Look what I found in my GMail this morning!
The Dance of the Kama Sutra
Get this sensual dance fitness video two months before it’s available anywhere else. [Borders]
I hate wincing before I’ve had my morning kappi. When I went to get my normal small-drip-with-egregious-space-for-cream, I sighed and said, “make it a large”. I need all the energy I can get to deal with potential exotification.
Here’s what I discovered about the sensual fitness video which will be released on July 31:
Follow-up to the fun, top-selling Bollywood Dance Workout; Offers a unique workout with sacred sensual moves for your body and soul
Acacia announces the July 31, 2007 DVD release of Dance of the Kama Sutra with Hemalayaa, offering an exciting new program using meditation and playful movements from Indian dance to help women cultivate their sensuality.
The Kama Sutra, an ancient Indian text, promotes the cultivation of sensuality as a sacred duty. The need to cultivate and reconnect with our sensual selves—the goddess at the core of every woman—remains as strong as ever, but the din and rush of modern life make the opportunities all too rare. Through playful movements and heart-centered meditation, yogini and Indian Dance expert Hemalayaa takes you on a journey of discovery. Find the freedom and fullness of expression that come from embracing yourself and your body, just as you are. Join Hemalayaa, creator of The Bollywood Dance Workout, in a dance of love and laughter that instills confidence, joy, and poise. Gesture by gesture, swish by swish, we remember that we are—and have always been—divine dancers. [link]
Swish by swish, even!
The “ick” was at a roiling boil within and I cynically wondered who was behind this project…and yes, it’s true, I did not think it was someone brown. Just who was Hemalayaa?
Hemalayaa teaches yoga and Indian dance in Los Angeles and offers frequent workshops and retreats around the world. The daughter of Indian parents, Hema’s yoga training began at home at an early age, and she went on to study yoga, philosophy, and meditation as well as asana. Hema’s in-depth study and practice of classical Indian dance informs how she teaches yoga. A life devoted to yoga and dance animates Hemalayaa’s playful spirit. Many of her retreats and workshops culminate in a night of dance. Hema loves turning her students on to the vibrant styles of Indian dance, from the classical to the latest moves from Bollywood, bhangra, and Indian MTV. [link]
Oh, snap. She is desi. And I’m uber-fond of people named Hema, too. I felt vaguely ashamed, because I was aware of how I had immediately cut her a bit of slack which I clearly wouldn’t have extended to someone unbrown. I am teh suck. The flawed, biased suck. At least I know it, right?
What now? My exoti-dar was still going off, though it had been significantly muted. Should I be happy that homeslice was doing her thang? Or was it okay to cringe, at the title and over the audience this was intended for, if the demographic I was imagining was accurate? What’s your take?
Ponnu paakarathu ellam appramaa…modhallai ozhunga orgy-a naduthanom illai?
h*t grls are allowed to call themselves anything and its cool. people only complain about a bad fake name if $he was ugly.
Sarah, Honestly, though I liked watching Bend it like Beckham , like every other disapora movie it appeared to exaggerate and caricaturize some aspects of “Indian ” culture. One can of course argue that cinema as a medium needs to exaggerate to make its point – else we would all be watching documentaries!
As for the other Southie experience * cough*: Can’t we convince you to write a blog post with all details? Huh? please ? please ?:-)
( All: Sorry for the threadjack )
nalla sapaadu. pretty cool name for a blog…
Thanks! I’m having a lot of fun with it.
awww….ur no fun…
That’s the sort of story best told over beer!
When is the bajji-kaapi ingestion protocol initiated?
LOL. Did I just totally derail this thread? Mannikanoom, guys. I’ll be good. 🙂
hema, I agree that the movie starts falling apart once Tom and Nicole fight and he starts wandering around town. There was a whole lot of nothing there. As for whether he could have made a better movie with actors other than Tom and Nicole, certainly! Nicole in a camisole wasn’t difficult on the eyes though.
next meetup then…
.
Excuse me! You’re apologizing for derailing a thread about a chick marketing this with a discussion of a personal orgy experience? All we Tam guys ask is to be objectified, after all.
@50 Like Playa from the Himalaya?
As for Bend it like Beckham, I have no idea if it was a legitimate attempt at anything, but I felt it was a silly, cliched crappy movie. Unfortunately, most people don’t seem to share this opinion. Gurinder Chadha is mediocre to the max.
Drama is life with all the boring parts taken out.
I thought the trend of juxtaposing fitness with random concepts/activities had run its course. After bollywood dance, pet yoga and pole dancing – now introducing – kamasutra swish!
Can’t wait for tappanguthu. It even sounds exotic.
As for Bend it like Beckham, I have no idea if it was a legitimate attempt at anything, but I felt it was a silly, cliched crappy movie.
Ditto. I mean, there wasn’t anything particularly original about the story, the dialogs, etc…but I also thought it was marketed to a primarily Western audience who probably thought it was exotic (because of the Indian thing) and pathbreaking (because of the woman-from-repressed-culture-takes-up-football thing). It was marginally better than Bride and Prejudice though.
Personally, I thought Bhaji on the Beach was a better effort from Chadha, esp. as it showcased more serious problems that the aunty set in Britain encountered.
someone should start selling sensual yogic ayurvedic fitness barthanatiyam dance…
As exaggerated as “Bombay Boys” was, it still had a great story to tell and I think the exaggeration actually set the tone of how ridiculous some situations can be for first-timers going to India.
Here you go! Actually, I think there are places in India where tourists can take classes in dappankoothu, but I can’t find the link right now.
If I am choreographing a tamilian orgy, I will start with superfat BPO founder Aravind Swamy and tub of lard Khushboo from Alaipayudhey in background, triplechin farexbaby Madhavan and Shalini in middleground, in foreground we will put superhottie Namitha and our own Srikanth. Musik ofcourse will be world famous ARR with the Mani Rathnam hit “Pouring White Semen Drenches Her Torso” ( Pudhu Vellai Mazhai Pozhigindradu, Kollainila Udal Nanaigindradhu )
Electronic devices meant to
that is truly horrific.
the Mani Rathnam hit “Pouring White Semen Drenches Her Torso” ( Pudhu Vellai Mazhai Pozhigindradu, Kollainila Udal Nanaigindradhu )
Oh, thanks for that, TamBram. All this time, little innocent me thought that “pudhu vellai mazhai” was a reference to snow up in Kashmir.
What, Arvind Swamy is as handsome as he was in Thalapathi and Roja!
Saw “Water” by Deepa Mehta yesterday. Another trite movie. In fact, the dialog writing was so unnatural and bad, that I turned on subtitles and read it. Anyone else saw the movie?
Honestly, though I liked watching Bend it like Beckham , like every other disapora movie it appeared to exaggerate and caricaturize some aspects of “Indian ” culture. One can of course argue that cinema as a medium needs to exaggerate to make its point – else we would all be watching documentaries!
This is exactly the question that I keep grappling with as a vellaikaral learning about India. I don’t think anybody can make a ‘perfect’ movie– it seems like these issues are going to pop up no matter what you do. So when does it reach the point where those distortions outweigh
(1) the artistic value of the movie? For example, I’ve heard a lot of desis express frustration with Mira Nair’s movies, but I do think Fire was artistically beautiful. (2) the cross-cultural value of the movie? Isn’t it better to have flawed movies that show real, human South Asian characters than to have none at all? I’m active in the fight for immigrant rights and I can’t help thinking that anything that exposes Americans to cultures that are new to them in a caring and humanized way is a good thing. (3) the other political aspects of the movie? “Bend It Like Beckham” did inspire thousands of young female athletes.
It’s complicated and I won’t even pretend I know the answers! But it does seem like there are some talented directors trying hard to tackle this question, which can’t be an easy job.
On that note, what do SM’ers think about this trend of Hollywood actors declaring that they’re just dying to do Bollywood movies? Including Angelina Jolie, who’s basically in blackface playing an African character in ‘A Mighty Heart,’ which makes me like her even less. It could be awful… but I have this dream that the Coen Brothers will team up with the directors of ‘Bluffmaster’…
next meetup then…
DC’s not that far away from Philly…
Good job, Tambram. “Kaviyarasu” Vairamuthu’s mind is as dirty as his veshti is bleached-white.
Fire was Deepa Mehta. I liked that one.
Skepmod, Thanks! I am so happy someone found the movie as badly made as I did . I was quite astonished by the fact that it gathered an Oscar nomination. A I also thought it was hopelessly miscast .
but I have this dream that the Coen Brothers will team up with the directors of ‘Bluffmaster’…
Heh. We have to find a way to make this happen!
For example, I’ve heard a lot of desis express frustration with Mira Nair’s movies, but I do think Fire was artistically beautiful.
Oops, I meant Deepa Mehta. Although you could say the same thing about Mira Nair’s movies.
Well you do have “Gangsta MD” coming out. I also heard a few years ago that Hollywood bought the rights for “Aankhen”. That would be an interesting movie.
Water was so boring, except for the gorgeous cinematography, Lisa Ray, and the cute kid. I have no idea what the fascination with this silly moralizing movies is. BTW, Sarah, Fire was Deepa Mehta’s. Again, that movie had good intent, but it tried to pack in way too much, didn’t do justice to many of the story lines, and (in my opinion) had the Radha and Sita character names interchanged which annoyed me to no end – she clearly used those names to invoke images, but the characters behaved in exactly the opposite way. Radha was demure and went through the agni pariksha at the end, Sita was the rebellious one who walks away from her husband!
I don’t necessarily see a problem with Jolie playing Marianne Pearl, but if you want to dislike her, here’s one reason.
All we Tam guys ask is to be objectified, after all.
Haha, you sound just like my ex!
Oh man. Ya’ll are way better than getting my work done…
You know, one story that just aches to be retold in a Western-friendly way is “Silappadikaram”. An angry and empowered woman setting fire to an entire city would make for a heckuva climax (that’s movie climax, TamBram, not the other kind).
The one movie about diaspora that I’ve really liked, and is my favorite among the entire lot, is “My Son the Fanatic” (Om Puri and Rachel Griffiths). I highly recommend it. Unfortunately, it came out right around the time “East is East” (also starring Om Puri) was released, and people seemed to like it better, because it was far easier to consume, but again it mostly took resort in stereotypes and easy jokes.
Sarah, sorry that I didn’t recognize you. It was really dark that night and there were so many people around.
Hema, I grew up on Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, in those days the number 1 source of Tamil music for all of Tamilnadu & whatever Tamil population is alive in Srilanka. This SLBC is shortwave ( SWII ) station, you get it all over south india. True story – They invited Vairamuthu for panel discussion. The poet, sorry “Emperor of poets” ( kaviarasu ), was totally drunk. At one point RJ says how do you write such gems for Mani Ratnam movies ? Drunk poet says what gems ? Every popular Tamil song has implicit reference to semen, sex, masturbation, intercourse. Idea is to not make that reference explicit otherwise censor board will use scissor. Then poet went on to list dozens of these songs & told us the hidden meanings – RJ was horrified and after two very explicit examples he cut to commercial. The poet never came back on.
Take oldie Kamal superhit Raja Kaiya Vechcha, on the mouth of every schoolchild. What does it mean ? Garage mechanic Raja is saying he can make this girl Gautami cum just by using his hands ( ie. fingers ). Then he says she gets hot so fast! Or take the new superhit Viru viru vena valarum pazham yen virasangalai velludhey – At that point cinematographer cuts to this Sandhya’s nipples pointed straight to sky ie. Your boobs are growing so fast my modesty is compromised!
Nothing is left to the imagination. This Kubrick orgy etc. is so lame compared to our Kaviarasu’s lyrics. Mere words can get you off, no need for visual.
surely hemaplayaleyaa would know that there is far more than one form of ‘classical indian dance.’ In fact many do not incorporate ‘swish-swish’ or the artful articulation of back-fat rolls.
in my long and less than illustrious career as an ever-suffering male Bharatanatyam artiste, I didn’t see one occasion in which a classically-trained dancer turned to infomercial-style brownercising to make a buck.
many did go the ‘fusion’ route or sought to make a space in the academe for their work but nothing as ‘ick’ as this.
You are definitely not alone!
I actually liked Fire more than Water. My parents really enjoyed Water, as did my grandparents — they said it reminded them of their real life experiences and impressions of the role of widows in society before/after partition. I think the child actress was totally cute. Also, I love the way Mira Nair captures the complexity of her characters. She doesn’t pull it off in every film, but the films that I love by her (Salaam Bombay!, Monsoon Wedding, Mississippi Masala) take on characters in a way that is thoughtful, but also in a way that gives you insight into another point of view entirely. And, as mentioned, her cinematography is, at times, truly beautiful.
I like Bend it Like Beckham the same way I like B-grade comedies. Not because it was amazing or even good, but because elements of it are fun and because I like soccer. I really dislike her misrepresentation of Punjabis, and of desis more broadly. While some elements are realistic, she relies on a lot of stereotypes to advance her story among the non-desi audience. I think Bridge and Prejudice is one of the worst films I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Gurinder Chadha is, overall, a terrible filmmaker, in my opinion.
Rahul, was East is East the one about the Pakistani-British guy and his (I think Irish?) girlfriend?
Rahul —
It’s about to be.
What I’m about has nothing to do with fusion dance-yoga-sex at all.
I knew almost nothing about India before I became involved in the religion I’m a part of. Nor was I a “new-ager” or into any of that (too young to be), and that was before “fusion dance”, “tribal-fusion”, “tantric sex”, “yogic-sex” and all that came on the scene. You’ve read me wrong, real wrong. In fact, celibacy is highly valued in my religion and “sexual expression” is something meant to be explored and enjoyed by the “Gods”, more than humans on this earthly path.
That being said, years later, after all the experiences I’ve had travelling, meeting a wide variety of people and being exposed to a wide variety of cultures/languages, as well as the sufferings (and joys) I’ve undergone in my lifestyle choices, coupled with the hypocrisy surrounding the theme of sexuality that I have witnessed and participated in first hand in my own religion as well as other religious cultures, I am at the point now where if it makes someone happy and as a result of that personal happiness that person is nicer to me in our interactions (because they are not living with some inner angst that they are carrying around like a bomb about to expload inside them) I say “more power to you girl! (or guy)”.
As far as the exotification issue – that is what making money is all about. Do I appreciate being bombarded with the visual of another woman’s big breasts and small waist everytime I log into my email account on an ad for a diet pill? No. I’m a woman, I have my own breasts and waist that I can look at in the mirror if I want, but hey – exotification of the female body sells and sells big, and these people/companies/corporations are out to make money – lots of it. What to do?
As far as “The Kama Sutra, an ancient Indian text, promotes the cultivation of sensuality as a sacred duty”…..
……This is partly true in the sense that of the 4 purusharthas (4 main goals of human life);
….Kama – or the fullfilment of a wide variety of sensual desires, in a regulated way, is deemed an important “artha” or goal to fulfil in one’s life, along with the other three.
Regarding; “Gesture by gesture, swish by swish, we remember that we areâ€â€and have always beenâ€â€divine dancers.”
This is a foundational concept amongst sufis like the whirling dervishes as well as other spiritualists – that the soul is happy, carefree and full of song and dance by nature, but having been encased in a material frame for a long time causes such expression to be stifled. It is also a foundational concept in bhakti, which is why song and dance is such a major componant of bhakti religious traditions. When the soul is (re)united with it’s Divine Beloved (God, I guess you could call it), then again it will dance.
Puliogre in da USA
And what about the many black people who buy this product? Are you more comfy with brown being exotified amongst them? Coz I can assure you, several black men exotify Indian women ALOT. Is that OK with you?
Anyway, exotification is not neccessarily a bad thing – is it? Could it be seen as a compliment in many cases? Could it be seen as being thought of as unique, fresh, exciting and non-boring, non-run-of-the-mill?
Flexibility and (muscle) stamina 😉
was the misrepresentation of Punajabis worse in Bend It (chadha) or Bollywood Hollywood (d. mehta)?
Mine too.
PG! You gots yourself a web page! But shouldn’t you have a lotus on that page instead? And what’s with all the black? Not liking the aura there.
Please read Orientalism (Edward Said) or The Karma of Brown Folk (Vijay Prashad) or From Termagant to Odalisque (Mohja Kahf), and then perhaps we can all be on the same page to discuss the political and social ramifications of being labeled “exotic.”
It was a kitchen sink movie, involving a Pakistani dad married to an English woman with his first wife stashed away in the home country, a gay hairdresser son, adolescent circumcision, dating an Irish/English (don’t remember) girl, arranged marriage with bucktoothed females, and use of chamber pots, among other things.
I don’t know if they’re really comparable? I thought Bollywood/Hollywood was just an all out crappy movie. I put it on par with the stupid characterization of Punjabis in B&P.
how many times, in our mass-comodification culture, does the label of exotic make a person/thing anything other than an object of desire for the viewer/owner/consumer?
When you become ‘the exotic’ you also lose the ability to matter on your own merit–your worth is determined entirely by the value/entertainment you present to the non-exotic consumer.
Rahul, can’t do much about the black coz this was a pre-fab web background/page design. I’m not computer savy enough to build my own. However, I think it contrasts well with the bright yellow, and the yellow represents Sri Radha (who is described as “Gori” or “golden hued”) while the black represents Her eternal lover, Sri Krishna, who is known in Braja-bhasha as “Kala/Kalu” – black. One meaning of Krishna is “black” as well. So my page represents the union of the Divine Couple.
Regarding a lotus, no – the flower on my page is (or at least resembles) a Karnika-puspa — the flower worn in Krishna’s ears as earrings (as described in shastra).
Therefore the decor of my page is befitting it’s theme – topics of Radha and Krishna.
Isn’t “exotic” just another way of saying “other”? To paraphrase chachaji, calling something exotic is simply “otherizing”, and to be avoided, in my opinion.
The message of Bollywood/Hollywood was that escorts are ok to bring home to momma, but hookers are not, right? Or was it the other way around?
Monsoon Wedding was gorgeous and the music was great too, but I think it had one too many distracting plot elements – it could have lost the child abuse aspect of the story, and still been an excellent examination of the joint family dynamics in a North Indian context. Of course, Naseeruddin Shah and the wedding contractor did a really good job.
I know, PG. As the Gita says, Karma’s a bitch. And the web page badly needs some yoni bling.
OYYYY DUBEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they were the highlights of the movie.
i think it was that perceived non-indian escorts are all right to bring home but not non-indian canuck celebrities.
i’m guessing that female descendents of Tiger Jeet Singh were unavailable at casting