The game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories plays several desi songs on the in-game radio station Radio del Mundo (thanks, Pradeep). Hippie anthem ‘Dum Maro Dum’ is used in the following game ad:
The playlist includes two tracks in Hindi, one in Kannada (thanks, Sheila), one in Hebrew and four in Arabic (?):
Ananda Shankar […]
Okay, to the film now (after the previous post about Sriram Raghavan). Can’t put a structured review here, because I’m doing one for Tehelka and that will only be published next week, but here are some notes.- I thought it was a solid, very grippin…
Avaaz in Williamsburg last night was live music overdrive. My Pet Dragon crooned emo alt.rock while Reena Shah writhed classically on stage:
Presidential candidate Barack Obama stepped out of a black SUV outside Washington Square Park last night and begin glad-handing his way through the crowd. Smiling dazedly without locking eyes, he seemed more reserved than Bill Clinton, who I’m told sprouts tentacles of personal interest. But he was late for his rally and reportedly battling […]
Evan Almighty sees a turbaned tech support guy and panics on an episode of The Office called ‘Email Surveillance’ (skip to 0:18):
This retread sounds like the poor man’s Metro meets Dirty Dancing, with the graphics ripped from Cocktail:
Said Vikram, “It was a minute-and-a-half dance sequence in the film and we wanted it to look really good. So we had extensive salsa training for 40 days…” Mumbai Salsa is a discotheque where the characters take refuge because […]
Never thought I’d be linking to a Rediff.com article, but here’s an interesting slideshow with director Sriram Raghavan discussing the films that he cites as influences for his latest, Johnny Gaddaar. There’s already been some speculation that Jo…
Look what just arrived in the mail!I’ve only skimmed through it so far, and on current evidence I’m almost convinced that it really was written by Dev Anand himself - sentence by sentence, with only basic editorial interference. This would not be v…
The Darjeeling Limited is a funny, beautifully-shot amuse bouche which you’ll forget within days. It’s got little semblance of plot or character development, but style and charm to spare. What some say wrongly of Rushdie is true of Darjeeling: the movie is less about substance than clever pyrotechnics.
In the film, the eldest of […]
Nike has just released a sneaker line for Native Americans called — no joke — the ‘Air Native’ (via Boing Boing):
American Indians have a much wider and taller foot than the average shoe accommodates. The average shoe width of men and women measured was three width sizes larger than the standard Nike shoe… The design […]
You can’t fault our newspaper supplements for not trying, even after years of asking authors such questions as “So, what is your novel all about?†and “So, how does it feel to write a book?†and (in cases where the brain cells of the journo c…
A squirrel sneaks his way into a feed-bowl while the stern-expressioned parrot on guard is looking the other way.(Click to enlarge)Yes yes, I know the photo is grainy and unfocused – a camera upgrade is in order and I definitely need a better Zoom op…
The new India is about Hrithik-sized guns, size 0 girlfriends, men in ironic tees and Punjabi noses, and people who consider buying underwear a double date. Brought to you courtesy of a studio in Lokhandwala.
New York Magazine lists Anil Gupta has one of the top 5 tattoo artists.
ANIL GUPTA
Inkline Studios, 513 E. 5th St., nr. Ave. A; 212-614-0094
Specialty: Realistic, portraiture.
Gupta is the Zen-calm master of precise reproduction. His East Village shop is stocked with art and photo books that he uses to create his tattoos: Xerox-perfect portraits, elaborate […]
Check out Masala Soundsystem, a collective which raps in Polish over bhangramuffin, jungle and Tuvan throat singing (via Boing Boing). Given Bollywood’s worldwide popularity, I’m surprised we haven’t seen more of this. Here’s ‘Od Tarnobrzegu po Bangladesz’ — how’s your Polish?
In tribute to former African-American Michael Jackson, Shah Rukh Khan endorses a skin bleaching product (thanks, Sapna). It’s a sneaky bit of reverse psychology, accusing guys of unmanliness not for using a beauty product, but for using their sister’s.
He was reportedly involved in a plot to kill Salman RushdieColumbia University was a zoo today with all kinds of groups — Jews, Iranian-Americans, Republicans — protesting Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech (photos, blog). I thought the right-wing criticism of Columbia was off the mark. It’s true that Ahmadinejad is a hard-right religious wingnut who’s […]
Here’s more of the India @ 60 campaign by the Indian Ministry of Tourism. This smack talk aimed at China is in Times Square:
Check out these dance scenes filmed in the dark. Both assume that people spontaneously break into choreographed line dances at clubs, which is true only in Dallas. Both songs are metronomic and hypnotic.
The first clip is the foam party from Boys and Girls, a bad remake of When Harry Met Sally for preteens which I […]
Indian tourism is sponsoring several fairly generic cultural events in NYC over the next four days. The most interesting: a Steve McCurry photo exhibit at the Bryant Park Hotel (40 W. 40th between 5th and 6th Aves.), and a craft show + dance performances at Bryant Park (interesting for the central venue).
On one hand, the […]