Book store wins Tony award

One of the bookshops I covered in a story for JetWings International magazine this past April has won a Tony award.  (You can read the whole story about independent book stores in NYC here.  Just type in ” 29 ” in the white Page box at the top of the screen, hit Enter and it will take you […]

Jig & the Global Appeal of Irish Dancing

To make this documentary, Jig, Scottish director Sue Bourne was able to do what no one else had done before. She approached An Commissiun – the governing body of the annual World Irish Dancing Championships – to request, and ultimately be granted, access to the 2010 “Worlds” (as the competitors and their retinues of parents […]

Aaranya Kaandam

  Just some quick thoughts based on seeing the film Aaranya Kaandam at last year’s SAIFF.  Am going back tonight for a second viewing now that the film is out today. What has stuck with me since that night seven months ago is this: I recall a gritty, stylish, violent and often funny story of […]

Bitten by the Tamil movie bug

This originally ran in Firstpost on June 1. I’ve been obsessed with Indian film for some 14 years now and since I’ve started writing about those movies and the people who make them, I try to get to Mumbai and Chennai every year, to stay in touch. Yes, Chennai too, because only a few years […]