Note: This is a story I did that ran in India Abroad in the September 26, 2008 issue, in connection with the Beijing Olympics. Given that Mr. Dutta’s firm again played a big role in the transport of the US equestrian team’s horses to another summer Olympic games – this time in London – I […]
Trishna
Trishna opens with a quartet of well-to-do British Asian guys, all in their 20s and currently stoned to varying degrees, rating the places they’ve just visited on their India trip. As their holidays end, they twice cross paths with the 19-year-old Trishna (Freida Pinto) and one of them, Jay (British-Pakistani-Indian actor and rapper Riz Ahmed) […]
Le Tamoul – for a change!
When recently directing a friend who was in Paris to the website for L’Harmattan bookstore there, and their amazing selection of Francophone African literature, and all variety of “international books,” I couldn’t help but notice a brief paragraph on the page promoting an upcoming salon about Indian writing (in November) this year. Wonderful, of course, […]
Signs of Political Animals in NYC
Last week ads for the USA Network‘s summer mini-series Political Animals started appearing around Manhattan. The six-part series stars Sigourney Weaver and (Belfast-born) Ciáran Hinds as the ersatz Hillary and Bill, here known as Elaine Barrish Hammond and Bud Hammond. Also part of the cast – and in a role that looks like good fun […]
Bol Bachchan
This sure is turning out to be a season of movies set in Rajasthan (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Trishna, and now Bol Bachchan). Who can blame them – what with the havelis and camels and colorful turbans and such. And boy, does Bol Bachchan have colors all over – practically every shot is a […]
Sardars and U2: Rock On!
When U22 – the special edition, live album of songs selected by fans from U2‘s 2011 tour playlist – arrived in the mail, one of the pages in the accompanying program caught my eye: Among the various pages of images of the band performing and fans in arenas around the world cheering them on, here […]