Author: Lavina Melwani

Yes, you’ve heard of the roadside dentists and the ear-cleaners, and the wedding detectives in India. But did you know there are also roadside bone-setters and even Spit-Inspectors?

Only in India, only in India!

The funny part is you’re hearing about all these things from foreigners, from tourists and travelers – India seems to be on everyone’s radar nowadays. For those wondering what a Spit Inspector does, read on.

If you thought Miss America had to be blonde and blue eyed, you have to meet Nina Davuluri, the current Miss America. Not only did her dark almond shaped eyes and dusky complexion showcase her Indian roots but she also won big with her rousing Bollywood dance number from ‘Om Shanti Om.’Yes, Miss America is of Indian origin – and proud of it!
Indeed, this Miss America is the first with Indian roots and really shows what’s special about America: you can be of a different heritage, speak a different language, pray to a different god, yet you are American. A chat with Nina Davuluri to find out how’s she’s doing.

The fabulous Helen Mirren, the quite wonderful Om Puri – loads of French and Indian food – and a love story with music by AR Rahman. Add to it Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey! Perfect ingredients for an unexpected romance set in France.It is based on the critically acclaimed book by Richard C. Morais which has been a best seller in 29 countries.

What a week! The irresistible headlines and stories from around the web. Narendra Modi’s early life in pictures, even one disguised as a Sikh; the funny side of Indian politics via the Daily Show; and Farewell to the good ol’ Ambassador car.

Rarely do you get to see two powerful titans of North and South, of Hindustani and Carnatic music, performing together – Shubha Mudgal and Bombay Jayashri.

What is fascinating about these two great musicians is that they have such rich backgrounds in the traditions of classical music but are always willing to try new things and also participate with western musicians. For them, everything begins and blossoms with music.

Our wishlist for PM Narendra Modi – Make it a totally inclusive country where people of all religions, castes, colors, genders and sexual persuasions can live peacefully together. Make it a more compassionate nation where every child, irrespective of his background, has a level playing field.

Try to change the patriarchal mindset of the country, a place where women have always been less than men, and the birth of a girl child is a time for sadness. Yes, I know that centuries old biases can’t be changed in a day but so much depends on the tone set by the man leading the nation.

It was a rare occasion to have the two Jaffreys – Madhur and Sakina – together and both celebrities talked about life and success with over 200 women over lunch. It was symbolic that these two noted New Yorkers were at an event which celebrated everyone’s favorite city while raising funds for its most vulnerable residents – the children in New York’s homeless shelters.

Can a film be just over six minutes – and still get you emotionally enmeshed? Our Bollywood movies are usually three hour plus juggernauts of drama, romance and comedy but this little film – over in the blink of an eye – shows that length has nothing to do with the impact of a film. Especially if it has a volatile mix of India, aspirations and the love of a father and son – and is directed by that ace director, Nagesh Kukunoor.
Here’s ‘Sapnon Ki Udaan’ – a father and son love story.

What constitutes an Indian? Are you Indian if you are born in India or is it your Indian genes which make you Indian? Are you not Indian if you are of a different religion or pray to a different God? Are you seen just as a vote bank by conniving politicians in the great tumult of the Indian Elections?

Sabina Himani, an Indian artist who is Muslim and lives in New York, reminisces on a comment which has dogged her through the years and now she hears once again, due to the ongoing elections.

“All Muslims should leave India and go live in Pakistan ..”

Here’s her answer to all those who make that statement.

It is indeed telling that while the elections are being played out in India, some of the most avid watchers are thousands of miles away and separated by oceans and continents – in America. Indeed the Indian Diaspora from Africa to the Middle East to Europe are all deeply involved in the outcomes but nowhere is the connection so deep as in America. Men and women who left their homeland over 30 to 40 years ago, still are moved enough to catch all the details on television, Indian newspapers and by phone calls to the family in India. (Photo – Narendra Modi supporters in Silicon Valley hold a tea rally in California)

When in India, do as the Indians do! Kentucky Fried Chicken, known globally as KFC is the latest American food chain to have undergone a transformation in India.

The chickens are still coming home to roost but it has introduced a substantial vegetarian menu with its ‘So Veg So Good’ campaign to reel in lots of new customers who eat neither egg nor chicken nor meat.

Dekh, cinema, dekh! In the old days, people in small towns and villages in India would wait anxiously for the traveling cinema to come to them with surprise offerings and entertainment.
In a way, the annual New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) does the same thing for New Yorkers who are a savvy lot. Yet the festival brings unexpected cinematic treats of found gems, lost stories and glimpses into lives lived.

East is increasingly meeting West on the red carpet. It’s great to see couture by an Indian designer showcased on New York red carpets – especially by the sizzling Padma Lakshmi.
The host of Bravo’s Top Chef and the must-click subject of every photographer in NY, Padma was seen at two NY events in Payal Singhal’s elegant yet fun outfits which debuted recently in the Lakme Fashion Week.

It’s the City of Dreams, of Make-believe.

The strivers, the strugglers keep coming but Hollywood’s gates are often closed. Can their stories ever be told, if they are a minority, an outsider? Writers of color are often underemployed in cinema.

Recently the Writers Guild of America, an influential Hollywood entity, set up the Features Access Project to rectify this by encouraging diversity in writing.

Among this year’s eight multicultural honorees, three trace their roots back to India – Radha Bharadwaj (Final Boarding), Nayan Padrai (Billion Dollar Raja) and Tianna Majumdar-Langham (Guns and Saris) who won the honor with her co-writer Chris Bessounian.

Could there be a filmi success story brewing in here? We saw some young unknown and aspiring filmakers with cinematic dreams – and we saw how far they went! We’re talking M.Night Shyamalan and Nagesh Kukunoor here.

Well, meet Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad, a young filmmaker from Detroit with a passion to stir up a devilish hell with his supernatural thriller ‘Jinn’. The film had a glamorous premiere in the fabulous Detroit Institute of the Arts with a packed hall. Get ready to get goose-bumps and some sleepless nights for ‘Jinn’ releases nationwide tomorrow and in Canada.

Imran Khan comes from a famous film family – he is the grandson of director-producer Nasir Husain, creator of some of the most rocking musicals of the 70’s. He is also the nephew of actor Aamir Khan and director-producer Mansoor Khan. He acted as a child star in several movies, disappeared to America, and then re-emerged as a romantic hero in Jaane Tu, Ya Jaane Na which won him the Filmfare Award for the Best Male Debut.
Bollywood loves his romantic ‘chocolate hero’ image in films but chatting with him, you realize he’s not just about style and stardom – but about substance. Here he muses about life, family, love and social activism.

“It’s the Oscar party for giving back,” said Meera Gandhi, founder of the Giving Back Foundation at its inaugural gala at the Pierre in New York, and indeed it was a fun-raising and fund-raising event which brought together an eclectic crowd from the worlds of arts, design and business together in a warm, intimate evening.

People certainly gave in different ways that night – from Phylicia Rashad giving generously of her time, noted artists and jewelers and designers donating their work for silent auction, and performers sharing their dance and music.

“As most of you know, I’ve written a book about Bombay called ‘Maximum City’. If Bombay is the maximum of the urban experience, India is the maximum of the democratic experiment.
What does it mean to be ‘maximum’? By the middle of the century, India will be the world’s most populous nation, overtaking China. Biologically, at least, we will be number one. But ‘maximum’ isn’t just about population. It connotes generosity, openness, large-heartedness. It is about striving for the limits of what is possible. And it’s what characterizes the age-old cultural traffic between the country of my birth and the country of my nationality.” – Suketu Mehta.
(Photo: L to R: Salman Rushdie, Suketu Mehta, Tunku Varadrajan & Amb. Dyaneshwar. M. Mulay.)

You could call it the traveling House of Wonders. One year it’s in South Africa, another in Singapore and yet another in Dubai. It’s a virtual orgy for Bollywood lovers.
We’re talking of course about the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) and there’s good news for Bollywood fans in the US – IIFA is coming to Tampa Bay this year, from April 23-26.For fans who want to rub shoulders with celebrity, there’s quite a red carpet contingent coming – Farhan Akhtar, Vidya Balan, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Shruti Hassan, Sonakshi Sinha, Anil Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Sri Devi & Boney Kapoor, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar.

She is Alice in Fashionland – a young designer lost in the surreal magic world of French fashion.

Christine Philip, an up-and-coming Indian-American fashion designer, had always been enamored of Paris and its legacy of ground-breaking fashion. This season she basked in the unparalleled world of French style, soaking in the rhythms and romance of Parisian haute couture. Shows that she attended included Corrie Nielson, Issay Miyake, Chanel, Hermes, YDE, Chloe, Amaya Arzuaga, and Fatima Lopez.

Not totally an insider, this young designer reveled in her entre to a fabulous world. She says: “Paris produces ‘the mother’ of all fashion weeks. There is no other fashion capital that does it like they do and I wanted to be a part of it.”