Shaggy-haired actor Naveen Andrews (Bride and Prejudice, The English Patient, The Buddha of Suburbia, Wild West, Kama Sutra) is starring in a new ABC series, Lost, satirically described by the New York Post as a show about an airplane crash on an island where only models survive. Andrews plays an Iraqi dealing with racial prejudice from his fellow survivors. Can’t say they’re not trying to be topical.

I wouldn’t have expected this of the U.S. film market vs. that of the UK:

The actor told [Asians in Media] recently that he has moved to the USA because opportunities for non-white actors were greater out there.

Desis have begun competing in reality shows with a vengeance: Raj Bhakta on The Apprentice, Julie Ann Titus on America’s Next Top Model, and now Anish Shroff on Dream Job, a competition to be the next ESPN SportsCenter anchor (thanks, Jagjit). Shroff is a 22-year-old Yankees fan and radio sports announcer, a Syracuse University graduate from Bloomfield, NJ.

I’m looking forward to seeing Thuggee leader Amrish Puri on Fear Factor and backstabbing Bollyistas on Real World, though young Neil Kadakia of Spellbound qualifies under fear and loathing on film.

Maybe this will be the next topic of competition conversation between desi moms: ‘My Twinkle was just on American Idol last week.’ ‘That’s nothing, my Sweetie was on Survivor.‘

Ah, who am I kidding. With all due respect to Hari Sreenivasan and Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the most common desis on American TV will probably be on Beat the Geeks and Jeopardy. You’ll have to watch CNN International to catch Monita Rajpal, Daljit Dhaliwal and Zain Verjee. BBC World has at least six more, and the UK’s Channel 4 is rife.

My buddy Kiran Rao guest-stars on Charmed on the WB this Sunday, Sep. 12 at 8pm. Here are some shots of Kiran on Threat Matrix and The Shield. His roles have ranged from substantial (Alias) to brief (Spin City). He also runs a great desis-in-film site called Hollywood Masala. Watch him Sunday, it’s always fun!

Veteran Bollywood actors Anupam and Kirron Kher will play the parents of Parminder Nagra’s med student character in an upcoming episode of ER (via Ennis). Anupam Kher already played Nagra’s dad in Bend It Like Beckham and will also play Aishwarya Rai’s dad in Bride and Prejudice.

That’s the trouble with desis: you let one in, and they’ll bring in all their relatives 😉 I once hired a great desi dude for my group and later left that job. When I came back to visit some friends, I found out he’d taken over my office and even my phone number. Apparently we’d turned that position permanently brown. Colonize, y’all!

BREAKING NEWS THAT PEOPLE WHO CRAVE SUBSTANCE WILL FIND ABSOLUTELY IRRELEVANT:

“america’s next top model”, the UPN reality show that has almost made erstwhile supermodel tyra banks relevant again, has, for the first time in the show’s history, a brown contestant in the mix.

Julie Ann Titus is 19 years old, pulchritudinous, and a whopping 5’10”. acccording to the official “america’s next top model” website, she “…wants to create a new image for Indian women.”

judging from the extended-commercial for the “ANTM” season premiere that i just saw, which featured soundbites from all 14 contestants, our girl is SASSY!

yes, i am well aware that editing often renders our perceptions of reality tv contestants meaningless, but if what i caught a glimpse of tonight is any indication of who Julie is, she has enough attitude to make vin diesel incontinent.

i applaud her poised confidence as well as her unyielding, “anti-drama” stance, and i look forward to wasting an hour each week cheering her on this fall. go on with your bad self, jules. 🙂 oh, and did i mention that she’s malayalee? and that this fact doesn’t make me biased towards her at all? 😉 Continue reading →

I guess it isn’t that surprising that one of the plastic surgeons featured on the ever-popular E! reality show– “Dr. 90210” is a desi, Raj Kanodia. Hailing from Calcutta, India Dr. Kanodia did his schooling at the University of Illinois and specializes in the face, head and neck. And, for all you ladies Dr. Kanodia is single and enjoys gardening and traveling in Europe. That might sound like crap, but that is what is says under his bio on the show’s website. His quote is even better:

“I don’t have the luxury to fail, because I must deliver perfect results 100 percent of the time.”

In case you haven’t had a chance to catch Dr. 90210 yet, a marathon will air this sunday August 29–check your local listings.

If anyone has the juice on this guy, then hit me up. From Reuters:

Who will be this year’s Omarosa, everyone’s favorite reality TV villain? Who will be the apprentice to rise to the top of the business world? And importantly, who will hear the ominous utterance of real estate mogul Donald Trump, “You’re fired?”

Fans will know soon, as broadcaster NBC on Friday named the 18 candidates who will compete in the second season of “The Apprentice,” premiering on Sept. 9.

The men are: Kevin, 29, a law student from Chicago; Raj, 28, a real estate developer in the tiny ski resort of Vail ; Bradford, 33, a lawyer and real estate investor from Florida; Rob, 32, a corporate products salesman from Texas; Andy, 23, a new Harvard graduate from Florida; Wes, 28, a financial planner for the wealthy from Atlanta; Chris, 30, a stockbroker from Long Island with only a high school degree; and John, 24, a marketer from San Francisco.

From another source:

Raj, 28, a bow-tie wearing real estate developer who doesn’t really watch television

Now we will really see if a brown man can make it through the glass ceiling maintained by “the Man” (a.k.a. Trump).

Update: Take a look. Is this guy South Asian? Maybe a mix, or just an Indian sounding name?

Update #2: Here is the Full Scoop on Raj Bhakta of Vail Colorado. Continue reading →

Pooja Kumar, the woman in the Bombay Dreams print ads and the star of Flavors, has joined a new Asian TV network called Imaginasian.

Kumar lives in Chelsea, has a doctor boyfriend, likes to cook (“I make very good chicken curry”), practices meditation (“It relaxes me”) and goes to the movies twice a week.