Tanuja Chandra interview: Half of the Bollywood’s filmmakers should be women

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.

Shobhaa Dé interview: ‘In Bollywood, earlier it was alcohol, now it is substance abuse’

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.

Sensational Varun Grover wows audience at SALA with his brand of comedy

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.

Asian Art Museum Takes You “Beyond Bollywood”: A new art show celebrating 2000 years of the heritage of dance in South Asia

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 Op-Ed: A multi-axial world needs leadership by US, India, and Israel

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.

Asian Art Museum’s ‘Beyond Bollywood’ exhibition promises to be an enthralling experience

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.