June 21, 2009 at 12:40 am (Aasif Mandvi, Aziz Ansari, Kal Penn, The Proposal)
Aasif Mandvi of the Daily Show plays a swarmy book publisher named Bob Spaulding in the new Sandra Bullock film The Proposal. Mandvi’s character is the third instance I’ve seen recently where a desi is cast in a non-ethnic role: Aziz Ansari’s Tom Haverford on Parks and Recreation and Kal Penn’s Lawrence Kutner being the two others.
Has any one else noticed this? Is this a trend?
June 17, 2009 at 12:35 am (Adam Lambert, Freddie Mercury, Queen)
It should come as as no surprise that American Idol runner up Adam Lambert considers late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury a musical hero. In an interview with Oprah.com Adam pays tribute to the mustachioed one:
SS: Seems to me you could take over as the lead singer of Queen.
AL: Freddie Mercury is an idol of mine. The quality and the attack and passion in which he’d sing is totally inspirational to me. And, his story. He was living in a time when you couldn’t be as honest and open about your lifestyle. I’m very fortunate to be in 2009, and I kind of feel like in some weird way this is for him and all the other artists who haven’t been able to be real.
(Via MJ’s Big Blog)
June 17, 2009 at 12:21 am (So You Think You Can Dance)
Choreographer Nakul Dev Mahajan returned to So You Think You Can Dance last week to choreograph Caitlin and Jason’s performance to (what else?) Jai Ho.
An interesting performance, but not nearly as memorable as Joshua and Katie’s delightful dance to Dhoom Tana last season.
June 16, 2009 at 12:15 pm (matrimony)
Monica Yunus, a New York-based opera singer and the daughter of Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, was married last weekend. Here’s Monica singing Je Veux Vivre on YouTube.
There was also a Hindu wedding this week in Massachusetts.
April 4, 2009 at 2:09 am (24, Anil Kapoor)
According to EW.com, Anil K. will play ” Middle Eastern leader who’s on a peacemaking mission in America.”
April 3, 2009 at 4:35 am (Bhutan, Holi, Michael J. Fox, New Delhi)
Michael J. Fox was just on Letterman to shill for his new book. He also spoke about a special that he just taped on happiness that took him to Bhutan. He explained that he visited because of Bhutan’s high rate of Gross National Happiness.
He and Letterman actually talked about Bhutan for quite a long time and showed photos of families that MJF visited while there. Fox said that the high altitude also helped calm his Parkinson’s symptoms and that he was able to go mountain climbing.
Fox also ended up making an unplanned trip to India when he injured his finger mountain climbing, and ended up being sent to a Delhi hospital during Holi. Crazy antics, of course, ensue.
The last time I remember South Asia getting so much time on Letterman was when Ben Kingsley discussed filming Gandhi last summer.
Hopefully I’ll be able to find a video of the appearance for you all tomorrow.
March 31, 2009 at 3:37 pm (Alyson Hannigan)
How I Met Your Mother star Alyson Hannigan gave birth to daughter Satyana Denisof yesterday. Celebrity Baby Blog has the details. No word on what inspired the name, which is the Sanskrit word for truth.
March 30, 2009 at 9:09 pm (Amway)
Just talked to a friend who just came from “business meeting” about “making easy money” that an acquaintance recently proposed.
You know what that means: Amway!
Random desis used to ask me if I was Indian all of the time when I lived in Philadelphia- once when I was walking in Rittenhouse Square, another time in the University of Pennsylvania bookstore. I quickly learned to emphatically deny my Indian identity and to walk away as quickly as possible.
Until recently, I actually had no idea that being ambushed by Indians trying to push Amway is a fairly normal occurrence all over this great nation of ours. Stuff Indians Like did a post about it here, as did Sepia Mutiny a few years ago.
Do any readers out there have a particularly memorable Amway moment? Post in the comments.
March 30, 2009 at 2:54 am (Bollywood Beats, Movies)
Via SAJAforum, I just watched the trailer for Bollywood Beats, a new desi rom-com. Looks cute.
March 30, 2009 at 1:58 am (matrimony)
We have a bit of a drought- none again this week.
NYT > Asia Pacific