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Posts Tagged ‘culture’

Outsourcing Bollywood Dancers

By Lavina Melwani • Nov 8th, 2009 • Category: 24/7 Talk is Cheap - The Blog, Cinema

Is Bollywood entertainment getting outsourced? At a big Indian wedding in New York there are the usual beaming uncles and aunties, lots of great Indian food, the latest Bollywood music. The dance floor clears and there’s a bespangled dancer doing all the classic moves from ‘Umrao Jaan’ as the appreciative crowd gathers around and claps.

The dancer is Russian and doesn’t speak any Hindi!

She is Inessa from Uzbekistan and is quite the star at Indian community events in New York, be it weddings, engagement parties or other celebrations.


Hinduism: The ABC’S of Culture

By Lavina Melwani • Jan 1st, 2009 • Category: Faith

Religion and culture are best absorbed in childhood, yet these children do not see Hindu culture echoed in the world around them, especially if they live in Small Town, USA where there may be few people who look or worship like them.