Another Bollywood “Thriller”

Another Bollywood version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, this time courtesy the Ramsay brothers.
This one is so bad, it’s not half as funny as the Chiranjeevi version of Thriller.

Jews in Bollywood

Not unlike Hollywood of today, Jews were quite prominent in Bollywood in the early 20th century. [TabletMag]
The TableMag, a Jewish magazine, has an interesting take on actors of Jewish origin in Bollywood movies, in the early half of the 20th century, particularly two leading ladies, Ruby Myers (Sulochana) and Farhat Ezekiel (Nadira).
Of course, we [...]

Everybody do the bhangra

Superheroes, pets, little kids, desis and people of all skin hues and nationalities getting their groove on to bhangra beats in broad daylight in Central Park, NY. Have any of our NY area readers ever come across this ritual?

New York - Hindi Movie review

*ing Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irrfan Khan, Katrina Kaif and John Abraham

New York is a good watch! Especially since it’s not a typical Hindi film that we are so used to. And as any other movie, there are certain aspects of it that I liked, and certain that I didn’t. I was VERY surprised to see [...]

Sri Lanka arrests astrologer

The Sri Lankan government arrested a famous astrologer who predicted that the president will be ejected from office. [BBC]
Chandrasiri Bandara announced last week that the government would flounder in September and October because of political and economic problems.
Police told the AP news agency that Mr Bandara told an opposition meeting that the prime minister would [...]

Only celebrities can reincarnate as celebrities

In recent days, there has been increased chatter in desi media about Walter Semkiw’s books. [HT]
Did you know that Mahatma Gandhi has been reincarnated as Van Jones, the celebrated American civil rights and environmental activist who was named Time magazine’s “environmental hero” in the US in 2008?
“Objective evidence that forms the basis of past [...]

Weekly Twitter Updates for 2009-06-28

New blog post: HCL CEO says American grads unemployable http://bit.ly/9BWaw #
New blog post: Taiwanese idol - desi ishtyle http://bit.ly/Qix04 #
painting with broad brush strokes seems to be the in-thing to do these days #uberdesi http://tinyurl.com/m84bpc #
cops close on heels of desi’s killer in gas station Gary, IN incident http://tinyurl.com/kt9fju #
Gen X [...]

Weekly Twitter Updates for 2009-06-28

New blog post: HCL CEO says American grads unemployable http://bit.ly/9BWaw #
New blog post: Taiwanese idol - desi ishtyle http://bit.ly/Qix04 #
painting with broad brush strokes seems to be the in-thing to do these days #uberdesi http://tinyurl.com/m84bpc #
cops close on heels of desi’s killer in gas station Gary, IN incident http://tinyurl.com/kt9fju #
Gen X [...]

Desi involved in Jackson autopsy

The much-publicized Michael Jackson autopsy is underway and heading the autopsy is Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran, Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles.
Dr. Sathyavagiswaran, a graduate of Madras University, India, is certainly no stranger to high-profile cases. [Vancouver Sun] (tip Karthik via email, @Krupali via Twitter)
He is no stranger to the lime light. Sathyavagiswaran [...]

The King (of pop) is dead

Michael Jackson died earlier today. [NYT]
From a desi perspective, Michael Jackson toured Indian in 1996 and did a show in Mumbai. Here’s a few highlights from that trip (video below):
-He was greeted at the airport with the traditional local greeting complete with maala, aarti and tilak by Marathi mulgi, Sonali Bendre.
-Raj Thackeray was among the [...]

When He Man came to Bollywood

He Man comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress - Bollywood ishtyle. Bollywood created a musical rendition of the cheesy cartoon show complete with junior artistes in florescent skeleton clothes and a Skeletor idol with flashing eyes. He Man is played by a random white dude, yelling “He Man, He Man, I’m He [...]

The pickle hating Americans

I always warn my mother not to bring pickles when visiting here from the des. [Here's why] (tip Runa via email)

A suspicious piece of luggage that the Columbus Bomb Squad detonated Tuesday night at Port Columbus International Airport turned out to be a canister filled with pickled mangoes.
You see Indians are much more conscientious [...]

Walmart’s first store in India not a Walmart

Walmart’s first store in India will be a wholesale store more along the lines of SAMS Club, largely targetted at wholesale buyers, aka, businesses and establishments. [Time]
Wal-Mart’s debut outlet, which will open in the city of Amritsar in northern India later this month, is a wholesale-only operation that will sell mainly to vegetable vendors, hospitals, [...]

Taiwanese Idol - desi ishtyle

Contestant on the Taiwanese (best guess from the comments section) version of American Idol sings a Bollywood song complete with a getup that oddly looks like a bearskin lungi. The contestant went all out with dance movements thrown in. On Indian Idol, he would be criticized for issues with pitch and tune and such. But [...]

HCL CEO says American grads unemployable

CEO of HCL Technologies, Vineet Nayar, reportedly proclaimed American grads as being unemployable, setting off a controversy.

Weekly Twitter Updates for 2009-06-21

@ShashiTharoor your thoughts on the Indian government’s proposed plan to block websites? #uberdesi http://tinyurl.com/krxq8y #
best of snake charming - Bollywood ishtyle #uberdesi http://tinyurl.com/kmmy63 #
gender bias rampant among Asian-Americans including Indians #uberdesi http://tinyurl.com/mvdvhx #
hate crimes against immigrants on the rise #uberdesi http://tinyurl.com/l6grem #
desi Mata Hari? #uberdesi http://bit.ly/2r4YPh #
a. why is this [...]

Homespun

HomeSpun: Smithsonian Indian American Heritage Project as the name suggests is a desi endeavor with the Smithsonian. It is basically “a national grassroots effort to create an exhibit chronicling the history of both immigrants from India and their descendants in America”. While the project itself was launched in 2007, the web presence received a boost [...]

Dhaka Savings Time

Bangladesh has adopted daylight savings time. So has Pakistan. US and UK have been doing it for years. Why not India? Why not Delhi Savings Time?

Now single men can be fathers too

Happy Fathers Day to all our readers, particularly to those who are fathers. On the occasion of Father’s Day comes this story about single men (straight or otherwise) using surrogacy as a means for parenthood. [TOI]
Rafa, a 38-year old Spanish teacher, recently celebrated the birth of his twin boys whom he fathered through artificial reproduction [...]

A Shakespearean tragedy - desi ishtyle

Shakespearean love tragedies are nothing new to the Indian psyche, a society in which non-traditional marriages were frowned upon. Numerous Bollywood and regional language movies have used Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet combined with lilting melodies as a sure shot formula for box-office success. The sad part as evidenced by this story is that such unions [...]