In Memory of Navroze Mody

 (Note:   This is a story I wrote for India Abroad that appeared in the Oct. 5,  2007 issue.   There’s nothing filmi about it, though a young life suddenly cut short has been depicted often enough on screen.   But I wanted to post  this story here, in the hope that more people will […]

Shame on you, PlanetM

  Here it is, late Thursday night.   I’ve just put in a full day at the office, finished a novel I’m reviewing on the way home on the train, spoke to the author for close to an hour for the same article, made some pasta for dinner, chatted on the  phone  while The Celebrity […]

Moon Over My Abhi

  The Miami Herald reports that the KJo Dostana entourage has touched down in Florida and begun shooting: The production is expected to have all the kitschy trappings that have made Bollywood movies such a hit worldwide, including a zany musical number to be filmed on Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road. Filmi fans will get to […]

Omkara, the back story

  In 2007, we saw Anupama Chopra’s SRK book released, which told of Khan’s bio and career trajectory, while also giving readers an intro to the Bombay film industry. Later in the same year, Stephen Alter’s Confessions of a Bollywood Love Thief made its appearance.   (Try reading a book with that title on the […]

15 Years Ago in Bombay

…one of the March 12th bombs went off here, inside the Sea Rock. When I first saw the hotel, in 2005, I was told by my companion that it was rumored to be haunted.   We had drinks and bad Chinese food in the quasi-Tiki bar at the back, looking directly down on the blackness […]