ATMA is a new track by a A.E.S., a San Francisco bay area-based music group. The track fuses American hip-hop style lyrics with Hindustani or North Indian Classical music. A.E.S was formed last year by a trio of musicians. The name is derived from the alphabets of their first name – Alam Khan, Eligh and… Continue Reading
The splendors of an Indian Maharaja’s court is the stuff of legend that you may have heard or read in books. Ever wondered how they lead their lives? What jewels or clothes they bought? Or, who designed their clothes and jewels? Or, what artwork they collected? There is a book that takes you behind the… Continue Reading
Academy Award Winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald’s “Black Sea” releases today in San Francisco bay area. We spoke to Macdonald about the making of “Black Sea,” and what drew him to this particular story about a group of ragged submariners, who want to salvage gold from a sunken World War Two submarine. What was the real life… Continue Reading
In Part-2 of our conversation Gurcharan Das we continue our conversation about his new book “The Difficulty of Being Good: On The Subtle Art of Dharma.” Das turned to the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata to study the concepts of dharma or doing the right thing. He writes that the Mahabharata “is unique in engaging with the world of politics.” He writes, “The Mahabharata is… Continue Reading
Ira Pande is an author, editor, translator and teacher. She worked in the publishing industry for many years and was the managing editor of Dorling-Kindersley and chief editor of Roli Books India. She also worked as the chief editor at India International Center. A gifted storyteller with a keen eye for details, Pande has translated the works of Shivani… Continue Reading
Crime and infrastructure are two of the top issues for folks in San Jose and Silicon Valley. In Part-2 of our conversation we talk to Ash Kalra (D), San Jose City Councilmember about these twin issue. He studied law at Georgetown University and headed back to his hometown of San Jose, where he spent over… Continue Reading
Prof. Greg Booth is a musician, author and teacher at University of Auckland, New Zealand. In 2008 Prof. Booth’s book “Behind The curtain: Making Music in Mumbai’s Film Studios,” was published. It highlights the contributions of individual musicians, who were part of a larger Hindi or Bollywood music orchestra. The musicians came from different background spanning British military… Continue Reading
Prof. Greg Booth is a teacher, author & musician. In his book Brass Baja: Stories From The World of Indian Wedding Bands he takes us behind the scene into the world of the Indian brass band musicians, whose rich musical traditions and history has been largely ignored. It was way back back in the 17th century that the first wedding brass band made… Continue Reading
Prof. Greg Booth is a musician, teacher and an author. In his book “Looking Behind The Curtain Making Music In Mumbai’s Film Industry” he takes us behind the silverscreen to show us how music was (is) made in Hindi or Bollywood films. In Part-2 Prof. Booth talks about the process of how songs were created especially… Continue Reading
2014 was an interesting year, where we got to meet and interview guests from the world of technology, films, culture and politics in Silicon Valley. You can watch all the interviews on our YouTube channel and subscribe to it. Every Thursday and Saturday mornings, you will find new videos on our YouTube channel. 2014 was also the year… Continue Reading
Bangalore has a long tradition of celebrating Christmas with Christmas cakes, plum puddings and other Christmas goodies. One of the places where you get to see Christmas celebration and goodies is at Taj Vivanta on MG Road in Bangalore. We got to spend our Christmas morning at Cafe Mozaic at Taj Vivant as guests of the… Continue Reading
Award winning actor Timothy Spall has a new film releasing later this year. “Mr. Turner” is directed by British filmmaker Mike Leigh and is about the legendary British artist JMW Turner. Spall won the best actor award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for essaying the role of Turner. Spall was in San Francisco recently to talk… Continue Reading
Chinese food is very popular in Bangalore. There are 2 kinds of Chinese food – there is Indian-Chinese food and then there is authentic Chinese food. Chef Tong William has witnessed the growth and popularity of Chinese food in India and specifically in Banglaore. Originally from Hong Kong, Chef William first came to India to… Continue Reading
Laura Dern was in San Francisco bay area to attend Mill Valley Film Festival, where “Wild” was the closing night film.Last year her father Bruce Dern was honored at the festival for his role in “Nebraska” “Wild” is based on a real life story by Cheryl Strayed, who trekked and successfully completed the 1,100 Pacific Crest… Continue Reading
December is the season to celebrate and we are doing just that with a series of interviews on food and wine in Silicon Valley and Bangalore. We are talking California wines and Chinese food in India. Now, that is a combination to think about. Santa Clara county is home to many of Silicon Valley hi-tech… Continue Reading
Academy award winner Hillary Swank’s new film “The Homesman” was the opening night film at this year’s Mill Valley Film Festival. Swank was there on the opening night of the festival. In this video clip she talks about how she prepared for her role in the film and working with Tommy Lee Jones, who directed… Continue Reading
Every week we bring you interesting interviews and conversations. Take a peek to see some of the new interviews we have in store, and the ones that you may missed watching on our YouTube channel. And if you like what you see, it will be awesome if you subscribed to it. Every week on Thursday and… Continue Reading
Eleven. Do your remember what it was like to be a eleven year old? How did you view the world around you? What did you think of the world, love, music and helping people around you? What do eleven year olds around the world think is the subject of Australian filmmaker Genevieve Bailey’s documentary “I… Continue Reading
Eddie Redmayne plays the role of famous scientist Stephen Hawking in the “Theory of Everything.” The film is based on Jane Hawking’s book about her marriage to Stephen Hawking. The Hawkings eventually divorced. Hawking was a young graduate student, when he suddenly developed symptoms for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). He earned his PhD and eventually went on to… Continue Reading
“Whiplash,” is an intense film centered around two ambitious musician – a 19 year old drummer (Miles Teller) and his Draconian music instructor (JK Simmons). The film is written and directed by Damien Chazelle, and inspired by his own musical journey as a jazz musician. He played the drums. The film was part of the… Continue Reading
Dr. Aaron Lington is baritone saxophonist, composer/arranger and jazz professor at San Jose State University (SJSU). He is also involved with the San Jose Jazz and is the director of the San Jose High School All Stars band. And he is also a member of San Francisco bay area’s Grammy winning group Pacific Mambo Orchestra… Continue Reading
Gandhi in San Francisco you ask? Yes, there is a statue of Mahatma Gandhi tucked away in one corner of San Francisco’s Ferry Building. You may miss it if since it is located a little away from where folks sit on the bay and watch the water, boats and the traffic on bay bridge. In… Continue Reading
Filmmaker Jason Reitman’s new film “Men, Women and Children,” is the opening night film at this year’s Mill Valley Film Festival. The film looks at how ubiquitous and always-on Internet and Social Media has permeated our lives, especially the lives of younger people. But, why single out the young folks? The adults are also plugged… Continue Reading
“Pride” is a new British Film based on a true story about an unlikely alliance between gays and striking Welsh miners. Think 1980 Britain when Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of the country. A group of gay activists in London decide to support the striking miners, which was one of the largest mining strikes… Continue Reading
Mill Valley Film Festival is one of the last major film festivals of the year. Organized by the California Film Institute this annual film festival is generally held in the last quarter of the year in the beautiful town of Mill Valley located a few miles north of San Francisco. This year’s festival runs from… Continue Reading
Is it possible that Benedict Cumberbatch could be at this year’s Mill Valley Film Festival? He recently attended the Toronto Film Festival for the premier of his new film “The Imitation Man.” This is a true story based on the legendary British mathematician & code breaker Alan Turing. There is a India connection that the Turings had.… Continue Reading
This year’s San Jose Jazz Summerfest ((August 8-10, 2014) was a treat for your ears, eyes and soul. For 3 days I heard all kinds of music from jazz, hot jazz, blues, mambo, salsa, zydeco, gypsy and soul in various venues in downtown San Jose. This was the 25th year of the festival organized by San… Continue Reading
“This Ain’t No Mouse Music” is a new documentary about Chris Strachwitz by Chris Simon and Maureen Gosling. The filmmakers have known Strachwitz for many years. Strachwitz is a San Francisco bay area resident and an icon in the world of music. “This Ain’t No Mouse Music” traces the journey of Strachwitz’s obsession with finding and recording blues,… Continue Reading
“Calvary” is written and directed by John Michael McDonagh. This is his second film in a trilogy that he is making. “The Guard” was the first, and “Calvary” is the second and his third film is ” The Lame Shall Enter First.” Brendan Gleeson, the Irish actor is the star of this trilogy. “Calvary” is about… Continue Reading
I just got back from the famous Gilroy Garlic Festival. Today is the first day, and apparently the best time to visit if you want to beat the huge crowd. For years I vicariously read about the garlic festival, but never gathered the courage to venture down down to Gilroy, the garlic capital of the… Continue Reading
The Kamla Show 