American fruits and nuts in Bangalore you ask? Yes, you can find California pistachios, Washington apples and Oregon pears from big grocery stores to the corner mom and pop shops. According to one report California almonds rank fifth in the list of American exports to India.
“Miss India America” had its world premiere at the recently concluded Cinequest film festival in Silicon Valley. This humorous film examines the notion of ambition and the lengths to which we go to achieve our dreams. The film and the cast members got standing ovation from the audience. We spoke with Meera Simhan and Ravi Kapoor, the husband… Continue Reading
Award-winning filmmaker Robert Kenner’s new documentary “Merchants of Doubt,” is inspired by the book by the same name by Naomi Orsekes and Eric Conway. Kennar’s previous film is the award-winning “Food Inc.” that takes you behind the scenes of how the food industry operates. In this new film “Merchants of Doubt,” Kennar takes you behind the scene and shows… Continue Reading
Shonali Bose’s “Margarita With A Straw,” is the centerpiece of this year’s Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) Festival at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre on March 15, 2015. We spoke to Bose about “Margarita With A Straw,” a coming-of-age film, which she describes as a deeply personal film. The story is about a differently abled person’s… Continue Reading
Food is the centerpiece of many Asian-American communities in the USA.There is absolutely no question about that and I can vouch for it. What are we eating today is a daily conversation in my family, and we cook everyday. And there are many memories and stories woven around food in my family. And food is… Continue Reading
India – that is subject of the latest edition of Granta, a British literary magazine founded in 1899 in Cambridge University. The India special has stories, poems, photos and artwork by new and well-known folks like Upamanyu Chatterjee, Neel Mukerjee, Kalpana Narayanan, Aman Sethi, Hari Kunzru, Anjali Joseph, Gauri Gill, Rajesh Vangad and others. A… Continue Reading
Wedding brass bands are a big part of Indian weddings. These bands grew out of the military brass bands in British India as ethnomusicologist Prof. Greg Booth explains. Imagine my surprise when a few years ago I stumbled upon Red Baarat, a brass band from New York. This 8-piece band was started by Sunny Jain… Continue Reading
Anne Thompson lives, breathes, talks and writes about films. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Thompson on Hollywood at Indiewire. She is the author of the book “The $11 Billion Dollar Year.” She teaches a course on films at UCLA. A prolific writer Thompson has written for Variety, Entertainment Weekly, New York Times, Washington… Continue Reading
Apple Watch was not the only thing that CEO Tim Cook and his team announced yesterday at their much anticipated March Spring Forward event in San Francisco. They announced a clutch of new products and services like an all-new MacBook, MacBook Pro, ResearchKit and HBO NOW on Apple TV. In case you missed here are… Continue Reading
Really sorry to see Gigaom shut down. If someone knew how to do things in style it was Om Malik, the founder of the influential technology website based in San Francisco. Earlier this evening this is what Om wrote: “There will be time for postmortems, but not today. Today, I want to thank all the people… Continue Reading
Victor Levin’s directorial debut “5 to 7” was the closing night film at Cinequest last evening. Anton Yelchin plays the lead in the film. Here is a highlight of our interview with Levin and Yelchin. We have a longer interview coming up with them. The film stars Bérénice Marlohe (who played the Bond girl in “Skyfall”), Olivia Thirlby, Glenn Close, Lambert Wilson and Frank… Continue Reading
“Make It Happen” is the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day. Everyday millions of women make it happen for themselves, their family and the society around the world. Over the years I have interviewed many women from different walks of life and have been lucky to talk to them about their lives and how… Continue Reading
Very sad to hear about the passing away of Indian journalist Vinod Mehta. He was the founder editor of Outlook, a weekly magazine. 73 year Mehta apparently passed away from multiple organ failure according to The Hindu. Mehta had a long stint as a journalist working with various publications including India Post and Pioneer. He… Continue Reading
Stanley Kubrick, the multifaceted filmmaker passed away on this day in 1999. Kubrick was born in New York, but spent most of his adult life in the United Kingdom. He started off as a photographer and went on to become a filmmaker. His film repertoire includes “Spartacus,” “Lolita,” “Dr. Strangeglove,” “The Space Odyssey,” “Clockwork Orange,” “Full… Continue Reading
If you have ever watched a silent picture in a cinema hall then you know what the whole experience is like.The silent film is usually accompanied by a live musician or an orchestra and it is an absolute treat to be transported back in time. There is an interactive element to the whole experience and you don’t… Continue Reading
Masashi Niwano, Festival director of San Francisco-based Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) breaks it down for us on what to expect at this year’s annual CAAMFest. This is one of the oldest and largest film festivals that has grown over the years and now includes food and music as part of its offerings. This… Continue Reading
Starting next week San Francisco bay area residents are in for an unusual treat of films, food and music from different parts of the world with an Asian American theme. It is time for the annual CAAMFest the oldest Asian American film festival in the US. This year the festival runs from March 12-22, 2015… Continue Reading
Happy Holi to all those celebrating it around the world. Today is Holi, a Hindu festival of colors that heralds the dawn of spring. This happy and riotous festival is celebrated on the last full moon day of the winter and is marked with people playing with colors. Holi is about the triumph of good… Continue Reading
Former Googler Punit Soni has left Silicon Valley to join Bangalore-based e-commerce company Flipkart as its Chief Product Officer according to The Business Insider. This is an interesting development since Soni has left a high-profile job at Google to join Flipkart, another high-profile company, whose valuation is over $10 billion. Flipkart raised $700 million in… Continue Reading
What is behind the symbolism of India-US relationship? President Obama became the first American President to visit India twice. What are the business opportunities for American business in India beyond IT and technology? What are the business opportunities for California and the states on the west coast? We sat down to speak with Ambassador Venkatesan… Continue Reading
It appears that Leslee Udwin’s documentary (BBC) “India’s Daughter” has touched a raw nerve for many folks. Understandably. The documentary aired on BBC’s Channel Four yesterday and is about Jyoti Singh (Nirbhaya) who was gang raped in a New Delhi bus in 2012 and eventually succumbed to her injuries. “Chilling” is how The Telegraph describes a review… Continue Reading
Dalrymple examines the transformation of East India company and points out it that should serve as a lesson for the present. He argues that “the East India Company – the first great multinational corporation, and the first to run amok – was the ultimate model for many of today’s joint-stock corporations.” He underscores… Continue Reading
Diversity. Diversity appears to be on everyone’s mind in Silicon Valley and San Francisco-based tech companies. What is the make-up of the workforce in tech companies? What is the percentage of minorities? What is the percentage of women in the work force? These, and other diversity related questions is part of this conversation on diversity in… Continue Reading
What are the sounds of Bollywood music? What are the various influences that shaped and continue shape Bollywood music? If you delve deep into the subject of Bollywood music as Prof. Jayson Beaster- Jones has done, you will discover all sorts of musical influence from jazz, big band to gypsy music and hip-hop. American music… Continue Reading
Meet Mikey McCleary – a Kiwi music composer who is busy creating all sorts of musical waves from Mumbai, the headquarters for Bollywood film industry. If you ever watch Indian TV shows then you have heard his music for sure. He is the guy behind all those advert jingles for Vodafone, Levis, Titan, Coke and many, many… Continue Reading
Two Indian-American films had their world premiere at Silicon Valley’s Cinequest Film Festival (Feb 24-Mar 8, 2015) this weekend – “Miss India America,” and “For Here or To Go?” The films are made by Indian-American filmmakers from California. “Miss India America,” is set in Southern California, while “For Here or To Go?” is set in… Continue Reading
Actor Omi Vaidya’s film “For Here or To Go?” will have its world premiere at Silicon Valley’s Cinequest Film Festival this evening. We caught up with the actor last night at Cinequest to talk about his new film, working in Bollywood and his future plans. “For Here or To Go?” captures the angst and uncertainties of… Continue Reading
Filmmaker Shlomi Elkabetz’s “Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem,” was Israel’s entry for the 2015 Oscars. This is an intense, heart-wrenching and sometimes difficult to watch film that Elkabetz wrote and directed along with his sister Ronit Elkabetz, who plays the central character Vivian Amsalem. The film revolves around Amsalem’s drawn out court battle to… Continue Reading
For 25 years Kathleen Powell and Halfdan Hussey, co-founders of Cinequest Film Festival have worked hard to bring this unique festival that combines films and technology under one roof in the heart of Silicon Valley. Besides well-known filmmakers and actors, the festival features emerging artists and filmmakers and shines a strong spotlight on the contributions of youth… Continue Reading
Silicon Valley’s Cinequest Film Festival turns 25 this year. The film festival opened tonight with Dana Bachman’s “Batkid Begins” at the historic art deco California Theatre in San Jose. This feel-good and inspirational documentary about a little boy’s wish to be a super hero seemed to have resonated with the audience. The film and the filmmakers got… Continue Reading
The Kamla Show 