Well, guess what – Shah Rukh Khan is the next celebrity to succumb to Twitter! Doesn’t he know from Shashi Tharoor that it can get you into trouble? Seems he was pushed into it by Karan Johar who is an avid tweeter. So is Shah Rukh really tweeting himself or is it a PR exercise for ‘My Name is Khan’? Only time will tell!
Browsing: The Buzz
The buzz around us about trends and events
When the underworld don Chota Rajan threw a bash, Mumbai cops were actually seen dancing at the party along with the don’s henchmen, to a song from a popular Bollywood movie about the underworld, no less! Reel life? No this is real life in Mumbai
2010.
Stare at the numerical long enough and you get the sense of the start of an almost futuristic, hefty new decade. At such a moment, it’s a good idea to evaluate the past and think about the future by sharing some thoughts from N.R. Narayana Murthy, the founder-chairman of Infosys Technologies Ltd.
His ideas could be a road map, a blueprint for a better tomorrow. In just two words, his mantra for a better world – Inclusive Growth.
There was a time in the old days in India when it was regarded as almost sacrilegious to cross the oceans, and to leave one’s homeland was to leave it forever. Now, hopping between continents and countries and cities has become commonplace and there’s a new breed of global Indians who think nothing of breakfast in one country and dessert in another, with homes, networks and emotional ties in multiple cities.
In this strong drama you see the intersection of politics, religion, corruption, and how the little guy is sucked into the games powerful people play.The script takes you from London to Pakistan – and you see the potholes, feel the heat and desperation, and sounds metamorphose into frenetic, imaginary pictures. The sounds of traffic, sirens, chanting of Hail Mary’s and Islamic prayers, echoes, distortions, clanging doors – even chilling silence – all bring the turmoil up-close.
You have to hand it to Myna Mukherjee, Director of Engendered, the small but spunky human rights organization dedicated to gender, sexuality and minority rights. She not only talks about these difficult topics in the South Asian diaspora, be it HIV-AIDS or sexual orientation, but also makes them more accessible through music, dance, movies – and now fashion.
‘Positive’ by Manish Arora, who is one of the biggest names in fashion, was a tribute to the resilience of AIDS victims: “I chose color to signify ‘positive’ because that is a sign of happiness for me – and I took ‘positive’ to mean happiness – I love happiness! It doesn’t take much to make yourself happy.”
The meandering, thundering steel dragon, also known as the No. 1 subway train, rushed on, its belly filled with countless strugglers and dreamers all commuting to the gritty Upper West Side. At crowded 165th street, it disgorged a huge chunk of humanity – patients and families, small children, doctors and nurses – all headed to the New York- Presbyterian Hospital, one of the great teaching hospitals in the city.
Interestingly enough, there are several physicians of Indian descent who are leading the charge here with cutting edge technologies in cancer treatment and kidney transplants.
A visit to Naeem Khan’s penthouse showroom is like being transported into a different world. It’s embedded in the bustling garment district of New York with its countless wholesale showrooms, and you see racks of dresses and the occasional store mannequin being ferried on the crowded pavements. Ascend to Khan’s 10th floor showroom, and you are in an 18,000 foot space with soaring ceilings and a touch of 30’s Hollywood.
Ever since the news broke that he was designing First Lady Michelle Obama’s gown for the State Dinner in honor of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Khan’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing. Now with the passing of a few weeks, I managed to have a face-to-face chat with him, asking him of course, about the famous dress.
How do you raise $26,000 in this tough economy, especially when you’re a kid? Well, if you’re Rohan Paramesh, 16, you climb a mountain, preferably one which is 14,000 feet high! Not just any old mountain but the iconic Mount Rainier which dominates the skyline in Seattle, Rohan’s hometown.
The world has a short memory with just too many disasters, too little time and too many important things to remember. That’s why the 25th anniversary of the world’s worst gas disaster passed by in a flurry of everyday preoccupations here in New York. The fact remains that the victims of this horrific tragedy have not been compensated adequately and their nightmare continues, while the rest of the world moves on.
So here is a little story of little people trying to do what the grown-ups should be doing – protesting the outrage.
When Bhairavi Desai met President Barack Obama on the receiving line at the Administration’s first State Dinner at the White House, she introduced herself as the director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Obama smiled his high voltage smile and bending down, confided: “I was an organizer too!”
“It was such a thrill to hear him say that – it was such a nice endorsement of my profession,” recalls Desai, who is a fearless advocate for the rights of New York cabbies. She and co-founder Javaid Tariq were both guests at the glittering dinner with celebs and politicos, a party which possibly America’s entire population wanted to attend but to which only 320 guests were invited, not counting the gate-crashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi.
Riveting.
That’s probably the word one is searching for when asked about the new face of Pakistani art which is now being shown in art centers internationally. For a country in so much pain politically and socially – not to mention economically – Pakistan is surprisingly on top of things where art is concerned.
It’s not a lyric written for a Bollywood superstar to lip sync, nor is it a script for a million dollar movie, although noted poet Javed Akhtar has done plenty of both. His latest offering is straight from the heart – a love poem, a tribute to Mumbai’s children, the nameless, the homeless who live on the footpaths or survive in the slums, who have to work to get a day’s meal, to merely be able to exist.
What can be better than a feast of cinema? A feast of cinema with several glittering parties and celebrities-in-the-flesh! The Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council festival of Indian films had ample doses of both, and drew an enthusiastic crowd.
What’s cooking with Aasif Mandvi? A whole Indian feast! Well for one, the zany commentator from ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ has turned chef, worked at Tandoori Palace, found a new love, and even bagged a best actor award.
Sure beats Deep Space Naan!
His brand new movie ‘Today’s Special’ – all about the travails of a sous chef – premiered at the MIAAC, New York’s Indian Film Festival in Manhattan and has been a real crowd pleaser.
Dyyno is a tech innovation birthed by some superior minds at Stanford that could revolutionize video distribution on the web, by empowering big and small groups with their own video channel for live blogging, as it can broadcast straight from the computer to tens of thousands of people.
Meet Raj Jaswa, the serial entrepreneur behind Dyyno
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.
If you can’t go to Salman Khan, Salman Khan is coming to you – by video conferencing! A press conference hosted by Studio 18 with the stars of the new movie ‘London Dreams’ linked New York and Mumbai with face to face interaction with Salman and Asin, the stars of the new blockbuster from director Vipul Shah . Ajay Devgan, the third angle of the eternal triangle, couldn’t be there due to a missed flight.
While Indian contemporary art has been on the international stage for a while now, the next big thing may well be Pakistani artists. These artists have been working steadfastly in their home country through war, terror attacks and the slow disintegration of civil society, and finally the international art world is becoming aware of their work.
Media may tend to dwell on the bad news, on the unraveling of Pakistani society, but the art tends to give a more nuanced picture of Pakistan’s rich culture and history, its complex and diverse people.
New York City was abuzz with the launch of Mira Nair’s new film ‘Amelia’ which comes from a big studio and stars big names Hilary Swank and Richard Gere. Directed by Nair, the film follows the fabled adventures of Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. The film, while different from Nair’s recent India-related films, stays true to her fascination and empathy with strong women. It is a film about woman power, about a woman before her time, ‘a flying yogini’ as Nair likes to call her.