feel this is the most honest answer I have heard to this question in contrast to some others on these boards.
35 ak,
Please, I beg you, don’t even go there ! We had a long and tortuous debate on this ( see here for a sample) and I for one am glad that we are using DBD and ABD 🙂
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