To Google or not to Google? Like that was the question. 🙂 These signs are encouraging A2 residents to vote for a Democratic candidate for First Ward, Ann Arbor City Council. (The primary election is August 3, and since the Democratic candidates here are heavily favored in the general election, the primary is crucial.) This particular candidate grew up in Sri Lanka, came to the U.S. 19 years ago, and has been living in Ann Arbor for 13 years.
In Jaffna, Sumi was a student activist, and was involved with Poorani, a women’s organization. She’s now a CPA; she previously taught at Eastern Michigan University. I contacted her and asked if she’d chat with the Mutiny about her background and candidacy. She agreed, and so here, in four parts, her filmed conversation with me. Continue reading →
Three of you sent me this video, so I get the feeling that you want SM to post about it. 🙂 If only I hadn’t spent my entire Friday in meetings…you Left-coasters could’ve enjoyed an all-natural jolt from something besides your morning coffee. Better late than never, I always say. Type. Whatever.
I was confused by the video until about 15 seconds in; that’s when the performer suddenly transforms Rihanna’s “Rude Boy” from a song I rolled my eyes at to a joint which made me sit up straighter in my office chair. Do your thang, gurl, do your thang:
None of you knew who this fierce female was, so I scrolled through 281 YouTube comments— never, EVER doubt my fortitude or devotion to the Mutiny– and saw a name which I googled for a bit. I discovered this:
My name is Rani Taj. I am the first professional British-Kashmiri female dholi, trained by the Dhol Blasters and Azaad dhol where I am a senior player. I also dance with the Bhangra Blasters and love playing the dhol, especially at public events.
That’s from her criminally under-loved Facebook fan page. Really, world? Only three of you “like” Miss Taj? Forget desis needing to support Manoj Shymalan no matter what pap he may proffer, y’all need to fan the Queen of percussion. Yes, I said “y’all”. I already did. While it’s still public, toggle through her profile pics on Facebook; she channels David Bowie while in Desi clothes. All that flavor and she’s got the beat? Got damn, Batman.* Continue reading →
From the folks at Cherry Sky Films, here is a video for you. There’s a cameo at the end by a Desi (Neil Sehgal) (h/t to Salil).
Cringe-worthy, no doubt, this short video reflects an inter-racial sub group struggle in self-identity versus external community identity monikers. In other words, the use of the word “nigger”. I thought the video was smart in that their use of the word “ninja” as replacement word and Asians as the replacement community really shifted the perception of the use of the “N word.” Plus, the video was hella funny.
What I loved most is when a brown kid saunters up on the basketball court to a group of Asian dudes and says, “What’s up my Ninjas!” The guys look like they are confused as to whether to accept him or not. But after a quick look to each other, they give him the bro-man hug and you hear “It counts.” As a South Asian, he may not be accepted immediately, but he can be accepted into the “in” group since South Asia is kind of Asian, if you stopped to think about it. Marginalized, a little bit, he can be accepted in the end. It was a simple interaction, but reflective so much of society’s deeper of inter-racial issues I’ve seen in the Desi meets East Asian communities.
As an activist in the Asian American and Pacific Islander movement, this attitude is something I see often, though a lot less brash and satirical as seen in the video. The South Asian community is often accepted into these AAPI space as an after thought, or even worse, as a token. Continue reading →
I first saw Nimmi Harasgama on a plane. I don’t know what year it was. I think I must have been either on the way to Sri Lanka or on the way back; I was exhausted, but when I discovered a captivating Sinhala film, I didn’t want to sleep–I wanted to watch. I was particularly compelled by one of the film’s storylines, which featured a young woman desperate to find her missing husband. The actress had a striking face and delivered a sad and memorable performance. It was perhaps the first Sri Lankan film I had ever seen–indeed, because I found it in progress, I did not even get to see the whole thing. Still, I was transfixed, and impressed.
The dark feel of the film stayed with me for years. Then, in late 2008, a friend sent me a link to a Sri Lankan comedienne doing an auntie character I found hilarious. One of my favorite lines from the first video: “I’m calling from abroad–yes, that’s why I’m wearing a hat, and everything–you can’t see, no?” (At about 20 seconds in.)
When the friend mentioned that the actress had also appeared in the Sri Lankan film “Akasa Kusum,” I did a bit of Googling, and thought that without her auntie getup, she looked familiar. Had she been in the film I’d seen on the plane? I read the descriptions of the rest of the films in her IMDB history and realized that on that flight, I’d watched bits of “Ira Madiyama / August Sun”. She had played the young woman desperate to find her missing husband. And that luminous actress was ALSO auntie netta. Now I was intrigued.
Through the friend, I called the actress up for a chat and she told me a little bit about how she’d come up with auntie netta, and also that she was thinking of maybe developing the character into a stage show. I last posted about her right before that show, auntie netta’s Holiday from Asylum and promised a follow-up that would include a q&a with her.
This interview with Nimmi Harasgama, the award-winning London-based actress behind both of those performances, references that first conversation, so I’ll preface the q&a with some of the background I learned then… and will follow with another post including the more recent exchange. Continue reading →
No word on if Janina’s working on an album, but it sounds like this Kanye cover was just a one off project. But I did learn that she was part of girl group Endera, which was signed on to the Cash Money Universal label. Which means, technically, she was the first Desi signed to the label, not Jay Sean. A singer and an actress, you may also recognize Janina from the L-Word where she played “Papi.” Her face will be all over your prime time television soon too – Janina is now playing police officer Leigh Turner on the new series vampire/werewolf/bump-in-night suburban drama The Gates which started last week.
I play Leigh Turner [on The Gates]. She’s a cop who is very good at her job but she has a pretty dark secret that she keeps to herself. The secret is rad, I couldn’t have guessed it in a million years…
> I think there is a small crop of us who are working just because we are good, not because we are good Indians. I am building a career on being as good as I possibly can be. I don’t want people to say, “She is a great Indian actress.” Like, you don’t say, “She is a great white actress,” or “She is a great black actress.” No one is saying that shit. There are a bunch of us who believe in this. Just be dope. I am just excited for the next generation where color doesn’t matter and they will be allowed to just be artists. The arts in general are just a huge part of the culture. [[complex](http://www.complex.com/blogs/2010/06/21/open-up-the-gates-actress-janina-gavankar-speaks/)]
What do you think? Has Janina locked you down? Continue reading →
Do you recognize the deli? I It’s that one place on 1st street in New York’s East Village where all the taxi workers go. I went with The Kominas after a show last fall. They have great saag paneer. The man providing the beats in the video is Duke Mushroom (not Derek Beres as stated earlier), both of EarthRise SoundSystem. Continue reading →
Hey Aziz Ansari! I’m gonna be one of those infamous seat fillers at this year’s MTV Movie Awards 2010 on June 6th! You better be winking at a brown face you see in the audience, because I’ll be winking back…!
First of all, how did Aziz Ansari get a gig like hosting the 19th Annual MTV Movie Awards? I mean we’ve written about his rise in fame here, and here, and here… but damn! A national awards show? Is it possible that he could just be the first Desi to host a national televised award show? Moving up. Second, how precious are those baby pictures? (h/t Ami)
Stephen Friedman, the general manager of MTV, said Mr. Ansari’s pop-cultural tastes made him an ideal embodiment of the millennial-generation viewers whom the channel wants to reach.
“He’s playing with music, our sweet spot, but doing it in a way that creates a visceral connection with everyone in our audience,” Mr. Friedman said. “This guy gets us in a much more immediate way than other comedians. He’s grown up with the audience.”
What Mr. Ansari won’t do is exploit his minority status for laughs, or make it the focus of his comedy. You won’t hear him opining about his parents’ background as Tamil Muslims from India, and he said he’s tired of people’s assumptions that he encountered rampant racism growing up in the South. [nyt]
Continue reading →
I thought Auntie Netta was pretty frickin’ hilarious: she’s cunningly raunchy and very specifically Sri Lankan in some of her humor. Now, Netta’s creator, actress Nimmi Harasgama, is taking her to the stage, in London. The show goes up tomorrow night, Londoners–get your tickets!
Update: In an e-mail, Nimmi says that while the show is about Netta’s “craziness,” “it is also about her seeking asylum and as such has a serious side to it too.”
My chat with Nimmi about the character will hopefully be an upcoming post, but I wanted the flag the show for those of you who might be interested (and flag the videos for those of you who might have headphones at work). Continue reading →
Last October, a Canadian Auntie from Richmond Hill— a town in the Greater Toronto Area– decided to go to the gym. She entered a parking lot, attempted to park her BMW SAV (no, that’s not a typo)…and gained international infamy for what happened next:
If you’re having trouble viewing that video, all you need to know is that it shows a blue truck in a parking lot driving in a wide arc towards a space. As the vehicle approaches the barrier which exists to keep cars in their designated parking spaces, you assume it will stop, but it doesn’t. Continue reading →
Thanks to a tweet from legendary BlogHer Samhita— Executive Editor of Feministing.com, I finally got to see the Newcastle beer ad I’ve heard many of you murmur about. Here’s what I thought while and after watching it (in order!):
1) I can’t believe I’m watching an ad about an American-Born-Confused-Desi 😉
2) This is kind of funny!
3) It is much better than most commercials which feature brown themes.
4) Wait, why don’t more people like this ad again?
5) I am now way more favorably disposed towards Newcastle, which is huge, because I hate beer. It looks like the pee of the dehydrated and often tastes like spit, and two nasty bodily fluids are not what I like being reminded of when I’m drinking something.
6a) I don’t feel offended by this.
6b) But, like Samhita my sense of humor is questionable. (At least I’m in good company!)
6c) Proof of questionable taste/sense of humor available here.
Has anyone actually seen this on television? Were you shocked, then awed? How would you rate it? Oh, and if Samhita sounds familiar to you, it may be because Taz profiled her on SM way back in 2006. You can find Samhita on Twitter @desifeminista. You can find us @sepiamutiny, natch. Finally, you can probably still find 50 cent in da club, bottle full of Bub, even if it is no longer 2003. Continue reading →