[Photo Source: Screenshot / Bravo]

“I’m a f*ck up.”

Vishal confesses this to friend Amrit as they practice a dance for Vishal’s engagement party with the fiancé of five years, Richa.

These are just three of seven main cast members of “Family Karma,” a Bravo reality series following the lives and families of Indian-Americans living in Florida that recently wrapped an eight-episode season (hopefully its first of many).

This confession struck me. Vishal struggled to stand up to his future mother-in-law all season and was often the butt of jokes.

He had trouble finding his path professionally and faced a lot of criticism, but in the finale, despite his insecurities, he finally took charge of a major piece of his future by planning this formal engagement.

While all of this may not sound like a big deal, it is. It isn’t every day you see a young Indian man on American TV talking about being anything but a success.

On the surface, “Family Karma” sounds like any other reality show – catty fights, drunken nights, feuding families, and budding romances, all under a pulsing tropical sun.

But for Indian-Americans, and the diaspora as a whole, it’s much more.

“Family Karma” is the first mainstream US reality TV series to have a full Indian cast — and boy is it a far cry from the controversial depiction given by Apu on “The Simpsons.”

In the finale a few weeks ago, we saw many conventional TV plot lines resolved.

Vishal and Richa finally got engaged and, after a season of will-they-won’t-they drama, Brian and Monica mutually decided to be just friends (at least for now).

At the same time, however, audiences saw Anisha, 34, confront her mother about freezing her eggs, while Nicholas (one of the few white faces on the series) opened up to his boyfriend Amrit’s mother about coming out, labels, and the lack of acceptance from his own parents.

These aren’t topics or relationships you’d typically see around an Indian dinner table.

In fact, few demographics and topics are left untouched by “Family Karma,” and that’s made many uncomfortable.

While personally, I’ve been ecstatic since I first caught wind of the show at the end of last year, not all Indians or South Asians felt the same. Many didn’t watch, fearing it would oversimplify the culture or highlight stereotypes and the negatives of the Indian community. Frankly, at times, it does.

But that’s why it is such a revelation.

Dharma Benni, the mother of Brian and just one of many charming parents in the series, says in the show:

“Everybody thinks every Indian is a goody two-shoes. Well, I’m here to tell you it’s all bullshit.”

And she’s right. “Family Karma” smashes stereotypes like this with vengeance.

Like the Persians, African Americans, and other minority groups that have been the subjects of reality TV over the years, “Family Karma” kicks its subjects off a pedestal and simultaneously out of their box of “otherness” in America to provide new dimension.

While progress has been made in the past 10 years (and most recently by Mindy Kaling & Lang Fisher’s “Never Have I Ever”), Indians are frequently put into cookie-cutter images of academia, spirituality, and modesty by the media. They are portrayed as doctors with thick accents and hard to pronounce names — but not by “Family Karma.”

Cast members are shown drinking, fighting, swearing, and even pole dancing on party buses. The main group ranges in age from their mid-twenties to their mid-forties. They’re aspiring actors, IT account executives, fashion designers, real estate professionals, lawyers, and the majority live with their parents. They are straight, gay, divorced, engaged, single, parents.

They span a wide definition of the term “Indian.”

Brian’s mother, for example, hails from the Indian state of Gujarat, while his father, Raj, is Indo-Caribbean born in Guyana in South America.

As the child of Indo-Guyanese immigrants myself, I can tell you how much this diversity means.

We are Indian by blood and have maintained a great deal of the culture (as the descendants of Indian indentured servants who ventured west under British contract in the late 1800s-1900s), but, as a lot of Indo-Caribbeans will tell you, we are often rejected or ignored as “not real Indians.”

[Read Related: Keeping Indo-Caribbean Traditions Alive for the American Generation]

Despite the shared ancestry, this stigma is strong and it’s not common to see many Indo-Caribbean families like the Bennis.

With their inclusion, “Family Karma” gave me and my community an acceptance and a representation as Indian we never thought we’d see.

And there’s more inclusivity. While the majority of the players were born in the US, Bali, 44, was born in India, while Monica was born in the USVI (US Virgin Islands). Most of the cast has roots in the North, but Anisha’s family is South Indian.

While all Indians in their own right, the cast members of “Family Karma” speak different languages and have different rituals. They have varied family histories and upbringings, but they come together to share the screen as one, proud, unified group (unless they’re fighting).

The fact is: No culture or people is perfect.

Inclusion and authentic representation are about accepting all variables; good and bad, common, and rare. They are about bringing all the options to the surface for equal opportunities and judgment, again, good and bad. It’s about having all experiences being showcased so onlookers can say “Hey, that’s just like me.”

“Family Karma” offers that.

For the first time that I can recall, Americans (and even Indian-Americans) are being shown a diverse, unbiased, and relatable portrayal of what it means to be Indian. For too long the community has been isolated as something “exotic” — a label cloaked as special or unique, but in reality, just meaning we’re different. That we’re something other than normal.

“Family Karma” is a vital first step into normalcy; into belonging.

It is America’s first chance to see into the lives of real Indian-American families, to look past the colorful rituals and language barriers, and possibly see themselves in the young cast.

[Read Related: Monica Vaswani Talks ‘Family Karma’ & the Ups and Downs of Reality TV]

“Family Karma” shares the unique everyday challenges and experiences many Indians face respectfully but it doesn’t shy away from showing human flaws; flaws people of all races and backgrounds have and can relate to.

Like its cast, the series isn’t flawless either. I’m curious if in a new season the show will welcome new people to speak to other prominent Indian faiths like Islam or Christianity or tread into discussions of arranged marriage or colorism — but the first season has laid a game-changing foundation.

This is a foundation I hope will see a second season and many more seasons to come. One that I hope will birth an American experience where a series like this, with so many Indian faces, won’t be seen as groundbreaking or out of the ordinary, but, maybe, just maybe, just another, fun, guilty pleasure reality show.

By Ramona Sukhraj

With a B.S. in Marketing from the UCONN School of Business, Ramona has made a name for herself publishing over … Read more ›

Photo Courtesy of Varsha Panikar

“After so Long” is a poetry film created for Simha’s EP, which is streaming on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music. The poem was collaboratively written by Simha, a U.S. native, and Jae, who is based in India, during the 2020 lockdown. “After so Long” was recited by Simha and their parents. In 2022, I directed and produced the film through my studio, Star Hopper. “After so Long” premiered on Nowness Asia in March 2022.

By Varsha Panikar

Varsha Panikar (they/he) is a filmmaker, writer and multi-disciplinary artist from India. They are the co-founder of Star Hopper, a … Read more ›

“Naatu Naatu” is one of the most memorable sequences from S.S. Rajamouli’s epic action-drama “RRR,” and has assisted the Telugu-language blockbuster in becoming one of the highest-grossing films at the worldwide box office. With music by M.M. Keeravani and lyrics by Chandrabose, “Naatu Naatu” is a celebration of regional music, dance, national identity, and male friendship.

[Read Related: Redefining Sonic and Safety Standards in the Music Industry: The New Diaspora Music Experience]

But long before the song began collecting its accolades, its infectious tune and fast-step dance, performed vigorously by N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan, became a viral sensation outside of the film. It’s now the first song in a movie from India to be nominated for an Oscar and also to have won a Golden Globe. 

When asked about the song’s ripple effect across the world, Keervani remarked,

For us — the musicians and artists — social media is very powerful, because of the internet and reachability. Nowadays, globally, anything that is different by nature, anything that is innovative, a little innovative, will catch instant attention.

It all started with a TikTok dance challenge where thousands of fans mimicked the dizzying hook step, choreographed by Prem Rakshith, garnering hundreds of millions of views, and making the song a bonafide global phenomenon. Today, the official YouTube video has well over 123 million views.

While the science behind why certain songs have a higher virality is widely debated, Keeravani attributes a large part to the song’s instant connection with the masses to its unusual 6/8 time signature, taken from carnatic music — which he believes is “inherently encoded in the human body.”  

For non musicians, he vocally percusses the rhythm, “thik-i-tha tha-ka-tha, thik-i-tha tha-ka-tha, thik-i-tha tha-ka-tha, thik-i-tha tha-ka-tha.” 

[This beat] will give you instant energy. Like suppose, you’re going low on sugar. So there are things like instant energy boosters; like you consume some aerated drink or a cup of coffee with sugar. And instantly your energy is boosted. So six, eight will give you an instant feeling to get up, create some steps and dance. There is a swing in the beat. So you will react to that beat — involuntarily you will react.

Before Keeravani wrote the music for “Naatu Naatu,” Chandrabose was given the challenging task to pen the lyrics to this rhythm. Continuing a long-standing collaboration that began 29 years ago, Chandrabose has co-written over 400 songs with Keeravani, including this iconic title track — his only co-write on “RRR.” 

 

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Regionality played a significant role in the composition.

Ram comes from Andhra and Bheem comes from Telangana. Both dialects are different; the slang is different. So, there is a challenge to write both slangs in one song. Everybody should understand those words. That is the challenge.

Chandrabose explained how he needed to appropriately incorporate the various dialects from the regions the primary characters were from, and reflect colloquialisms from 100 years ago, when the film’s story takes place, that is also recognizable to present-day listeners.

In [the lyric] ‘Yerrajonna rottelona mirapathokku kalipinattu’ (which translates roughly to “like eating a jowar roti with a chili” in English), ‘thokku’ means pickly, like mango pickle. In Andhra, it is known as ‘pachadi’ and in Telangana, it is known as ‘thokku.’ So, everyone can relate and connect [to] that word. And since ‘thokku’ belongs to Telangana, that line is sung by Bheem.

The original Telugu version of “Naatu Naatu” was also dubbed and released across a variety regional Indian languages, including, “Naacho Naacho” in Hindi, “Naattu Koothu” in Tamil, “Halli Naatu” in Kannada, and “Karinthol” in Malayalam, and has collectively been streamed over 92 million times on Spotify.

Chandrabose remarks that he envisioned the lyrics to 90 percent of the song in half a day, but it took about 19 more months to finalize the song in its entirety. This was in great part due to the time spent on researching the dialects and finalizing each word to the overall ethos of the song. Rajamouli had given strict direction that the song should authentically be about one’s nature, their culture and countryside, and be universally respectful.

 

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When asked about how they scaled this process across the other five language releases, Keeravani recalled that they had to prioritize lip sync.

Since it’s a dance number, there is a combination of close shots and long shots. So the long shots are spared, but in the close shots, they need to be as close to the Telugu lyric, I mean, lip wise.

He added that the writing team had to make some concessions,

There will be a certain amount of compromise in the meaning of the lyric. But that is inevitable. As long as the song is conveying its main essence, it has no problem.

Culturally, India has a rich history of celebrating songwriters, composers, and music directors in cinema. However, this recognition does not always translate to credit and compensation. For example, “Naatu Naatu” was extraordinarily successful on TikTok, but TikTok isn’t available in India, creating complex monetization adversities. It’s especially important to understand that India’s non-bollywood and independent music market has a nascent publishing infrastructure and is traditionally known to have a work-for-hire payment model where song contributors are not offered royalties. 

Speaking optimistically to changing times, Chandrabose shared,

I’m getting royalty from past 12 years (from performing rights societies IPRS in India and PRS in the U.K.).

He explained that, especially with viral songs, some songwriters and composers have only limited careers in the “limelight,” but “after 10 to 15 years, they cannot get more work and they cannot get money.” He speaks to songwriting royalties as a key to retirement for the next generation of song makers.

So, at that time they will receive these IPRS royalties as their pension to meet their needs. They will get these amounts in their old age that will help them a lot.

Upon concluding our chat with Chandrabose and Keeravani, we marveled at the amount of progress that has happened for independent and non-hindi language music communities around the world. The virality of “Naatu Naatu” is a testament to the musical prowess out of South Asia, but also challenges the Western notion that Indian music is narrowly defined by belonging in the catchall ‘world music’ category, or the sounds of the sitar and tabla, or a lightbulb-twisting Bhangra club-hit wonder, or, if nothing else, then Bollywood — all in large part exclusively North Indian. Unfortunately, this distinctly important nuance still plagues Western media and major music institutions. 

 

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Recently during a Songwriters Hall of Fame conversation with Oscar-nominated songwriters, Paul Williams incorrectly introduced “Naatu Naatu,” as “the first Hindi-language song ever nominated for an Oscar,” which is spliced with not one, but two errors — not only misidentifying the language but ignoring A.R. Rahman’s “Jai Ho!,” a Hindi song which was nominated and won in 2009 for the same category. As South Asian artists around the world begin to traverse into global markets, we hope to see more Western entities taking the time to research, hire South Asian contributors, and execute due diligence to minimize inaccuracies and cultural erasure.

[Read Related: India’s Premier Composer and Musical Genius, A.R. Rahman Performs Live in Newark]

Looking ahead to the 95th Oscars on March 12, 2023, we can rejoice that “Naatu Naatu” is confirmed to be performed live by the original singers Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava at Academy Awards ceremony. The Best Original Song nomination is up against “Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman;” “Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick:” “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever;” and “This Is A Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

“RRR” is streaming on Netflix and Zee5. On March 3 it will be re-released in over 200 US theaters as part of ‘The RRR Fan CelebRRRation’. Check your local cinema guides for one-off theatrical screenings.

By Rhea Ghosh

Rhea has been helping music creators cross-culturally develop their narratives for over a decade, and is especially passionate about advancing … Read more ›

Weddings, huh? Talk about a stress fest. And for the bride, it’s like a 24/7 walk on eggshells. However, add in a paranoid and overprotective sister, and you’ve got a recipe for a completely different degree of drama. In “Polite Society,” Ria Khan (Priya Kansara) and her gang of clumsy pals take the phrase “till death do us part” to a whole new level as they plot to “steal” the bride — aka Ria’s own sister, Lena (Ritu Arya), during her shaadi reception. But with a wedding hall packed with guests, a mother-in-law from hell, and a groom with more shades of fraud than a rainbow, this heist is anything but smooth sailing.

It goes without saying but “Polite Society” comes with a cast of wacky characters, gut-busting one-liners, and an action-packed heist sequence, making it a must-watch for anyone who loves a good comedy. I mean who hasn’t dealt with some serious wedding drama, am I right?

Lead actress Kansara agrees wholeheartedly. “I definitely have!” she chuckles, as I catch up with her at Soho Hotel in London. Despite the rubbish weather outside, Kansara is a ray of sunshine with her infectious enthusiasm.

The minute I read the script, I thought to myself…wow, playing Ria is going to be one wild ride!

[Read Related: Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History — A Review of Sundance’s ‘Polite Society’]

And wild is definitely the right word to describe her character. Ria is a British-Pakistani martial artist-in-training from London, determined to become a professional stuntwoman. Her sister, Lena, who dropped out of uni, often ends up being the guinea pig for filming Ria’s stunts for YouTube, including one lovingly dubbed “the fury.” She reveals

I’d never done martial arts before this film. The stunt training started from the day I got the role, and it was three to four times a week all the way until we finished filming. It was a seven-week period in total, and boy, was it physically demanding. Oh my God, I think I can add a whole new skills section to my CV! But on a serious note, it was so much fun and we had an amazing stunt team. They, including my stunt double, taught me so much. It was important to me to do my own stunts as much as possible, but also strike a healthy balance.

For South Asian women, who are often expected to be quiet and agreeable, all that punching and kicking on set must have been cathartic, right?

Honestly, it was like anger management at work! I got to kick and throw things around — it was the perfect balance.

 

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What sets Kansara apart from other actors starting out in the industry is her ability to draw from her own life experiences to bring authenticity to her characters on screen. Her career began with a degree from UCL and a communications job at a pharmaceutical company. But today, her versatile range and unwavering commitment to her craft have propelled her to the forefront of British comedy, portraying defiant South Asian women we’d love to see in real life.

From my own experience as a South Asian woman, I’ve always been told to do what’s ‘proper’ and think twice before speaking up. Playing a character like Ria and putting myself in her shoes, I felt like I was doing and saying things that I wish I had done at her age. It was almost like living through her and speaking my mind about things I never did.

Without a doubt, every South Asian woman on this planet wishes she cared more about herself and less about what other people think.

Ria totally inspired me. If only I had her mindset when I was younger, my career path would have taken off way sooner instead of worrying about other people’s opinions.

The chemistry between the cast members on and off-screen is so apparent, especially the sisterhood between Ria and Lena. The wild adventures of a bride, and her paranoid maid of honour navigating through family drama, are bound to create some unforgettable moments on set.

[Read Related: ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’: A Modern-day Exploration of Love Across Cultures]

We both confess our love and admiration for Nimra Bucha’s portrayal of Raheela, Lena’s evil mother-in-law and share a teenage fangirling moment:

I’m obsessed with that woman. There’s something terrifying yet ultra sexy about her character in “Polite Society” that’s mesmerising. I absolutely loved the dance sequence. As South Asians, we’ve all grown up watching Bollywood films and idolising Madhuri Dixit’s iconic dance moves. “Polite Society” gave me my Bollywood heroine moment, and it was a dream come true with the costumes and jewellery.

It’s definitely a unique experience for Kansara, considering her former career was worlds apart from entertainment. So, what advice does she have for aspiring actors who may secretly wish to pursue the same path, but are unsure of the next steps? Kansara advises, drawing from her character’s heist-planning skills.

I believe starting small and honing your craft is an underrated superpower. If you’re passionate about acting, make short-form videos, and build your portfolio. You never know who might be watching.

So, grab your popcorn and your sense of humour, and get ready for “Polite Society” — the film that proves that sometimes, the most polite thing to do is kick some butt and save the day. It released in cinemas on April 28th, and I highly recommend it.

Photo Courtesy: Universal Pictures

By Queenie Shaikh

Desk bound by day and travel bound all other times – Queenie thrives on her weekly dose of biryani and … Read more ›