Category Archives: Arts and Entertainment

Interview with Vik Sahay

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Do you watch “Chuck”? That TV show about the secret, CIA-protected life of a tech dork who works the Nerd Herd desk at a Best Buy like electronics store? The first season was cute, the second sort of lost me, then they got Scott Bakula to play his dad and I’m hooked again. (Quantum Leap forever!)

One of the more amusing aspects of the show is that Chuck’s real world life at the Nerd Herd desk is as drama-filled as his intelligence/espionage secret life — courtesy of a scheming nemesis, Lester, played by desi actor Vik Sahay. vicsahay3-200x200.jpg

It’s a small role, but Sahay really owns it, milking every line for humor and dimensionality. So when MTV Iggy interviewed him, we vaguely thought he would be this, like, funny cocky guy and we’d edit it down to the best 2-3 bits. We certainly had no idea it would turn out to be one of the most searching, intelligent, thought-provoking interviews I’ve seen in years.

We ended up cutting something like 14 segments because all of it was interesting. That’s a ridiculous number, by the way. No one’s ever gotten that much play. Six clips were aired while we try to figure out what to do with the rest. Continue reading →

Q&A with Himanshu Suri of Das Racist: Part I

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Remember Abhi’s post on hip-hop duo Das Racist back in May? He said, and I quote “This track is going to become a favorite of desis of all ages.” (Not sure about all desis, but these little girls certainly enjoyed it.) During the summer, Das Racist received heaps of attention, both positive and negative, from fans, magazines, blogs, etc. I chatted with Himanshu Suri of Das Racist to ask him what all the fuss was really about. Continue reading →

The New Wave of Filmmakers in Bollywood

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Oh, sh*ts. I’ve been remiss about so much. I’ve got a backlog of things both shiny and smart to share with you, so please bear with me as I suddenly haunt the mutiny.

The first thing on my list: MTV Iggy’s special feature on Bollywood’s “new wave” of filmmakers. The idea is that, much like the French new wave of the 50s, Indian cinema is facing a radical change, with auteur directors leading the way with a new influx of talent, money, professionalism and creativity. And the audience in India is ready for it. 11smoking1-200x200.jpg Anuvab Pal (friend of Sepia alum Manish Vij) is now a screenwriter in Mumbai, and his funny, engaging, and very revealing article is a must read:

In fall 2003, I was asked by a friend of mine, the director Manish Acharya, to co-write a film with him. It would be about a Bollywood singing contest in New Jersey. We were influenced by the movies of Christopher Guest and Woody Allen, and had lived in New York for a numbers of years. At some point, in various coffee shops in Manhattan, as we wrote, I asked Manish who our audience might be. He intelligently remarked that we shouldn’t write with audiences in mind but just try to tell a good story. That’s the sort of answer auteur film directors give at film festival Q&As and grave audiences nod in agreement. It had a sort of nobility to it. I was far more interested in a petty middle-class answer.

“Still, who?” I insisted.

“Whom” he corrected, adding, “New India. This is a film for new India.”

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Two turntables and a microphone (updated)

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Update: The show in Houston is this Friday at the House of Blues. Admission is FREE before 11p.m.***

My friend Raj emailed me this morning with the ridiculous news that he is bringing BBC Radio’s DJ Kayper (*swoon*) here to the House of Blues in Houston next weekend (I missed her when she was in Austin for SXSW). After I got up off the floor from fainting I decided to post about it on SM. 25 year old Kayper, whose real name is Kaajal Bakrania, is impossible not to gawk at. She’s got skills.

Since 17 May 2006 she has presented the new show “The Hype Show” on the BBC Asian Network every Wednesday from 22:00 to 01:00. The show has now been renamed as “DJ Kayper”.

Hailed as one of the finest DJ’s pioneering new music today, British born DJ Kayper is a seminal force on the urban, mainstream and desi music scenes. Having been approached to host a mainstream radio show for the BBC’s Asian Network in 2006, the “DJ Kayper” show has now gone on to become one of the stations biggest exports with global listenership. The show has attracted no less than the biggest and best urban and pop music guests namely Common, Questlove, Lupe Fiasco, Nelly Furtado, Xzibit, Kelly Rowland, Omarion, Wyclef, Will.I.Am and The Game in addition to UK artists such as Estelle, Sway, Kano and Jay Sean. [Link]
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Actress Lisa Ray, Battling Cancer & Blogging About It

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lisa-ray-blog-picture.jpg Via Chickpea and Nilanjana, I learned that actress Lisa Ray is battling cancer. Ray is best known for her roles in Bollywood/Hollywood and Water, though she also acted in a couple of Indian films in 2001-2002 (one Bollywood, one Telugu), and has done parts in a number of smaller films and TV shows since moving to Toronto several years ago.

Ray has multiple myeloma, which is “incurable but treatable.” It’s a tough diagnosis for the actress, which will involve aggressive treatment. However, she seems to be dealing with it with impressive poise, as can be seen in blog posts like this one:

The media here is reacting with support and sensitivity. I guess many actors or people in my industry rarely go public. I understand why. There’s practical repercussions as in, its become more expensive to insure you on a project. Some producers don’t want to- or can’t- take on that extra cost. So even when I’ve crossed over and joined the ‘Full Remission’ Club, there may be tough career and financial decisions.

It’s hard for me to live any other way than with full disclosure. (link)

She also seems to be enjoying the side effects of the steroids she’s on, which make her hungry:

On Steroids: you are HUNGRY ALL THE TIME.

When Dr. Ahmed Galal, my Warrior-Hematologist at Princess Margaret Hospital gave me my first cycle of meds, he capped his recommendation off with a charming gesture that meant: Beware of sweets.

Well. Sweet things aren’t the only temptation.

Every cycle of treatment, I’m on Dexamethasone for four days on, then four days off.

Who knew it would turn me into a free range chicken, pecking the landscape freely. I find it distracting to walk down my patch of Queen St without stopping for a nibble at the Pie Shack, scoping some sushi or sampling up kimchi and eggs.

(link)

All the best for you, Lisa Ray. Here’s hoping you’ll be able to enjoy the culinary delights of Queen Street (Toronto) for many years to come. Continue reading →

Red Baraat: Bhangra, Brass and Bringing It

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Bumping beats to rearrange heart beats, Red Baraat is “Hoi, hoi-ing” into the hearts of people across the nation. Established in 2008, this nine member New York City based “dhol ‘n’ brass band” has quickly risen to the top in the ‘world music’ circuit (and wedding circuit) of the NYC area. Red Baraat is now taking it outta The City with their first new album, Chaal Baby, set to drop January 2010 and a Midwest tour scheduled in Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago for Sept 17th – 20th. Never to fear, New Yorkers, Red Baraat isn’t leaving without a special show for you on Sept 11th at 92YTribeca w/ Nation Beat.

Haven’t heard the sounds of Red Baraat yet? Well you can check out their YouTube videos and, exclusively for Sepia Mutiny readers, you can download their track Balle Balle for FREE. Right here. If you enjoy the track, you can go to www.redbaraat.com and download a ringtone of Chaal Baby as well. That’s right, I pull strings for you. Because I love you.

<a href="http://redbaraat.bandcamp.com/track/punjabi-wedding-song-balle-balle">Punjabi Wedding Song (Balle Balle) by Red Baraat</a>

Enjoy the track as you listen to my interview with drummer Sunny Jain and trumpeter Sonny Singh as they talk about music, fusion, inspiration and more.

1. How would you describe Red Baraat’s music?

Sunny: Well, the sound of the band is based on acoustic instruments bringing a powerful primal sound: dhol, percussion, sousaphone and several horns. While the foundation is North Indian Bhangra, there is a multitude of musical elements clashing together, such as funk, hip-hop, go-go, rock, jazz, Latin. Also, there’s a good deal of vocal interaction with the audience, from Punjabi singing, to English rapping, to group call-and-responses.

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Swedish Pakistani Music

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There’s an interesting documentary that was posted over at MTV Iggy of Victoria Bergsman, front woman of The Concretes and female vocals to Peter Bjorn and John’s song ‘Young Folks.’ In her latest project, Victoria goes to Pakistan to record music.

Under the moniker “Taken By Trees,” her second solo album is a blend of floaty, Northern European vocals and the traditional sounds of Pakistan. Bergsman said she went East because she is a “fan” of Sufi music and a lover of such artists as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.[MTV Iggy]

They set up a makeshift studio in the Lahore home of their hotel owner. [T]he electricity would go off for an hour every third hour. That was the least of their problems. Bergsman and Soderstrom had to pretend to be married in the traditionally patriarchal society. She also had to convince the local musicians that a woman could run a recording session. [NPR]
There is some language in the documentary that I find problematic (“Pakistan was more mysterious” or “people all over, miserable, dirty, poor, dead animals”), though overall her soft lilting voice tempered her words significantly. But what compelled me to bring this dialogue to Sepia Mutiny was an offline conversation with musician friends. MadGuru, who had just returned from collaborating with local musicians in Pakistan for his animated short Gul, stated:
“I think it’s really cool that she went there and recorded her music, but she seems really clueless about how the traditional music there is improvised and played/recorded live…I had music recorded in Pakistan last summer myself, so I do know how frustrating it can be to try and figure things out, but at least one should go to a place to record the music they play, with some knowledge of what it is instead of expecting the whole world to play like session musicians at a studio and think they lack talent if they don’t.”
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Archie Panjabi to star in CBS’s The Good Wife

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Archie Panjabi, who you’ll remember from films like Bend It Like Beckham and A Mighty Heart, is set to appear this fall in a new CBS drama called The Good Wife. (Thanks to my SM mutineer from Philly, Neha, for the tip!) The show, a legal drama, centers around a woman (Julianna Luisa Margulies) whose husband, a high-profile politician, (played by Sex and the City’s Chris Noth), goes to jail after his involvement in a sex scandal. Margulies plays the wronged wife who decides to return to her job as an attorney after years as a stay-at-home mom. Panjabi plays the role of Kalinda, an East Indian kick-ass bisexual investigator who works alongside Margulies’s character on cases. It’ll be interesting to see how this show plays out. You can see Panjabi on Tuesdays starting with the show’s premiere on September 22 at 10 ET/PT.

Check out some scenes from the show.

[Photo Credit]

Related posts: Panjabi having a very ‘Good Year‘, ‘Yasmin’ in Queens, The spy who loved me

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Q&A with Lushlife aka Rajesh Haldar

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In July thanks to a tip from mutineer Eurasian Sensation, I learned that Philly had its own resident desi hip-hop artist, 28-year old Raj Haldar aka Lushlife whose second album, Cassette City, came out in June from Rapsterrecords. As your East Coast correspondent, I did a little investigative journalism (okay, I emailed him) and got the chance to ask Lushlife a few questions one-on-one.

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Ahimsa’s Global Lingo

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A few years back while I was still living in LA I wrote about the wonderful Project Ahimsa:

Project Ahimsa is a global effort to empower youth through music. The organization was founded in 2001 in response to the violent attacks on Sikhs and South Asians after 9/11. The organization operates under the auspices of the Patel Foundation for Global Understanding, a registered 501c3 non-profit based in Tampa, FL. Project Ahimsa’s mission is to empower youth though developing and supporting community based music education.

The vision of Project Ahimsa is to generate unity from the means to the ends. Funding to develop the “means” comes from music concerts featuring artists from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. Artists such as the Black Eyed Peas, The Doors, Nitin Sawhney, MC Rai, JBoogie’s Dubtronic Science, DJ Cheb i Sabbah, Karsh Kale, Bobby Friction, and MIDIval Punditz have all performed at Project Ahimsa benefit events. Attended by a diverse audience of non-Indians and Indians alike, Project Ahimsa events are built on a healthy collaboration between international artists, non-governmental organizations, public institutions, corporations, and promoters creating a diverse experience interesting to all ages and backgrounds. [link]

Here is one of several videos from Ahimsa’s website that explains what “empowering youth through music” means exactly:

Continue reading →