1. Tell our readers about yourself? (origins+current interests+whatever you want us to know)

Hi everyone! My name is Adam Mamawala, and I’m from Hillsborough, New Jersey. My dad is Indian and moved to the states when he was 20, where he met my mom and got married. I guess you could say Im an ABCHD (not high definition, an American Born Confused Half-Desi).

I recently graduated from The College of New Jersey, where I mastered in Communication Studies with a minor in Italian. I had an incredible four years there, and I am eternally grateful to those who made my time there so memorable.

Shortly after beginning my freshman year of college, I began doing stand-up comedy, and once I started I couldnt stop. Having performed stand-up comedy for the past four years, I have had the chance to appear at some of the top venues in the tri-state area. I was also named the winner of the 2007 New Jersey Comedy Festival, edging out nearly thirty other finalists. I have performed in Philadelphia, Atlantic City, and New York at Carolines and Comix comedy clubs (for a total of nearly 20 performances). Ive been fortunate to have appeared alongside the likes of Darrell Hammond, Jim David, and Judah Friedlander at New Talent Showcases in New York City. My Youtube comedy channel (www.youtube.com/mamawalacomedy) was the 5th most subscribed to channel for the first week that I created the account, with my stand-up videos receiving hundreds of 5-star ratings.

Now that Ive gotten to this point, I have decided to pursue stand-up professionally. I am currently in the process of getting head shots done and sending out stuff to agents. I also have a CD coming out this summer.

2. Have you ever experienced the ABCD v/s FOB culture so prevalent among immigrant Indians and US born people of Indian origin? If so, was the experienced generally good or bad? Does any incident stand out?

Truthfully, because of the fact that my name is not decidedly ethnic and the fact that I look sort of ethnically ambiguous, I have not really had this experience too much. My sisters name is Shaheen, so people always assume that she is not white, whereas people either think Im a tan white kid or that Im Italian, Hawaiian, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, etc. No one ever guesses that my dad is Indian. Within the past decade, my aunt, uncle, cousin, grandma, and grandpa have moved to the US from India, so I think that has really helped me have a better understanding of the culture.

3. How and when did standup comedy happen?

My freshman year of college, I had gone to a New Jersey Nets basketball game with a few friends of mine. The whole game, I kept making comments about funny stuff that always goes on at professional sporting events, and one of my friends recommended that I create a routine out of it and try it out at an open mic night. I did just that, and several weeks later I performed at an open mic night at The Stress Factory in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The performance went really well, and that gave me the confidence to pursue it more seriously. Since then, based on the success Ive had, theres been no reason to stop, and now I want to pursue it professionally.

4. Have you ever visited India? If yes, what do you like and dislike about your visit?

I have only visited India once, and I was very young. I went in the spring of 1995, so I was only seven years old. We were there for a month, visiting my dads entire family. Even as a kid, I remember it being a very jarring experience being thrown into such a different world. We landed in Mumbai and drove four hours to my dads home city of Pune, and everywhere we looked, there was poverty. I cant even imagine how much India has changed in the 15 years since I visited, and I would love to go back. However, if and when I do return, I would like to see India as a tourist, not as someone purely there to visit family. Clichéd as it may be, it is one of my dreams to see the Taj Mahal.

5. First crush?

The first crush I can remember was an adorable little Asian girl in my 2nd grade class named Heather. As you can imagine, not too much amounted from that, but thats the first one I can remember.

6. Passions in life?

My main passions in life are comedy, sports, and music, in that order. Ive already explained what comedy means to me, but sports are probably an equally important aspect of my life. I grew up playing basketball and tennis, both of which I was pretty good but not fantastic at, and I continue playing tennis even now. I also coach tennis in the summer as a job, and its a great time. I grew up in Illinois when I was young, but I moved to New Jersey in 4th grade when my dad was transferred. However, I remained an avid Chicago sports fan, and I am an absolutely diehard Cubs, Bulls, and Bears fan. (Truthfully I dont follow hockey but I was happy to see the Blackhawks play so well this postseason.)

I also love singing, and I was in chorus and did 4 musicals in high school. In college, I was in an a cappella group called the Trentones at my school, and I consider it one of the best choices I made in college.

7. Future aspirations?

As of right now, I really want to work in entertainment. I realize how hard that is, but I feel that I have the talent and the drive to get somewhere with comedy. I have gotten to the point where I believe that I owe it to myself to see what can happen with comedy, because I never want to let myself have any regrets later in my life.

8. Biggest compliment yet?

After my youtube page got a lot of hits, the feedback was really positive, and a lot of people posted comments and sent me messages saying things like I cant wait til you get famous and I cant wait to see you on Comedy Central. Comments like that really make me feel good.

Also, sometimes Ill meet people who I either dont know or who I havent talked to in years who tell me how much they enjoy my videos, and I once had a girl tell me, Whenever Im having a crappy day, I put on one of your videos and I cant help but smile. Probably the nicest compliment Ive ever received.

9. Favorite comedians?

My favorite comedians are Mitch Hedberg, Dave Chappelle, and Russell Peters. Unfortunately Mitch Hedberg has passed away, Chappelle doesnt perform a lot anymore, and Ive heard a lot of negative things about Russell Peters. Basically, the rumors are that he is really arrogant and kind of a jerk, but I hope thats not the case because hes extremely talented and someone I look up to.

10. Favorite movies?

I am an absolute movie buff here’s the short list.

Jurassic Park, A Beautiful Mind, Wedding Crashers, Ray, Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, Anchorman, Rain Man, Crash, Memento, Dodgeball, The Usual Suspects, Forrest Gump, Mystic River, Finding Neverland, 40 Year Old Virgin, School of Rock, Borat, The Departed, Blood Diamond, Knocked Up, The Bourne Ultimatum, Superbad, Babel, Pans Labyrinth, No Country for Old Men, The Namesake, The Godfather, Juno, Dan in Real Life, The Dark Knight, The Shawshank Redemption, Pineapple Express, Slumdog Millionaire, Gran Torino, Seven Pounds, Milk

11. Favorite blogs?

I dont really look at a lot of blogs, but my favorite is called www.bleedcubbieblue.com, which is a Chicago Cubs fansite.

12. Favorite celebrities

Not sure I have any favorite celebrities, but I have a lot of respect for the kind of celebrities who stay down to earth and grounded despite their fame. If I ever got to the point where I was in the public eye, I would like to think that I would stay humble and gracious.

13. Family – how do they like your stand-up routines? Especially the raunchy ones?

My family has been extremely supportive of my stand-up to this point. They really like my material for the most part, and even the stuff thats a little more on the raunchy side they tend to be cool with. In fact, in my video The Art of Jerking Off, which I would imagine is pretty self-explanatory, my parents were actually at the show. They tend to take it for what it is, and I cant thank my parents and my sister enough for their support. My sister lives in New York City, and has been at almost every one of my shows, and it really means a lot to me.

–

Pictures courtesy: Adam Mamawala

You can find Adam online here  -

www.youtube.com/mamawalacomedy
www.myspace.com/mamawalacomedy
www.twitter.com/mamawalacomedy
http://mamawalacomedy.blogspot.com

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Über Desi gupshups with Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, the winners of the “Million Dollar Arm Hunt” and the first Indian athletes to sign with a MLB team. As our regular readers know, we like to keep it short, sweet and above all, “Keep it real – desi ishtyle”. So this Q&A session is being posted as-as in its unedited format. Thanks to Ash of “The Million Dollar Arm” contest for making this Q&A session possible.

The Million Dollar babas
img: via MLB.com

A few quick notes:
The first thing that will jump out to our readers is the fact that like their struggles to master the curveball, Rinku and Dinesh are also working on their English language skills. Presenting the conversation in it’s unedited format, we feel gives authenticity and brings out the real people in these athletes. The story of Rinku and Dinesh in a way mirrors those of a lot of non-desi immigrants to the US – they come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and this is truly the opportunity for them to advance themselves and their families.

They call everyone “sir”, especially their coaches (and me???!!!). Coming from rural India to Los Angeles, they feel Angelenos are good drivers, love pizza and Hollywood action movies.

Read on to learn more about these two young athletes from rural India with stars in their eyes.

Read the rest of this entry »

As someone who indulges in the nerdy pastime, my ears perk up when I hear about movies that revolve around quizzing. Such movies are few and far in between and the subject being such a niche, it is not surprising that the movies that get made are made by exemplary auteurs and writers who are through in their research.

Slumdog Millionaire seems to be one such movie. It tells us the story of Jamal, an 18 year-old half illiterate orphan from the slums of Mumbai who is a participant on India’s version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”. One question away from winning the ultimate prize, a staggering 20 million rupees, the show breaks for the night and police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slums of Mumbai, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to his answer to one of the game show’s questions. But we wonder what this young man with no apparent desire for riches really doing on the game show? Will this question be answered when Jamal returns to answer the final question for the ultimate prize?

Based on the career diplomat Vikas Swarup’s debut novel, Q&A, Slumdog Millionaire is directed by acclaimed director Danny Boyle (TRAINSPOTTING, SHALLOW GRAVE, MILLIONS, 28 DAYS LATER, SUNSHINE) and Loveleen Tandan and won the 2008 Toronto Film Festival People’s Choice Award, Starring Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, and Irrfan Khan, Slumdog Millionaire was the closing night film at the 52nd annual London Film Festival and will have a special screening at the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival.

And ever since it was first shown in public as a last minute entry at the Telluride Film festival, it has been garnering rave reviews. Last week, Entertainment Weekly picked SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE as a possible Oscar nominee for both the Best Picture and Best Director categories. A.R.Rahman’s background score is also garnering rave reviews and is being touted as a possible Oscar nominee.

The movie that Richard Corliss calls “a buoyant hymn to life, and a movie to celebrate”, opens on Wednesday, November 12, in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Toronto. It will then be released in additional cities across the country on November 21 and throughout December.

Dial 1800-ROMANCE! Ever imagine picking up a phone and talking to a customer service person and ending up falling in love with them? What? That’s the stuff movie scripts of made up of? Oh well. You caught me. That is the plotline of “THE OTHER END OF THE LINE”, the latest comedy from Ashok Amritraj productions

Shot in the Über beautiful cities of San Franscisco and Mumbai, The Other End Of The Line stars Desperate Housewife alum Jessie Metclafe and Thalaivar Rajinikant’s one time on-screen squeeze, Shriya Saran in leading roles with a familiar supporting cast featuring Anupam Kher, Avantika Akerkar, cutie Tara Sharma among others.

This movie is significant in more than a few ways. For one, this movie is perhaps one of the first true cross-overs (Sallu bhai’s Marigold notwithstanding). The film is the first in a five-year co-production deal between Amritraj’s U.S.-based Hyde Park Entertainment and India’s powerhouse studio Reliance Adlabs and is being distributed in the US by MGM.

To be released nationwide on October 31, this trailer has been out now for sometime (Thanks Gitesh).