Recently I read a lovely post by Anuvab Pal, on the Random House blog, about the state of Indian comedy. Well, it’s dismal, although we didn’t need Pal to tell us that. I think Raghuvir Yadav, when he was on “Ranvir, Vinay aur Kaun” said it best – he called it “Chichorapan” in Hindi . […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'india' Category
Respect your MPs or else . . .
Reading this article by Amit Ahuja, in which he describes interactions with the governmental bureacracy as transactions where the “government official involved establishes himself not as a service provider but rather as a dispenser of favours“, one is filled with acute hatred for the ubiquitous, corrupt babu and the venal politicians that make this possible. Says Ahuja […]
Read the rest of this entry »Becoming Indian
Reading this article from outlook. It is by Justin McCarthy, who unlike the rest of the aam junta went from being American to being Indian. He has apparently found his bliss in India. He writes : To this day, still face bewildered, incredulous, wry, bemused, aghast looks at immigration points both local and foreign. Once […]
Read the rest of this entry »Bollywood Hero Flash Mob in Times Square
The miniseries “Bollywood Hero” debuted on IFC, August 6th. A Bollywood Dance Flash Mob “happened” on said day in Times Square in New York City in support of the miniseries Bollywood Hero premiering at 10pm on IFC. Stars Chris Kattan, Neha Dhupia, Pooja Kumar and choreographer Longinus Fernandes stopped by to enjoy the show. It’s […]
Read the rest of this entry »Mystery girl in Love Aaj Kal
Saw “Love Aaj Kal” (review here) last weekend. The mystery girl who plays Harleen Kaur, was sort of kept pretty hush-hush. And while I don’t get the logic of that, the whole secrecy bit I mean, am pretty surprised that the girl in question is Brazilian model Giselle Monteiro. I might not be that great […]
Read the rest of this entry »In all fairness
It is an expectation in society that women must be “feminine”, i.e.; you’d better not have hair on awkward places (like your arms !!) , your eyebrows must be plucked to appear shapely and avoid the dreaded uni-brow, and you must at all costs avoid the VPL. Don’t know (or don’t care) what that is […]
Read the rest of this entry »No sex education for us. We’re Indian
Note : The edited version of this post appears on the Ultraviolet blog. India is a populous country, and I’m pretty sure the citizens of India have something to do with it. I don’t think the storks are delivering all those babies, or that they are the gift of the Gods, a la Kunti. Thus […]
Read the rest of this entry »Tweaking reality, MTV style – part 3
This is Part 3 of a series, here are Part 1 & 2. The Roadies 6.0 cast had an interesting set of characters. You had the bullies Sandeep, Bobby, Roop and the first ever Sardar Roadie – Pradeep. Then you had Palak who was in a class by herself – brave yes, but with overwhelming […]
Read the rest of this entry »Tweaking reality, MTV style – Part 2
Note : This is Part 2 of a series, Part 1 is here.Roadies has become one of the most popular reality shows on Indian television, and with good reason. I think it’s because they were so raw and real and un-tweaked. They don’t have the artifice or the artificial judges, or the make-overs, or the […]
Read the rest of this entry »Tweaking reality, MTV style – Part 1
Reality TV has never been bigger. From the now famous Survivor and Big Boss (both the desi and the British versions where Shilpa Shetty made big news) to the talent shows like American Idol and “Britain’s got talent” all rely on the elimination principle. Here’s a bunch of willing participants subject to certain tasks, and […]
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