Category Archives: Arts and Entertainment

‘Out of Fashion’ at the QMA

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Playwright Anuvab Pal has a new play in staged reading this Saturday, March 26th, 7pm at the Queens Museum of Art. The play is ‘a historical comedy set in a Savile Row suit shop.’ He writes:

It’s called Out of Fashion and it’s an hour long comedy about British tailors, Indian fashion designers, Irish patent clerks and Indian freedom fighters. It attempts to be funny. Would be great to see you there.

The QMA is currently hosting art exhibits from both American desis and the subcontinent. Here’s the rest of their theater schedule:

  • Saturday, 6:30-7pm, preview of Seven.11
  • Sunday, 4:15-5pm, staged reading of Deepa Purohit’s Exile: ‘a story of a South Asian woman’s journey through memory which spans two continents in search of lost loves’

The museum is also hosting dance performances throughout this weekend. Full details here.

Update: Vernacular Body reviews Out of Fashion:

The play was good fun, despite the absence of props and an abundance of wild accent shifts: neither the upper-crustish (fathers) nor the Dublinish was particularly convincing, and the cockney (sons) was a complete cock-up.  Had a good mind to send them tapes of David Beckham talking, innit?  But there was much wild punnery to be had, Alfred J. Prufrock played a major role, andapt indeed was the nudge-nudge wink-wink cleverness of the Monty-Python-meets-Falstaff variety (which I happen to like) as the play was set in a Saville Row tailor shop.  I confirmed with the playwright afterwards that Wilde and Stoppard were major influences on his sensibility.

Holi Day munchies

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Straight from your druggie aunties and uncles, here are some traditional recipes for Holi bhang. The Hindustan Times even tells you how to make pot laddoos and green halva!

Bhang, or cannabis, is freely associated with the splash of assorted Holi colours. During this season, bhang is prepared and served according to age-old traditions throughout the Himalayan foothills.

With a simple mortar and pestle, the buds and leaves of cannabis are squashed and ground into a green paste, to which milk, ghee and spices are added. This base can be mixed with the nutritious, refreshing drink, thandai… This can also be mixed with ghee and sugar to make a tasty green halvah, and into peppery, chewy little balls called [golis].

I’m cracking up just thinking of aunties hanging out around shady parks after midnight trying to score Shiva’s herb for their Holi parties. Mistress of Spices indeed. Like Bhang for Chocolate. Maybe desis’ popularity in stoner flicks is justified — I’ll never look at pista barfi the same way again.

The adult Holi is the desi Halloween, a day for masks, flirting and outrageous fun. Meanwhile, bhangra aficionados are busy denying that its name derives from bhang:

Cecil Beaton described the ‘concoction of milk of almonds, rosewater, carminum nuts and eight ingredients of which hashish, or Bhang, was the principal’. (‘One of the effects of Bhang,’ he further reported, ‘is that it makes everything appear humorous. Another is that strange things happen to one’s sense of time.’)

Brimful’s amphora runneth over as she tells a hilarious tale about an auntie, an airport and a dime bag:

… her brother-in-law, V mama, puts in his request, asks her to get him some of that stuff that goes into bhang. She puts it on the list, describes it exactly that way when she seeks it out in India.

So there she is, waiting in the customs line at Logan, carting along two rather young kids, bags filled to the point of bursting, and the customs inspector decides that her bags should be inspected…. The inspector does his thing, until he comes to a bag of dried leaves. “What’s this?” he asks.

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Come join the Warner Brothers and the Warner sister Dot.

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24night.jpe Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan (better known by his first initial and/or his chosen middle name “Night”) has fled the magic kingdom.

Walt Disney has lost one of its brightest directors, M Night Shyamalan, to Warner Bros. Shyamalan was also one of its biggest moneymakers. His four films in a row for Disney have grossed?over $2 3 billion worldwidein theatrical receipts and video sales.
Creative differences over Shyamalan’s new project, Lady In The Water, led to the parting, Hollywood’s trade papers reported.

The uber-talented Philadelphian is a unique force in Hollywood; even his…um…critic-deemed flops (ahem, “The Village“) earn almost a quarter of a billion dollars worldwide. Speaking of that paranthetically mentioned flick, no major stars lent pixie dust to that production. As the linked article notes, it was our boy Manoj who drew moviegoers in, and that’s something that deserves props.

Shyamalan has steadily built a reputation for making films on medium size budgets of $50-$75 million by offering the stars part of the film’s gross. There was speculation last year that Fox had offered him to direct the Booker Prize winning novel Life Of Pi the studio had acquired about three years ago.

Perhaps he’ll cast someone vaguely Asian-looking to play pool-named protagonist Piscene Molitor Patel. One fervently hopes. After all, that comment thread is FUN.

I’ll close by enclosing the following priceless tidbit; apparently Rediff knows something about Pennsylvania that we don’t.

Shyamalan’s first film, a coming of age cross-cultural story, was shot in India. His subsequent films have been made in his home state of Philadelphia. The new movie would also be shot there. But if he takes up Life Of Pi, which has some of its crucial sequences set in India, he might have to visit the country of his birth and shoot there after nearly 14 years.

Hey, that’s fine with me. Philly’s the only part of PA I go to… 😉 Continue reading →

Parting the Luna Sea

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Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Jesus, a sex guru, a ballet dancer and Superman’s girlfriend walk into a casting call…

Indian-Canadian director Vic Sarin is putting together an indie film called Partition (thanks, sd). The Sepia Films (wha?) script seems more than ‘inspired’ by the Bollywood megahit Gadar. Both films show a Sikh villager rescuing a Muslim girl during Partition and guiding her safely into Pakistan:

Partition is a sweeping, historical drama set against the partition of India and based on the real life experiences of director Vic Sarin’s family. Partition tells the story of a former British army Sikh officer, Gian Singh, who rescues a young Muslim girl, falls in love with her and must travel to Pakistan to save her… Production on the film will begin next April in South Africa, India and United Kingdom…

The film features Jimi Mistry (East Is East, The Guru), Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ), Neve Campbell (The Company) and Kristin Kreuk (Smallville). Mistry will take the lead, and Campbell will play his British friend, fitting neatly into the Candice Bergen role in Gandhi. She even has a similar jawline.

Kreuk will play the 17-year-old Muslim love interest, Naseem. Her parents are Chinese and Dutch, but I suppose it’s walking distance from Smallville to the Punjabi pind.

“I’m so excited about Partition,” KK told TV Guide…

That’s right, she told TV Guide… that she’s excited… about… Partition. Isn’t that kind of like telling Soap Opera Digest that you’re excited about the Holocaust? I doubt those in my family who survived it were in their happy-happy-fun-fun place at the time. Here’s an idea: how about Kal Penn the henchman shooting death rays from his eyes at Superman’s girlfriend. Now that’s exciting.

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I could get high off this La.

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cover2.jpeOooh La La La…It’s the way that they rock when they’re doing their thang, oooh La La La…it’s the natural La that the Refugees bring…oooh La La La La La La Lalala La Lah…

In Kuala Lumpur, it was a sweet thing:

Former Fugess Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean reunited onstage on Friday at a concert in Malaysia to raise money for tsunami-devastated communities.

On the set list: hits like “Killing Me Softly,” “Ready or Not” and “Fu-Gee-La.” When I read the line-up of acts, I was reminded of last year’s Coachella; a reunited Pixies dominated the buzz there, I can see the Fugees doing the same at this show.

The pair joined performers including actor Jackie Chan, the Backstreet Boys, Black Eyes Peas and Boyz II Men before 15,000 fans at the seven-hour Forces of Nature event.

“Forces of Nature” raised $2.6 million dollars for tsunami-affected nations like Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. Take a lesson, jack-asses at Hot 97.

…During an emotionally charged gig, Jean lead the crowd in a chant of “We’ll never forget the tsunami victims” and instructed the stadium lights to be turned off while crowd members waved lighted cell phones.

From his lips to our ears. Continue reading →

Begin the begin.

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a shrine to a stolen family building a fenceThe BBC has another series of excellent photographs that may be of interest to you. Unlike the last series I brought to your attention, the subject matter isn’t as joyful; these pictures depict life in a Tsunami camp.

To the left, a shrine that a fisherman created for his lost loved ones. To the right, 40-year old Parameswari builds a fence around her new home. She is the only person in her family to survive the tragedy.

Click either photograph to see the original story. Continue reading →

Monsters of rock

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India Abroad magazine just ran an excellent cover feature (zipped PDFs) on desi rockers and rappers in America, covering Stubhy of Lucky Boys Confusion, M.I.A., Karmacy, Chee Malabar of the Himalayan Project, Shaheen Sheik, Jungli and Funkadesi. They also shout out to ancestral rockers dating back to Freddie Mercury: Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, Ashwin Sood (Sarah MacLachlan’s drummer-husband) and Tony Kanal of No Doubt. There are others, of course, such as Dave Baksh of Sum 41.

Stubhy, lead singer of 100K-selling ska-punk band Lucky Boys Confusion, vents his parental issues in his music:

… the artist formerly known as Kaustubh Pandav was something of a vagabond, sleeping on roofs and behind couches in Chicago… he had to decide exactly what he would have to sacrifice to pursue a music career. At the time, he figured it would be his college education. The parents weren’t happy. “They said, ‘Get the hell out of the house,’ and I said, ‘Okay.’ ” What followed was a long string of “odd, crappy jobs,” like doing the midnight shift in a parking lot, or whatever else inspired him. “I threw parties,” said Stubhy. “Bought a keg. It was one grand scheme to the next. ‘Let’s go steal comic books from that kid and sell it.’ That would make about $15. Stupid stuff.”

… the song ‘Fred Astaire’ [is] a terse dialogue between a demanding parent and a son who can’t live up to expectations. The title, he said, could have just as well been “Amitabh Bachchan”… he still gets e-mails from Indian kids who thank him for writing the song.

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Desi MovieLink

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A former coworker of mine from Microsoft just launched Masala Downloads, which lets you legally download and watch Bollywood films and cricket matches. The price is $2.99 for a 3-day rental, and the downloaded files come DRM’d (locked) in Windows Media format with a 3-day expiration.

The idea is convenient for people with fast Net connections who don’t live near an Indian movie rental store. And since those stores often rent out pirated copies, this concept is potentially as legit a rental as you can get. It’s similar to MovieLink and CinemaNow, which offer downloadable Hollywood flicks, and CrimsonBay, which serves up desi music downloads.

The films are high-quality rips of DVDs they’ve purchased. The site says it enforces DVD licenses; I imagine they have a ripped version on a server, buy several DVDs and block over-limit downloads until at least one outstanding rental expires. I can’t imagine they’ve negotiated with film companies for authorization directly, but maybe they’ve spoken with distributors.

The site is pretty young — it’s got limited selection and only takes credit cards via PayPal — but the concept seems sound, and the trial movie, a 15 MB snippet of Veer-Zaara, downloaded quickly. Check it out.

Seen in San Francisco

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62455038853_330.jpgWas walking through downtown SF earlier this evening and passed by this sign for the ubiquitous Club One fitness chain. Entry #1 under group exercises was mos def a hoot.

Pretty cool to see Masala Bhangra go from an “ain’t that special” sideshow into the leading entry on the advert posters for a major fitness chain. San Franciscans can now enjoy sweating to Daler every Tuesday Evening — any ClubOne mutineers in downtown SF willing to give us a first hand report?

UPDATE:ADS left an excellent comment on the Masala Bhangra post with a first-hand review — Continue reading →