Tanuja Chandra, an Indian filmmaker and writer, feels the role of female directors, and technicians in the Indian film industry is far from satisfactory. Chandra was in California recently to take part in the South Asian Literature and Arts (SALA) Festival. In an exclusive chat with indica, she said her dream is when Bollywood will have an equal number of women film directors who would be able to break the industry’s patriarchal outlook.
Noted author, editor and columnist Shobhaa De was one of the keynote speakers at the South Asian Literature and Arts Festival (SALA) 2023 held in October at Menlo College in Atherton, California. In an interview with indica, De, 75, spoke abput Bollywood’s patriarchy, its alco-narco culture, the stigma around mental health and her father, whose gait, she said, was that of an army general and how proud she is of him.
The South Asian Literature and Arts Festival (SALA) 2023 brought in awarded authors, screenwriters, stars, lyricists and directors from various fields of literature and arts at Menlo College in Atherton, California, on October 7 and 8. On Day 1 popular Indian writer, stand-up comedian, poet, lyricist and filmmaker Varun Grover saw his comedy night sold out. Grover spoke to indica on the sidelines of the festival on personal life, life as a screen writer and the entertainment industry.
Christopher Nolan’s latest directorial ‘Oppenheimer’, which hit the theatres on July 21, has received rave reviews from fans and critics alike but it has also elicited a sharp response from some Indian viewers over a sex scene featuring a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, considered a holy scripture by Hindus.
He was out on a Juhu beach building sandcastles with his children when he was offered a challenging role that would go on to make him a Hindi film icon — and nearly lost it when the flabbergasted director saw him turn up in a London-made suit.
Mumbai Police has issued a lookout circular (LOC) against a man accused of sending threatening email to Bollywood star Salman Khan. As per police officials, the man allegedly emailed threat messages to the ‘Dabangg’ star in the name of gangster Goldy Brar in March.
America is celebrating the Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage this month. What would be a better way to commemorate this than by visiting the latest art show at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco titled “Beyond Bollywood”. The show explores 2000 years of the heritage of dance from temples to royal courts to modern movie classics in the Indian sub-continent and South Asia.
Partha Chakraborty says: Taken together, the US, India, and Israel create a formidable triumvirate that is willing and able to counter any concentration of power in any other emerging axis. Taken together, they form the biggest – and the most distributed – center of economic heft and the promise of its peoples. Taken together, they can bring a fight to the doorstep to any demon and make Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) a multi-dimensional chase, and hence more potent. Taken together, they are the emerging guardians of the world, bigger than any Thanos, more persuasive than any Dr. No, more creative than your worst imagination.
Beginning March 31, the Asian Art Museum will host ‘Beyond Bollywood: 2000 Years of Dance in Art’ to showcase dance in its varied forms, especially in the arts of South and Southeast Asia – from the sacred dance of a god bringing the world into being to the sensual dance of a courtly performer before a maharaja to the glamour of modern Bollywood.
Justice Markandey Katju says: The Ahmedabad cricket test match between India and Australia is currently being played, and TV and the media is full of it. The Indian and Australian Prime Ministers attended it.
