by Sneha Goud – Managing Editor I’m a newbie when it comes to Bollywood. I didn’t spend my childhood memorizing the words to Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. But as I tell my friends, I’m trying to be more “ethnic” so I was excited to hear the Museum of Modern Art was presenting...

By Sheela Lal – University of Missouri Last month, I finally watched City of God. No, not the Brazilian movie of the same name, but a 2011 release. Skimming over the Wikipedia page, I learned that despite the raving critical reviews, it failed commercially. Personally, I can only assume it failed...

by Priya Mukhopadhyay – Stony Brook University Have you ever felt as if you were in a tug of war between two worlds?  Or even questioned traditions and customs that you at first grew to accept without really enquiring whether there is any validity behind them?  Maybe you worked your hardest to...

by Aditi Mehta – Houston, TX Does anyone remember that little movie that came out way back when in 2001, called American Desi? It was a small independent film that sort of blew up in the Indian American community. It was the first of its kind that featured actual Indian kids, growing up in America,...

by Keertana Sastry and Sheela Lal Let’s face it, Indian movies are… not all gems. The songs, the lame dances, the cheese, OH the cheese! That’s what we all grew up to love. But the films on this list have a healthy balance of cheese and maturity that would make anyone take India’s movie industry...

By Sneha Goud I recently had the pleasure of interviewing filmmaker and inspirational Brown Girl Ishu Krishna. She is is currently filming her first full length feature, Arrange to Settle. Arrange to Settle is a feature film about an Indian girl that decides to get an arranged marriage following a series...

by Keertana Sastry – University of Missouri Graduate   I don’t know about any of you but I’ve been having terrible withdrawals because of the lack of Indian men on TV this summer. Only one show on TV right now has an Indian guy on it – and he’s got OCD and agoraphobia. That would...

by Komal Thakkar – George Washington University – Star Contributor   Every summer I reactivate my Netflix account and add films to my queue that I believe will prevent me from experiencing brain drain. The list includes documentaries, Oscar winners, and independent films all recommended...

By Sheela Lal - University of Missouri Last year, I started my South Asian radio program, Rangeela, without understanding Tollywood. What was this? How had I not heard about it? Is Telugu real or is the Internet just messing with me? My program depended on exposing mid-Missouri to a wider spectrum of...

by Pooja Kansal – Indiana University During a November 2009 interview with CNN, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan said that, “Indian cinema needs to move beyond traditional song-and-dance musicals amid increasing international competition in the Mumbai studios’ domestic market.” The...