Indian doctors are everywhere but you wouldn’t have expected one to be right on the glittering stage of the 2021 Academy Awards! Dr. Meena Makhijani was in the elite group receiving the Jean Herscholt Humanitarian Oscar. This year the winner of this prestigious award was the Motion Picture and Television Fund (MPTF) where Makhijani is physician and the Chief of Staff. Yes, she actually held the iconic Oscar in her hand and recalls with delight: “It had heft!”
Browsing: Features
Ritwik Ghatak’s films are frenetic, heartfelt and heartbreaking, as agonized and without any final answers as life and existence itself. Yet with their tales of partition and loss, of refugees and homelessness, of changing families, of pain and ultimately hope, they touch a chord within contemporary audiences and are relevant even – perhaps especially – now.
What can you, an immigrant who came with nothing but a battered suitcase filled with bits and pieces of a disappeared life, offer this new country? What gift can you give America on its Independence Day celebration? A Punjabi immigrant love story.
New York is the city for reinvention, for doing old things in new places, unexpected things in unexpected places and so here was I, right in the middle of Times Square with about a million other unknown people standing and doing surya namaskar in the middle of traffic – honking cars, buses and an unending stream of pedestrians.
Women photojournalists highlighted at the Newswomen’s Club of New York Spring Photography Show and Auction.
They are summer’s dazzling foot soldiers – nothing can keep them down. Having lain dormant in the soil through winter, snow and deprivation, they rise and rise, showcasing their beauty and color.
RRR takes you back to when you were a kid and movies were the real deal, a magic potion where you were held totally captive by action, high drama, enchantment and raw emotions.
The much-awaited New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) which is presented by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) – a must-see during the summer – is once again coming to town. This time, with the changing times, it is a hybrid model with films being shown by zoom and also in person.
For art lovers, Asia Week is a great space to learn more about Asian art and understand the complexities of the art world from museums to art galleries and auction houses.
Intercultural Marriages are Becoming More Common – “I think the combination of two different backgrounds offers a unique insight in life, the hard working immigrant story mixed with the confidence of belonging. I also think intercultural children are generally better looking!”
As Wordle has skyrocketed in popularity, multiple media outlets have published articles that explore the best word to use as your initial guess. Here are some winning strategies
What happened to the New York model who became a nun?
I introduce my first bi-weekly column of 2022 ‘From Me to You’ – How a Corn Snake Taught me My Purpose in Life’ – these are just random, intimate thoughts which may help us through our chaotic times. None of us have the answers!
Melanie Chandra and Surina Jindal star in the first Diwali holiday movie – Hot Mess Holiday and strike a first with South Asian actors and an Indian festival theme on Comedy Central
Deepa Mehta to direct Burnt Sugar
Happy peaceful Diwali to all from our over-crowded Hindu universe – Lakshmi for prosperity, Ganesha for wisdom, Krishna for joy and the Sindhi Jhule Lal for getting the boat to shore!
Here we share the wrappers of those lost, long-gone Diwalis when every kid with a handful of fire-crackers was king – yes, power was setting the match to that bichu or anar firecracker!
Her transformation from an “It” Style Girl to a Buddhist nun is so complete that people who knew her earlier do a double-take. She admits, “It was hard at first because your sense of identity is tied to how you look and your look determines your self-worth. As a renunciate you shave your head, use no makeup, perfume or high heels – but the beauty of wisdom that adorns you is far more beautiful than any couture dress.”
Vaccinations have certainly made this dream scenario possible. “This year, the Fourth of July is a day of special celebration, for we are emerging from the darkness of years; a year of pandemic and isolation; a year of pain, fear, and heartbreaking loss,” said President Joe Biden
For movie buffs, it’s been hard to get Sushant Singh Rajput out of our collective heads. I’ve taken to Youtube to catch bits of his life and try to piece together the reasons for that abandonment of life and living. It’s hard to think of a person in that state of mind, alone in the pandemic.