Clearly I’m late to Heineken’s “The Date” commercial, where hipster America meets Chinatown meets 60s Bollywood rock-n-roll kitsch. The first thought that came to my mind “very well done and very cool”. For your enjoyment below:

The song “Jaan Pehchan Ho” from the movie Gumnaam (1965) is, of course, instantly recognizable to any self-respecting Bollywood fan (if you haven’t watched Gumnaam, you’re not a true Bollywood fan, you SRK jock sniffer). Again, for your enjoyment below:

What many don’t know, however, is the fact that “Jaan Pehchan Ho” was “inspired” by a song 6 years earlier from a Dev Anand flick “Love Marriage”. Crazy dance moves, old school rock-n-roll music. Watch and enjoy.

The Times of India has done it again. Having long abandoned any pretense of journalistic integrity, here is the latest rubbish from our favorite go – to desi paper.

Under the cringe inducing headline “ Study links lesbianism to career” ,   the TOI quotes a dubious study from un-named NGOs in Chandigarh that : ( I am not making this shit up – this is a direct quote!)

A study by two NGOs to understand the nature of lesbian behaviour in the city has found that most women take to this alternative sexuality while staying in hostels of educational institutions or working at call centres and marketing companies

Apart from personal choice, the reasons for these women’s (sic) turning lesbian were found to be an abusive childhood or being widowed or divorced.

There is zero mention of genetic predisposition and makes the whole issue of homosexuality sound like a lifestyle choice as opposed to a congenital orientation.

This sounds like it was dictated by the far right – defense of marriage act types in the US …

Anyways, I matched their “checklist” against my personal history and:

- Stayed at hostel of educational institution : Check

- Working at call centers or marketing companies : Check

- Abusive childhood : No

- Widowed or Divorced : No

Does this mean there is a 50 % chance I am going to play for the other team ? But, but …I love Bruce Willis ..so that can’t be true? Can it ? Can it?

Who writes this crap?

A desi guy proposes to his girlfriend in San Fran (via @supremus). One of the more original ones we’ve seen in a while. If anything, the trends of flash mobs seems to be inspired by traditional song and dance sequences from Bollywood movies, so desis popping “the question” in this manner shouldn’t come as a surprise. Thoughts?

Having spent the better part of my evening yesterday in watching the snoozefest that was the 83rd Annual Oscar Awards, I thought I should at least get a blog post out of it. I watched the red carpet arrivals on E! and was sore that there was no sign of our very own Mrs.Aishwarya Rai Bachhan.This morning some internet trolling had me find the pics of  Aishwarya’s appearance.

Ms. Rai Bachhan at the Oscars 2011

( Image from www. redcarpet-fashionawards.com where you will find details on her outfit)

As the site helpfully points out : She carried a Jimmy Choo “Lana” bag. Other accessories included her husband Mr. Abhishek Bacchan. As you can see from this photo:

Abhi and Ash at the Oscars

( image courtesy : www.altfg.com )

Mr.Bachchan Junior cannot be bothered to get a nice shave even for the Oscars. What can one say? This is the guy who couldn’t be bothered to shave for his own wedding! Aish looked glamorous if safe . I am thankful she chose to wear her hair down and not in a beehive.

Also in attendance were A.R.Rahman and his wife.

AR Rahman and wife at Oscars 2011

Image from www.pinkvilla.com

Mad props to ARR’s wife for sticking to her  ethnic style in the face of all the cameras and heaving bosoms!

I may have missed a memo on this but did AR Rahman change his name for the western audiences? Why does every presenter ( starting with Alicia Keys 2 years ago ) call him A.R. RACH- MAN? Did I miss some name change announcement?

Call me biased but “I loves the Pamela Andersons“. “So besides you being stuck in the Baywatch dominated 90s, vaat is the desi connection to this post?” you ask. I’ll tell you, no I’ll show you, not one but two very nice desi connections from Amreeka.

The Pamela Andersons recently joined the cast of the Indian reality TV show, Bigg Boss (a desi version of Big Brother). The additional “g” in Big is probably for numerology purposes, but who effin cares, correct? Anyway, as promised, the additional desi connection on the show is The Great Khali, as seen in the video below, where The Pamela Andersons gets introduced to the house residents.

The Pamela Andersons wasted no time and broke out into a (not so) impromptu rendition of Madhuri Dixit’s “Dhak Dhak” wrapped in a sarong, reminiscent of Kajol in DDLJ (this comparison was pointed out to me by a Twitterati who shall stay unnamed). Video commences ……

Predictably, puritans hemmed and hawed about The Pamela Andersons rendition of “Dhak Dhak” and the few Hindi and Urdu words she uttered on-screen but Bigg Boss’ sagging ratings received a much need uplift (pun totally intended).

The Pamela Andersons also made an on-screen appearance with Salman Khan, who hosts the show and made her customary appearance in “traditional Indian attire”. What’s not to love about The Pamela Andersons?

While The Pamela Andersons was only guilty of atrocious fashion, dance moves and linguistic skills, the Indian government decided that she must surely be showing her vazhin on TV and attempted to stick an “adults-only” tag on the show and relegate it from prime time, as if that would deter sex-starved desi audiences ….. NOT!

She entered the House in India’s popular and controversial television reality show “Bigg Boss” in Lonawala (near Mumbai) on Wednesday night for a three-day cameo appearance and India Government issued an order earlier in the day to ban the show in prime time relegating it to slot between 11pm-5am.
The order reportedly gives this primetime show adults-only label, directs it to be broadcasted only between 11pm-5am and run a disclaimer/advisory, and prevents news channels to show its video footage between 5am-11pm; saying that its content “offends against good taste and decency” and “objectionable and not suitable for children and unrestricted public exhibition”.

In the meanwhile, publicity whore hound, Rajan Zed, also decided that the opportunity for free, ummm, publicity was too easy to pass up and issued a statement on the behalf of all Hindus and Indian-Americans.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) on Saturday said that although censorship was not acceptable, but many times television producers crossed the line for mercantile greed without consideration to families and children.
Television producers needed to grow-up and show maturity to analyze themselves what was good for the Indian nation and the world, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, added.
Zed, however, welcomed Anderson to India and applauded her interest in Indian ethos.

Reports are that Hindi entertainment channel Colors reportedly paid The Pamela Andersons Rs. 25 million (approx $550K) for the 3 day cameo. Given, the boost in sagging ratings and subsequent rise in revenues, this may not be a bad investment. After all, everyone in India loves The Pamela Andersons.