For Zohra-ji on her 100th birthday

This is how I first came to know of her: She was Lady Lili Chatterjee of the MacGregor house in The Jewel in the Crown, the wonderful Granada TV serial adaptation of Paul Scott’s Raj Quartet.  In that role, Zohra Sehgal was elegant and knowing, the very person you would want to live with on […]

The Commuters

  The former Prince of Wales Museum (now, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya) is the current home to an exhibition of recent work by Chirodeep Chaudhuri entitled The Commuters. If you’re in, or heading to, Mumbai you have a chance to see these remarkable portraits (a selection of 56 chosen from more than 700 images […]

NBC’s in love with India

Well, at the very least, is quite fond of India and her many cultural riches. On Monday, April 23rd, the NBC show Smash will have its Bollywood moment: Must say, between Outsourced, Sendhil Ramamurthy’s recurring presence (first on Heroes, now he’s popped up on The Office) and now this number on Smash, NBC seems to […]

An Irish encounter

Here’s a link to a story I did that’s running in this month’s JetWings International magazine, currently available in seat pockets on all overseas Jet Airways flights, as well as online.  (Just type “33” in the white Page box at the top of the screen, hit Enter, and it’ll take you straight to the article.) […]

Ekk Deewana Tha

I had some qualms going in to see Ekk Deewana Tha (How would Prateik do?  How would they explain the presence of the young English rose, Amy Jackson?  How would AR Rahman’s gorgeous, dreamy title song fare in its Hindi reincarnation?) but I put them aside when the lights went down in the theater, and […]

On the horizon: Ek Deewana Tha

When I started receiving advance news of the upcoming film Ek Deewana Tha, I had several thoughts. First, “Prateik is one of the leads?  Excellent!  That’s something to look forward to in February.”  Then,  “Amy Jackson is playing opposite Prateik?  So Madrasapattinam wasn’t just a one-off, after all.  Very interesting!”  And finally, “A love story […]