I recently caught up with filmmaker Havana Marking who is at once charismatic, incredibly insightful and magnificently humble. For more on the film, do check out a mini-review on the AVS blog. But first, read my exclusive interview with Ms. Marking 

E. Nina Rothe: Can you talk about your background? Where were you born, where did you grow up, what drew you to filmmaking?

Havana Marking: I was conceived in Cuba, was born and bred in London. We travelled a lot, mostly to Asia, and many of my earliest memories are on the road somewhere or other. My mother was a journalist/filmmaker and so I grew up with it. I made my first very short film with her when I was six or so. 

ENR: What made you decide to direct?

HM: I worked in mainstream British TV for 10 years, working up through the ranks. I always wanted to direct but the big decision was figuring out that I wanted to leave the mainstream and make an independent feature. That was the scary bit, but ultimately the most rewarding. 

ENR: You have a very specific connection with Afghanistan. Can you share it?

HM: My father had travelled there in the 1960s - if you haven’t gathered by now, my parents were wonderful hippies - and always talked about it. The images from that period were so epic, but all my life it was a no-go area. I always longed to go. 

ENR: What brought you to this project?

HM: I was trying to find a project that would take me to Afghanistan. I had a great friend working out there and she kept telling me how amazing it was. Through her I talked to a journalist who told me about the show Afghan Star. I knew instantly it would work and that it was perfect for me. 

ENR: What were you hoping to achieve with this film and has that come true?

HM: After 2001, Islam and Afghanistan were being misrepresented in the majority of world press and I always wanted to change that. To show the other, moderate side. Likewise, I knew the youth of Afghanistan were being ignored. I hope that the film does show a different and much more complex side of the place and the religion. 

ENR: What were some of the opinions you heard when you first decided to make this film, from both your inner circle and colleagues?

HM: I was in awe of ‘Pop Idol’ when it started on British TV. Of course now ‘X-Factor’ is pretty tedious, but at the beginning there was nothing else like it. It absolutely represented the British population: rich, poor, North, South, black, white - all their hopes and aspirations. Whether you liked those aspirations was up to you but as a national thermometer it was incomparable. I remember saying so at a documentary festival and was practically ostracized! In the same way, when I first told people about the idea, quite a few were horrified and asked “Why would you celebrate something so awful?”. Luckily, enough people got it and the film was made!

ENR: How did you get funding for making the film?

HM: I got development funding from the C4 Britdoc Foundation (who support new directors) and the CBA DFID fund. I went on my own for a month and shot a taster tape. More4 True Stories came in and funded the project. 

ENR: What kind of crew did you have while in Afghanistan?

HM: A British cameraman, Phil Stebbing - who also did the sound - an Afghan translator, driver and bodyguard.  My bodyguard was also a champion wrestler and so everyone loved him and wanted him in their house. We often slipped in on his shirttails.  We co-produced the film with an Afghan TV company Tolo [where the show 'Afghan Star' was aired] and so there were various people on their staff who helped produce from the office. 

ENR: What were some of the challenges you faced while filming ‘Afghan Star’?

HM: The logistics of filming in a war zone with no guaranteed electricity, flights, etc were what made it difficult. Plus, you could only film in safe areas – we didn’t go to Kandahar, for example, where one of my characters was from because it was dangerous for us but even more importantly it was dangerous for her to be seen with Westerners there.  We gave her a handycam and she was able to film some stuff for us.
Afghanistan is very volatile and problems can flare up in odd areas at any time. There was a warlord who suddenly freaked out in the North-West and we had to cancel a shoot as his local militia were on the rampage there. He wasn’t Taliban, in fact he was part of the government, so you never knew what was about to happen. Luckily, because we were working with Tolo TV we had access to all information from their news teams. Day to day it affected us because we couldn’t really plan anything in advance due to kidnap threats. We just had to turn up and drink lots of tea and hope the person would agree to filming. However I wouldn’t change that… I think in the end that is what has created the energy and spontaneity in the film. 

ENR: Being a woman director, how did that help you while filming ‘Afghan Star’ and how did it create obstacles?

HM: As a western woman you are afforded freedoms a local woman would never get and can cet access to boxh the men and wkmen there. So%2K in many ways ycu have an advan|age. A male diractor would have had a very hard’time filming thm women I did. Skmetimes too it was tricky for mi to be on the street, just begause I drew so iuch attention. E could never ever be considered Afghan (pale wkin, red hair!29 and in one phace when the pekple were upset ebout Setara

The film enjoyed multiple screenings around the world at various festivals - where it collected several awards, including the Audience Documentary Cinema World and the Directing awards at Sundance in 2009 - and a long run in cinemas around the US, courtesy of distributor Zeitgeist Films. But on March 18th, the film will premiere on HBO, with quite a few airings to follow through March and April. You’ll have absolutely no excuse to miss this stirring portrayal of a world that may have been written off as volatile and hostile, but is in reality as poetic and magically moving as its long-banned songs and hardship-enduring citizens.  

The film closely follows the journey of four contestants from the third season of the show, each a remarkable human being in his or her own right: Rafi, a young and handsome Tajik pop star wannabe; Lima, a woman torn between her duties as a family girl and her role as a traditional Pashtun woman; Hameed, a young man who is seen as the poster hero for his own Hazara people, a tribe previously persecuted by the Taliban; and Setara, a woman from Herat with an independent spirit and courageously controversial opinions and manners, which quickly add up to inspire contempt in the older generations of viewers. Through the ins and outs of the competition, the show’s producer Daoud Sediqi also manages to shine as a fearless and confident host, qualities which eventually forced him to leave Afghanistan in 2009 and begin a new life in the US. Do I have favorites in this film? Of course and I won’t tell but lets just say that strong men and women always fascinate me. I admire those who risk it all to give a voice to their most passionate beliefs. 

While on the subject of passionate beliefs, what I enjoyed most about the documentary ‘Afghan Star’ was the way the story was told - passionately multidimensional but never tinted with the filmmaker’s views and perspective. Havana Marking steers clear of showing favorites or politicizing the film and allows her audience to pick favorites among the contestants, create their own allegiances and form their own opinions through the alchemy of her cinematic lens. For more on this fascinating filmmaker, check out my exclusive interview with her right here on AVS. 

Afghan Star debuts on HBO March 18th at 9 p.m.. Click on this link for a complete schedule.

This is the fourth New York Emmy nomination for New York Life’s Asian-Indian Market Division. The first was in 2007 with the “ Elephant” campaign that featured a group of Indian children interacting with a baby elephant.  Last year the entire five-commercial campaign and one of the commercials The Watchman were nominated for the award.

“We are very proud to be nominated for this prestigious award,” said Ashwin K. Verma, corporate vice president and chief marketing officer for Cultural Markets, New York Life. “The campaign illustrates the beauty of the memories you make in each stage of life.”  Mr. Verma, who developed the concept for the campaign, added, “The underlying message of the campaign is that ‘the Company You Keep,’ New York Life, is there with you to help fulfill your dreams, ensuring that you have the opportunity for a beautiful life.”

The award is given by The New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NY NATAS), the preeminent membership organization serving the television industry dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, educational and technical achievements within the television industry.  Winners will be announced at the 53nd Annual New York Emmy Awards black tie gala on Sunday, April 18, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square.

No and Yes.

The argument for both sides.

No. Slumdog Millionaire was one of the most landmark victories since Titanic (no pun intended) keep reading below to see the intentional irony to this comment. By capturing 8 of 10 categories in its Oscar sweeps of 2009, Slumdog Millionaire became the Oscars for India that would surpass any “foreign film” best Oscar win for India since Mother India won the distinction in 1958.

It was definitely India’s Oscar victory and some may argue it was a political move to placate the stalwarts of investment and financing originating from India into Hollywood for the first time ever, with companies like UTV and Reliance Entertainment teaming up with Brand Ambassadors such as Fox Searchlight (who ironically co-distributed Slumdog Millionaire) and Dreamworks pictures which signed a record $600 million deal with Reliance Entertainment.

Lost in the shuffle slightly is the fact that this film is probably director Danny Boyle’s most polished work to date! Aside from that, however this was the Oscars that gave India global recognition or at the very least US recognition, to a mainstream audience.

Why then would any of this constitute a “no” well, for all its well deserved accolades, and this critic believe that most if not all of them are absolutely deserved, the biggest reason for the “no” is merely that it is a win for a country that upstaged the film. This is also confirmed by the hype surrounding the film, the press leading up to the awards and the overall presentation of the product, especially in the run up to the Oscars with the “kids” from Slumdog Millionaire getting front and center recognition, for that last “push” toward the awards ceremony. As we well know, it worked and India won in most of the categories ceremoniously. There are those who are its a British film, and not a true Indian film, however I would contend that the setting, themes and story is undeniably Indian.

As for the “Yes” argument for The Hurt Locker. I think much like Slumdog Millionaire, it has many similar and a few dissimilar things going for it as well. It is the first film to honor a Best Director award to a female director. It is the first film to win best picture over the largest grossing film of all time, in Avatar. Of course the connections go much farther than that as well, as James Cameron, the director of Avatar is the ex-husband of Kathryn Bigelow, and for Academy members, it exactly those type of “behind the scenes” details which weigh heavily in the favor of such a film.

As usual Bigelow, is a well-deserved candidate for this award who has lead a fascinating career paved in her own way with her own truth. Spinning Joseph Campbell worthy themes, and strength, featuring male dominated subject matter that most male directors have a hard time pulling off, let alone women. Films like POINT BREAK, BLUE STEEL, NEAR DARK, STRANGE DAYS are not only different from one film to the next of her illustrious career (much the same as James Cameron AND Danny Boyle by the way), they exhibit a true progression of maturity for the filmmaker moving from one film to the next in her illustrious career.

Perhaps, though the single most reason, in fact why The Hurt Locker was a more distinctive success than Slumdog Millionaire most probably resides in the fact that it was in fact a film not about the glorification of the current war in Afghanistan, but a film about the realities the soldiers face in this war on a daily basis. The underlying social commentary of the film is something that does justice for the subject matter of the film.

It is the right director, right time, and right message, right now, and that is a true rarity, which can only be written about in, well, Hollywood. Its amazing that two years in a row there are two different films, with vastly different subjects, but the same Cinderella underdog stories then have ended up being the Belles of the balls in their respective years.

Could it be scripted any better, not even by Hollywood standards. When you look at the both products with a magnifying glass, both films have great elements, parts, and themes, and one film, The Hurt Locker, just seems to wear the badges of its supremely talented director, Kathryn Bigelow just a little prouder than Slumdog Millionaire, and shine a little more brightly.

The bottom line however, in this writer’s opinion, the world is a slightly better place that both of these films have come out in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

The Spirited Critic

This past Thursday afternoon dignitaries, celebrities and even our former NYC Mayor David Dinkins came out in full force for the ribbon cutting ceremony at the official launch of BIG Cinemas Manhattan, as the theater will be thereon be known. Complete with a stunning crystal chandelier, this is no longer the dingy, dark place that it used to be and gone are the peculiar smelling seats and the odd rustling sounds in the front of the house. Replaced now by cushy reclinable seats, a wonderfully wide screen and a state-of-the-art digital projection system 2K, which is guaranteed to make for the best movie viewing time.  

The opening day press conference was hosted by Indo-American-Japanese - wow, that’s quite a combination! -comedian Dan Nainan who is both charming and unassumingly funny. Speaking about this wonderful venture were Reliance/BIG Cinemas business head Uday Kumar, Phoenix Cinemas CEO Phil Zacheretti (whose company will be managing the cinemas) and Joe Paletta, Sr. Vice President for Reliance MediaWorks. Each brought their own personal insight.

Uday Kumar was the first to speak and pointed to the fact that “The rules of the game which run Hollywood are completely different from those applying to the distribution of Indian cinema in the seven different Indian languages” continuing that in West, premieres and release dates are set months, even years in advance whereas in Indian cinema, particularly that of Telugu, Marathi or Bengali language films they can call a release on a Tuesday to hit screens on that Friday. But nevertheless, the audience for those films is there and BIG Cinemas has zeroed in on its locations, finding a way around the impossible logistics of it.

Joe Paletta was next to speak and talked numbers by pointing out that “Our business went from zero to 45 million dollars in just two and a half years. We have spent 15 millions alone in the renovations of our cinemas around the US.” This new media venture creates a new organization which pays attention to numbers which were never reliably accounted for with the mom-and-pop operations running Indian cinema screens in the past. In fact, those of us working in the media have been privy to systematic box office numbers updates for Reliance BIG Pictures releases which are a novelty to Bollywood!

Phil Zacheretti closed with a short and sweet speech about their strive for these screens - like BIG Cinemas Manhattan and the other multiple BIG Cinemas around the US - to be “World cinema places, not just for Hindi films”, to include independent films, art cinema and special project. In fact, Mr. Kumar added that a film like the Pakistani ‘Khuda Ke Liye’ was never released in the US and now such a film would have a venue to be shown at BIG Cinemas.

Two great indie films which have already created a lot of buzz were screening on Thursday, after the press conference, on the fantastic new screen complete with fabulous sound. The psychological thriller ‘CA$H’ with handsome actor Sean Bean and ‘Falling for Grace’ directed, written and starring by Fay Ann Lee, a new twist on the Cinderella tale. But alas, I wanted to bring you this breaking news ASAP so I rushed home, absolutely exhilarated by the prospect of more fabulous World cinema to come at BIG Cinemas Manhattan! So, see you at the movies…

To find out upcoming films or get more info and directions, click on BIG Cinemas.

Please share some childhood Holi memories with us?
Well firstly a very Happy & Colourful Holi to all my fans.

Holi was my favourite festival. I would look forward to it for months. On the day I would be up at 4 am and with a household help who was young enough to be my pal, I’d start filling balloons with water. We had balloon competitions with the kids of the two bungalows opposite ours.

My sister Sunaina, would go out armed with ‘pichkaris’ (water pistols) and bad colours. I was afraid of her because she would streak me with oil paint that would take hours to wash off.

We would sit down to a small ‘puja’ (ceremony) at the ‘mandir’ (temple) at home with our parents, then, hit the streets with eight-10 friends. We would go to Holi functions in the neighbourhood.

I remember the bashes at Mr Bachchan’s (Amitabh Bachchan) bumgalow and at Yash (Chopra) uncle’s. You would meet everyone from the film industry and the ‘mohalla’ (locality) there. We would all let our hair down.

Abhishek and Shweta (Bachchan), Adi (Aditya) and Uday (Chopra), practically every Holi we met and celebrated together. It was a time for buddies.

What is the best part of Holi?
‘Gulal’ (powdered colour) is at the core of every Holi revelry. That’s because ‘gulal’ is a way of giving and receiving love. What makes Holi such a beautiful experience is that this is one day when love conquers all.

Do you see a parallel with your next release, Kites?
Sure, I do. In Kites, I start out playing a character whose life is completely colourless. He sees it in monochromes, black and white. And then, this girl explodes into his life and, suddenly, it comes alive with the colours of the rainbow. He lets himself go and love conquers him.

With reference to Kites, what according to you is its biggest USP of the film?
It’s a film I thoroughly enjoyed doing. Anurag (director Anurag Basu) has treated each frame with so much love. People can look forward to a beautiful love story that is unlike any stereotyped ‘prem kahani’ (love story) you’ve seen before. I don’t know if this good or bad, but the audience will get to watch something completely new this time.

What should audience watch out for in Kites, apart from the fact that it features Mexican actress Barbara Mori in the lead opposite you?
What made Kites different for me, as an actor, was that Anurag let the film take shape without exercising too much control. No one came to the sets with any pre-conceived notion.

All of us, Barbara (Mori), Kangana (Ranaut) and me, were allowed plenty of creative liberty under Anurag’s guidance. Many of the scenes were improvised on the spot as opposed to following a pre-planned blueprint. For me it was going from one extreme to the other, having worked in Jodhaa-Akbar earlier where everything was minutely graphed out.

Kites in comparison was an open field where I could run, jump, open my hands wide and act freely. It was a beautiful experience since I had never been directed like this before. And it helped me evolve as an actor.

There has been talk of creative interference on the sets and even during the editing stages when certain ‘too intimate’ scenes were cut out.

All these rumours should have made me hopping mad. Sections of the media have been misrepresenting the film.

The film’s director, Anurag Basu, has himself admitted in a recent interview that there were heated disagreements with your father and the film’s producer, Rakesh Roshan.
I have evolved as an actor and understand that our conscious decision to not talk about Kites during its making made some people impatient enough to start their own investigations.

It was sad but it didn’t provoke us into retaliating. Now that the film is complete, we are coming out with all the answers to the questions raised.
Coming back to your basic question, I have lost count of all the arguments my dad and I have had while working on Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai, Koi… Mil Gayaand Krrish. The point is that when you are working together as a team there will be some differences. When two-three heads meet they are going to bring two-three different points of views to the table.

The way out is to shrug off egos, fight for the better suggestion and the better choice, and work towards making a beautiful film. I’m proud of the way Kites has shaped up.

How much of a role has you father played in the way it has shaped up?
My father never visited the sets of Kites even once though it was his film. He’s one man who can completely let go of his ego in the
interest of a film. I should know. I saw it happen during my debut film, Kaho Naa… Pyar Hai, and later during Koi… Mil Gaya and Krrish.

He’s ready to take suggestions not just from the directors and lead actors but also the spotboys. He narrates a working script to my friends. Adi (Aditya Chopra) and Farhan (Akhtar). He shows the rushes of his film to his industry friends. Nobody does that!

You play a con artist in the film. Will we see shades of Dhoom 2?
No, there is no likeness to Dhoom 2. This character is a real person who has his heroic moments. In one scene he is the quintessential hero, in the next he is a normal guy.

This is the first time I am playing a hero who is not a hero in the stereotypical sense of the word. It’s been a fascinating journey.

Barbara Mori plays a salsa teacher…she doesn’t. This is another case of misreporting that has been going on for the last year and a half. So there’s no salsa in the film?
No, there is a dance in the film, though the film is not about dance.

There has been a lot of talk about Barbara and you.
I don’t want to comment on this nonsense.

Do you have any lovely memories of playing Holi with your wife, Sussane?
All my friends would meet at Juhu’s Kalamal Estate. Sussane would come there too with her gang. I used to be with the boys. I must have been about 15 then and a shy guy. I still am one.

I didn’t have the guts to walk up to her and say “Hi”. But I always noticed her. (Laughs) My friends would catch me staring at her and tease me. Once we started seeing each other, we’d go out together during Holi.

Best Actor In A Leading Role (Male)
Amitabh Bachchan - Paa

Best Actor In A Leading Role (Female)
Vidya Balan - Paa

Best Film
3 Idiots

Best Director
Rajkumar Hirani - 3 Idiots

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male)
Boman Irani - 3 Idiots

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female)
Kalki Koechlin - Dev D

Best Actor (Male) Critics
Ranbir Kapoor

Best Actor (Female) Critics
Mahie Gill - Dev D

Best Film (Critics)
Firaaq

Best Debut Director (Male)
Ayan Mukherjee - Wake Up Sid

Best Debut Director (Female)
Zoya Akhtar - Luck By Chance

Best Music
A R Rahman - Delhi-6

Best Playback Singer (Male)
Mohit Chauhan - Masakalli - Delhi-6

Best Playback Singer (Female)
Rekha Bharadwaj - Genda Phool - Delhi-6
Kavita Seth - Iktara - Wake Up Sid

Best Lyrics
Irshad Kamil - Aaj Din Chadiya - Love Aaj Kal

Best Story
Abhijat Joshi, Rajkumar Hirani - 3 Idiots

Best Screenplay
Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Abhijat Joshi - 3 Idiots

Best Dialogue
Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra - 3 idiots

Best Editing
Sreekar Prasad - Firaaq

Best Choreography
Bosco - Caesar - Chor Bazaari - Love Aaj Kal

Best Visual Effect Award
Kaminey

Best Sound Design
Manas Chaudhury - Firaaq

Best Production Design
Helen & Sukant - Dev D

Best Cinematography
Rajeev Rai - Dev D

Best Action
Vijayan Master - Wanted

Best Costume
Vaishali Menon - Firaaq

Best Background Score
Amit Trivedi - Dev D

Special Award
Nandita Das - Firaaq

Lifetime Achievement Award
Shashi Kapoor - Khayyam

R D Burman Music Award
Amit Tivedi

Fortunately, this past Wednesday sitting through a screening of ‘Teen Patti’ I believe I witnessed the future of popular Hindi cinema. A medium which is blessed with so much international power and yet has - until now, until ‘Teen Patti’ -  wasted it on lukewarm projects. ‘Teen Patti’ is quite simply phenomenal: It is deep, it is dark, it is witty without being slapstick funny, it is inspirational, it is entertaining, it is groundbreaking and it does not talk down to its audience. It is that ever-elusive “crossover hit” everyone is looking to replicate these days. Not to mention, the film showcases some of the most wonderful acting performances in modern film history.

But let me start at the beginning. The film opens with Professor Venkat Subramaniam - played by Amitabh Bachchan - being beckoned from his reclusive village home in the south of India to London, by magician/mathematician Perci Trachtenberg, played by Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley. To see two acting legends of such magnitude together on the big screen takes one’s breath away. The sparkle of character and clearly portrayed admiration in Mr. Kingsley’s handsome performance is only equaled by the mad scientist demeanor of Mr. Bachchan’s turn. His Venkat is Robert from ‘Proof’ meets John Nash from ‘A Beautiful Mind’ with a bit of Mickey Rosa from ‘21′ thrown in, and then taken to a whole new level by this acting superpower. As an aside, although there has been talk in the Indian media that ‘Teen Patti’ is based on the US film ‘21′, the film’s director Leena Yadav denies more than an initial inspiration by the true story of the six MIT students on whose adventures the Kevin Spacey starrer is based.

The audience then follows Perci and Venkat on a journey of remembrance, with Bachchan’s character retelling the adventures of four students, one other professor - Shantanu, played by R. Madhavan - and himself while trying to prove his theory of probability and randomness through the game of Teen Patti. If you are not familiar with the card game, think of it as a three-card Poker, with Blind and Seen hands which change the betting limits.

It is during these recollections that we are introduced to four newcomers to the acting scene playing the four students who assist Professor Subramaniam in his quest (for answers at first and monetary gains soonafter). Let me be among the first to declare that these four actors have a promising career ahead of them! Dhruv Ganesh plays Bikram with an essence of vulnerability and paranoia that make the character come alive; Siddharth Kher is at once cocky and insecure in his turn at Siddharth and we follow his journey with interest; Vaibhab Talwar gives the richy rich Abbas the correct emotional motivation for following his buddies on this wild adventure while Shraddha Kapoor as Aparna provides both the feminine eye-candy appeal but also a rich performance in her ever-changing avatars during the games. And last but not least, R. Madhavan is moving and believable as a college professor - what I really mean is he is too much of a real man to play college students! - and someone in need of a miracle.

The film sports an intense, suspenseful and intelligent story, by Yadav herself and Shiv Subramanyam. And Subramanyan is no stranger to insightful screenplays having penned the Sudhir Mishra film ‘Hazaroon Khwaishen Aisi’ which is considered a standard of smart storytelling for the Indian film industry. In fact, it is exactly this affinity - in story and tone - to what is typically considered a more independent genre of filmmaking that makes ‘Teen Patti’ so groundbreaking, in the arena of big budget Hindi cinema. The settings of the arcaded streets of South Bombay, mixed with the university locales and the underground addas (gambling dens) make the film’s reality come to life, while still playing with the audience’s imagination. The costumes by Ameira Punvani - of ‘ShortKut’, ‘Guru’ and Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Positive’ fame - are deliciously on track throughout the film, from Bombay university students casual, to eccentric professor’s Indocentric, to gambling dens players kitschy, to Cambridge dandy dapper. And to finish off the complete package ‘Teen Patti’ comes wrapped in, the soundtrack by Salim and Sulaiman accompanies the film without ever interrupting or trivializing it. 

As my habit, I won’t give away any of the plot of the film in my review.’Teen Patti’ simply needs to be seen. The viewer will be transported to a land of great filmmaking where English dialogues aren’t subtitled - thankfully - an image of Isaac Newton hangs on the wall without having to be explained and people behave as real people always do in the presence of lots and lots of money. “When gambling we are a match for the chaos of the Universe” indeed.

Kudos to the Hinduja Ventures team for bringing to the big screen a film that speaks to discerning adults and reaches across class, creed, language and status to entertain and inspire. As Professor Subramaniam states “Believing is a choice” but one I gladly opted for while watching ‘Teen Patti’.

The film opens on Friday, February 26th worldwide.

Anyone who has been lucky enough to sit in the audience of the recent Fashion Conscience ‘09 knows what I mean. Fantastic clothing, couture designers, great party vibes and a bevy of celebrity models ensured that all those who braved the first of the winter season’s snow storms to witness the festivities first hand got to experience magic in the making.

This coming Wednesday and Thursday - Feb. 24th and 25th - New Yorkers will have a chance to once again be part of the Engendered enchantment when the organization teams up with Caroline’s on Broadway to bring audiences a flavor of comedy from some amazing comedians of South Asian origins. Among the performers participating in the two shows of Indophile will be British-born writer and comedian Shazia Mirza, NYC based funny man Hari Kondabolu, comic and impersonator Anu Kalra and female stand-up Monrok.

The headliner of this comedy show happens to be one of my favorite men ever and a wonderfully inspirational artist, the fabulous Vidur Kapur. BTW, those of you who were at Fashion Conscience this year will remember HIM sliding sultrily down the ‘runway’ of Asia Society in an all black number… I caught up with Kapur to find out his inspirations and thoughts about an industry that until recently, was quite limited and limiting…  

AVS: What does ‘comedy’ mean to you?

VIDUR KAPUR: Comedy is a means of self expression to me. It’s a way of attempting to express my essence to the world and share my thoughts, feelings and emotions through the medium of jokes and laughter. Laughter breaks down barriers and that’s why stand-up comedy is an ideal way in which to address controversial issues that might be very difficult to hear otherwise. Comedy for me must be “funny” though, if it’s just political and has a message and is not funny, it’s not comedy! That’s what makes comedy difficult.

AVS: Who are your favorite comedians? Any inspiration from when you were a child that made you say “I have to do the same!”?

VK: My favortite comedians are Richard Pryor, Wanda Sykes, Bill Hicks, Margaret Cho, Sam Kinison and Chris Rock, to name a few. And no, there is no inspiration from when I was a child, I grew up in New Delhi in India and had never even heard of stand-up comedy! I certainly didn’t want to be like the comedians in the Bollywood movies… although my parents and friends always told me I should be in entertainment because I was such a talented mimic and impersonator. 

AVS: What are some of the challenges you face being an openly gay comedian in this day and age? And what are some of the advantages that come with your honesty and openness?

VK: The challenges are that there is a tendency to “pigeonhole” me into being a “Gay” comedian or an “Indian” comedian… Whereas I see myself as a contemporary American comedian who happens to be gay and Indian. This makes it more challenging to get on mainstream television, like Comedy Central, David Letterman etc. However, I have managed to overcome these challenges and am being considered now with the rest of my peers for Comedy Central’s “Def Comedy Jam” and for NBC’s “Tonight Show”. The advantages of the honesty and openness is that it makes me stand out and be unique and makes it difficult for anyone to copy me. So it tends to be a double edged sword, sometimes it leads to more opportunity and definitely has led to a great following amongst all kinds of people - from South Asians, to mainstream college students, to urban people, to the gay community.

I will leave you with the words of Engendered Founder and Executive Director Myna Mukherjee “Various forms of comedy have long used incendiary subjects to create outrage, and in the process, foster dialogue. The tone of the show fits with the mission of our organization to raise awareness, break silences and impact perceptions around the issues of religion, race, gendered identities, stereotyping, bias and sexual choice, and further how those issues relate to the affirmation or violation of human rights.”

For tickets to the show, click on the link here. See you at Caroline’s!

MY NAME IS KHAN is estimated to gross $336,000 on Monday, Presidents’ Day, bringing the estimated four-day opening weekend figure to $2,275,000.  This makes the Karan Johar film the fastest Hindi film ever to break the $2,000,000 mark beating the previous record of 5 days set in December by 3 Idiots which grossed $2,149,227 in its five-day opening over the Christmas holiday weekend.  KHAN also generated the highest per-theater average of any film in North American release this weekend.