There is also an ad campaign to go hand in hand with the product that hits a new low in terms of discriminating women based on skin color. The ad campaign is an elaborate one featuring Saif Ali Khan and Priyanka Chopra. The story goes something like this:
Saif dumps Priyanka for her dark skin and goes with a pale white girl. Priyanka starts using pink white fairness cream. Saif sees “the change” and realizes he still has feelings for her. Apparently pink white is better than pale white. If you had not seen similar ads in the past, one could be forgiven for thinking all this was an elaborate hoax.

Hard to describe in words but watch the first 4 episodes of the ad campaign yourself after the jump and leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section.

Episode1: Dark girl loses guy


Episode 2: Dark girl starts using fairness cream

Episode 3: Dark girl undergoes transformation, changes hero’s mind

Episode 4: Dark girl becomes “pinkish white” and hero dumps “pale white” girl for “pinkish white” girl

Excuse me while I go throw up.

As the description puts it: “14 months in the making, 42 countries, and a cast of thousands” and 5 million+ hits in under a month (emphasis is mine). The song in the background is “Praan” composed by Garry Schyman, and the haunting voice is 17-year old Palbasha Siddique, a Bangladeshi girl from MN. As for Praan, the lyrics are inspired by the poem “Stream of Life” from Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali. The video starts off in Mumbai, India and makes a brief stop in Gurgaon, India, on its trans-continental journeys.

More on the creator of the video, Matt Harding.

After watching this video, what is your reaction? Know of any friends or relatives who reacted uncharacteristically to this video? Share your thoughts and comments in the space below.

Johann Bach moved to the Indian state of Goa a couple of years ago and was trying to sell a stolen piano when authorities caught up with him, according to a report in the Telegraph of Calcutta.

The capture occured Friday after Bach tried to elude police by jumping out of a taxi and running into the forest on the Goa-Karnataka border. He was later tracked down wandering in the forest. Reports said deportation and trial are likely, as Germany and India have an extradition treaty.(link)

The story further read: Bach advertised the piano in question for sale on the Internet. This was recognized by German authorities as one that was stolen during the War. Bach was in a taxi trying to get into Karnataka. Realizing that he was being tracked, he attempted to leave the cab and flee into the forest.

We at UD are attempting to verify this information and will post any updates.

Further analysis unfortunately seems to indicate that this new release was a prank. Some versions of the release stated that the German Intelligence agency involved is named “Perus Narkp” . For the anagram fans amongst our readers , it will not be too difficult to figure that one out. (link)

UPDATE 2: A hat tip to the guys behind this feat! You can read it in their own words here (Tip: Anantha via email)

ESPN360.com is a broadband network for live sports programming in the United States, Mexico, Brazil and Europe. In the U.S. the network can only be accessed through Internet service providers who have signed up and paid ESPN for the programming. The entire service is free to the individual (the ISP pays for the cost) with few advertisements.

And ESPN360 now carries live cricket! So if your ISP carries ESPN360, you can watch the current Asia Cup live, online.

And given that ESPN has won the International Cricket Council’s television rights for 2007-2015, I think we can look forward to watching more cricket on ESPN360.

Yes, those are cutoff jean shorts
img: via NYT

Prominently featured is a gentleman (despite his skin tight cutoff jean shorts) named Lou Majaw who has celebrated rock-n-roll legend, Bob Dylan’s birthday for the last 35 years.

Lou Majaw wore his signature skin-tight, cutoff short-shorts. His long gray hair hung like dirty threads around his face. Eyes closed in prayer, a guitar cupped in arms, he strummed the chords to “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

“Happy birthday, Bob Dylan, wherever you are,” he began, standing on a stage in a near-empty church hall on an overcast Saturday afternoon. “God bless you, and thanks for everything that you’ve done.”

Aa Dylan is celebrated in Shillong by the skin tight cutoff jean short wearing Lou Majaw, one of India’s original and oldest rock-n-roll musicians, the entire town if not the region, worships the genre of music Dylan made famous, rock-n-roll.

On Mr. Dylan’s birthday weekend a visitor could drive down a narrow, rain-soaked road and hear young men with guitars serenading, or stumble upon thousands gathered under a Christian revival tent, singing modern gospel in their native Khasi. On a football field, at twilight, you might be pulled into a mosh pit of teenagers dancing to a Naga tribal blues guitarist, or on a Sunday morning find schoolchildren in a chorus of 19th-century hymns in a prim Presbyterian church.

Among the theories offered for this flourishing music scene are the area’s native tribes’ traditions rooted, Christian missionaries promoting English (rock-n-roll’s primary language), and the unrest and anti-Hindi sentiments in the area. While it may be easy to argue against each one of those theories separately, one can see how their combination would result in promoting this genre of music. The area also has a large number of boarding schools and colleges, among the students of whom rock is pretty popular.

Even our friends, the Khasi, have gotten into the rock action.

A band called Snow White has released an entire album of Khasi allegory, the story of one man and his encounters with modern perils, from corruption to a broken heart. One track is called “Five Year Gods,” and it is about politicians who make promises during the election season and do nothing in their five years in office. Their promises, it turns out, are eaten by termites. “Quite hollow,” says Don Ryntathiang, 32, the band’s bassist and lyricist.

Most rock bands, when they tour India almost always have Shillong on their list of destinations.

As for Majaw, despite his steadfast devotion to Bob Dylan, he is considered somewhat of a nutjob by the local populace.

Bob Dylans loves Bauls
img: via Wikipedia

Dylan’s love affair with India, particularly the East, dates back to the 1960s when he featured members of the Bengals Bauls tribe on the cover of one of his albums, John Wesley Harding. [Mp3.com] (tip Anantha via email)

In 1967 Purnachandra Das, to give him his full name, was awarded the title of Baul Samrat (Emperor of the Bauls) by the then President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad. He achieved a different sort of fame — but one which would put his name on many Westerners’ lips — when Bob Dylan placed him on the cover on his John Wesley Harding in 1968.

Pretty offbeat story, huh? So why do you think Shillong has become the rock capital of India? What do you think about Bob Dylan’s desi connections? Do you know of any such offbeat stories?

Comments and opinions in the space below.

Anyone know of any July release with high desi quotients?

Was Nipa eliminated on “The Next Food Network Star”?
Nipa had a week from hell. Asked to shoot a video for cleaning squid, she was unable to do it because it was out of her area of expertise. The next challenge was making a fish dish and another dish out of grapefruit. After making a big fuss over touching fish, Nipa’s food turned out well, surprisingly. However, during her presentation she burst out into impromptou session of what she called “Bollywood Dancing”. Given that her audience were military personnel, it did not go down well with some of them. Nipa was eliminated. The Next Food Network Star won’t be cooking Indian food anytime soon.
However, if some Indian cuisine chefs (and other also) want to learn from Nipa’s experiences here’s a few pointers:
1. Mr/Ms. Friendly - Create a warm and friendly image. While it’s good to appear confident, it can easily be mistaken for cockiness.
2. Face time, face time, face time - Practice with the camera all you can. Practice talking to the camera while you cook. Practice presenting your dishes to the camera everyday. Be creative and witty without overdoing it.
3. Spin yarns - It is not simply enough if you describe what you’re making and how to do it. Try relating the food with some childhood experiences and family anecdotes. If you’re cooking some new fare like Indian cuisine, some history on the food will also be appreciated.
4. Minority reports - If you’re from a “minority” (in the US) background, speak about it. Audiences and judges love hearing that kind of stuff.
5. Culinary expertise - Even if you are an Indian cuisine chef, food network execs want to know how you can translate it to an American audience. Making a potato curry with rice and naan won’t work every week. You have to be able to make entrees with meats and seafood and appetizers with some sauces.

Hoping to see more Indian cuisine chefs on “The Food Network” soon.

The makers of the new Mike Myers homage to juvenile toilet humor, have managed to garner support from an unlikely source. The same source that the movie parodies, well sort of.

The North American Chapter of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has just urged Hindus protesting Guru Pitka’s on-screen antics to lighten up and be enlightened. And pleasantly surprised as we are at UberDesi, all we are going say about it is “asphinctersayswhat”.

Say what? Exactly!

Perhaps the first Hindu organisation to comment on the Mike Myers’ film after watching it, ISKCON asked Hindus ‘to view the film in its context as a comedy, and to draw on the tolerance and broadmindedness that are hallmarks of our faith’.

While we think that poo and pee jokes are so passé, we have to agree. And ISKCON’s statement even takes a stand at the movie’s rabid Hindu detractors.

Yet, alluding to the campaign against the film run by Hindu leader Rajan Zed, Iskcon said: ‘We believe that pressuring filmmakers to censor, re-rate, or otherwise limit their artistic freedom is generally antithetical to the spirit of pluralism and tolerance within the Vedic or Hindu culture.’

Take that, Rajan Zed!

*UPDATE*: I had the unique opportunity to meet with Vineet Chander, ESQ (Director of Communications, ISCKON (North America) at the SAJA convention in New York. A pleasant surprise followed when he immediately recognized UberDesi by name and when I told him about this post (and the Love Guru coverage at UD), he graciously agreed to a short conversation (on record). This conversation which ranged from the Love Guru to Stephen Colbert to Dasavatharam, will be posted here once the recording is transcribed.

Vineet, if you ever on here again, please do leave us a comment!

Would I recommend it? As long as you’re not expecting another “Sixth Sense”, absolutely. It’s a scifi version of “No Country for Old Men”, slow-developing story and plenty of suspense, disappointing ending included. No brainy material just pure entertainment. I would compare it to Shyamalan’s “Signs”, which I also liked.

Read a detailed review of “The Happening” by Runa.

Nipa on “The Next Food Network Star”
After last week’s on screen meltdown, which nearly eliminated her, Nipa kept a relatively low profile this weekend. In the first Potato challenge, where the contestants had to come up with a potato dish in short order, Nipa made a Gujarati potato dish “Bateta nu Shaak”. The judges loved it. The second challenge was a relatively tougher challenge where the contestants had to create a sauce and brand it. After grabbing all the cayenne pepper in the store, Nipa created a “Spicy Peanut Sauce” brand which did not go well with the audience. Her marketing of the product was also fairly lackluster. She was voted to stay and is now in the top 7.
The problem with Nipa is that she doesn’t have the kind of bubbly hyperactive warm personality that Food Network viewers are used to seeing. To her credit, she had a clear agenda in mind - to be Food Network’s first Indian cuisine host. Will she make it? Stay tuned.

Other desi-related stuff in entertainment news: [tip S.I. of Desi Manifesto]
“Little Mosque on the Prairie” on FOX?
FOX has acquired the rights for the Canadian show “Little Mosque on the Prairie” [link]. It’ll be really interesting to see how a Muslim based show will fit in with the conservative base of FOX studios which is largely fed a steady diet of neo-con porn like “24″. I never had the opportunity to watch “Little Mosque” but my understanding is that it’s an “Aliens in America” like show which gives a great treatment to the issues of Muslims in a largely western culture.

Aziz Ansari on “The Office” spinoff
Aziz Ansari of the NBC comedy “Human Giant” is all set to join an ensemble of actors for a potential spin off of the popular comedy “The Office” [link]. Vera Chokalingam a.k.a Mindy Kaling already plays the role of Kelly Kapoor on current episodes of “The Office”.