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Whether they admit it or not, Indian film makers were heavily influenced by Jackson. Whether it was the dance steps, the music, fashion or the way the sets were created to reflect that look and feel of  Jackson’s music videos. It was in the use of light, the camera angle. Basically, the whole nine yards.People that were clearly influenced by Michael Jackson’s music, fashion and dancing style were: Govinda, Hrithik Roshan, Bappi Lahri, Mithun Chakraborthy (the original Disco Dancer) and Chiranjeevi. 

I think in in recent time if there was one person in Bollywood  that  re-introduced Michael Jackson’s style of dancing to  young movie goers it was Hrithik Roshan. Take a look at this Bollywood song with Hrithik Roshan and don’t tell me that you are not reminded of Michael Jackson?Still not satisfied? Then take a look at this video clip of Hrithik dancing and let me know if you see any Michael Jackson inspired moves here?

Perhaps the person who identified closely with Jackson’s style of dancing and fashion was the Bollywood actor Govinda, who popularized break dancing through his movies. In the early part of his career you can clearly see Jackson’s stamp on Govinda in the various song and dance sequences. The Govinda that  you saw in the late 1990s was a very different one when compared to his earlier avatar. Here is a video clip of Govinda and Neelam in Street Dancer.

Before Hrithik and Govinda there was Mithun Chakraborthy, also known as Mithun da, who popularized Jackson’s style of dancing.  In this video clip of Disco Dancer, you will clearly see how Jackson influenced the dance steps.  Besides Bollywood there were Telugu films that were heavily influenced by this cultural and pop icon.

A hallmark of  Telugu movies are their lavish song and dance sequences. An important ingredient for the success of Telugu films was the song and dance routine.  It was Chiranjeevi, a young successful star in the 1980s who popularized Michael Jackson’s style of dancing through his films.  Here is the Indian Thriller version. 

Finally, as if did not have enough exhibits to support Michael Jackson’s influence on India and the expat population that lives around the world…here is a final piece of evidence: Remember Madhu Singh and Suleimain Mirza  from Britain’s Got Talent? Don’t remember? Watch this video clip, which is a great piece that captures everything that I have been trying to paint with words. Enjoy. 

I wonder if Michael Jackson had any idea at all about the extent of his influence in India and the Indian film industry, especially Bollywood. Perhaps, he did have some inkling. But, we will never know. 

Rest in peace Michael Jackson.

PS: Thanks to Kittu Kolluri for reminding me that Prabhu Deva and Michael Jackson’s influence on this dancer/actor. 

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The memorial service and burial of Khan sahib will be held at Mt. Tamalpais Cemetary (2500 5th Ave, San Rafael, CA 94901), Sunday, June 21st at noon. This will be followed by a gathering at the Ali Akbar College of Music.

Instead of flowers, the family asks that if you would like to help, please send send your donation to AACM for the Ali Akbar Khan Library.Some media reports have incorrectly reported that Khan sahib passed away at his Ali Akbar College of Music in San Francisco. This is incorrect.

A wonderful and gentle teacher, Khan sahib was one of the early ambassadors of Indian classical music to the western world. A frequent visitor to the US since the 1950s, Khan saheb settled down here in the 1960s and established a school for teaching Indian classical music. Located in San Rafael in Marin County, north of San Francisco, Khan sahib’s school was a magnet for musicians from all over the world.

Every evening just before 6 pm Khan sahib (video clip) would arrive at the school, and climb up the stairs to the first floor where he held his music classes. The class consisted of a mix of students with varying backgrounds and ethnicity, but they all had one thing in common: their love for music. During the break and after the class was over it was very common to find students gathered around his white upholstered chair and he would patiently listen and answer all their questions. He was a great listener with a wonderful sense of humor and loved to laugh.

Khan sahib leaves behind a rich legacy of his music and teachings. For the last several years Mary Khan, his wife, has been painstakingly digitizing all his recordings to be made available to the public.

In 2002 I had an opportunity of meeting and spending time with Khan sahib both at his school and his home, where he patiently answered all my questions and clarified some others.  At the initial meeting he realized that I had lot of unanswered questions, and extended an invitation to come and visit him in his home the following week He spent an afternoon answering question and sharing anecdotes. (This was before the YouTube, flip camera and smart phone.)  Later that year I attended his 80th birthday celebration, where well-known musicians (both Indian classical and western) came to pay their respect to him. The event was held at a local auditorium attended by hundreds of his followers and admirers.

May his soul rest in peace. Thank you Khan sahib for sharing your wonderful music and gift with so many people.

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During my downtime I got to spend time with friends and family, travel, read and watch some wonderful movies that were on my “to-watch” list.

Thanks all for your tweets, emails and phone calls.

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Arjun Janah left this poem about Shashi Tharoor as a comment on one of my blog posts. I am taking the liberty of publishing it. Arjun is based in New York, and is a graduate of St. Stephen’s just like Mr.Tharoor, who is running for elections from his home town of Trivandrum, Kerala.

For the past few years Arjun has been involved in helping his father Sunil Janah, a well-known photographer.

Yon Shashi Tharoor attended my college,
A year or so senior to me.
He wrote for the paper, that was called Kooler Talk,
But was shortened to read just “KT”.

He rose, or descended, to be Kofi Annan’s
Right hand man, and had even a shot
To be UN sec gen, but the Bushies, you see,
Decided they wanted him not.

Now he’s off to Trivandrum, where he is trying
To win a true Lok Sabha seat,
With the CPI, BJP, he will be vying,
But he’s got it all figured out neat.

For Tharoor’s a smart cookie, he’s good with a pen,
And he knows what to do, and what not.
And now, he’s gone high-tech, and all of his men
Are computerate, which I am not.

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We bring you a series of digital vignettes that will hopefully give us a peek into who are these young voters, and what issues do they support?  Most of them profiled here are white collar professionals with degrees in engineering or marketing, live in large cities and work for an IT company. It goes without  saying that all of them are tech savvy, who either blog or Twitter.

Nikhil Narayanan is a marketing consultant, who works in Bangalore and is a registered voter in his hometown of Trivandrum , Kerala. In early April Nikhil traveled to Trivandrum to vote in a 3-cornered election between the Congress, Left and BJP. Kerala is traditionally considered as a stronghold for the Left party. (more…)

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Bollywood actor Feroz Khan (70) passed away earlier today according to The Hindustan Times. He was suffering from cancer. He is survived by his son Bollywood actor Fardeen and daughter Laila.

Khan was the oldest of the original “Khan brothers.” His younger brother are Sanjay (his daughter Suzanne is married to Bollywood Hrithik Roshan), Akbar and  Sameer Khan. 

Born and brought up in Bangalore Feroz was born to a Pathan father and an Iranian mother and maintained close ties with the city, which is where he had a sprawling farmhouse. Apparently once he was discharged from the hospital, he wanted to come to his farm house to be close to his horses.

Khan made his debut in 1960 in the Hindi film “Didi,” and continued to act in a series of movies. It was in 1975 with the release of “Dharmatma” that Khan reached new heights in his career. Dharmatma was perhaps the first movie that was shot in Afghanistan. (Subsequently a couple of other Bollywood films were shot in Afghanistan). Five years later Khan’s film Qurbani starring himself and Zeenat Aman became a box-office hit and the song “Laila, Main, Laila,” became an instant hit.

Khan went on to produce and direct more films and also starred in a couple of them including Welcome in 2007. 

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Who knew that when Munthadar al-Zaidi ,the Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the visiting American President he would be unleashing a new fad around the world.  Last year al-Zaidi  famously threw  his shoes at President George W. Bush, who deftly ignored the whizzing footwear not once, but twice. al-Zaidi was instantly wrestled to the ground and later sentenced to a prison sentence. But, al-Zaidi seems to have uncorked some sort of universal pent-up  anger that folks have towards their political leaders. On the heels of the al-Zaidi incident people started sending shoes to the White House in protest of US policy in Iraq. 

While shoe throwing was an isolated incident in Iraq, it appears to have become somewhat of a trend in India where people have embraced this novel method of registering their protest against politicians.  With the general elections underway the number of shoe throwing incidents appear to be on the increase.

(more…)

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RG: Most of us are concerned about the governance and happenings in the country and in our thoughts and private meetings debate about the need and a common urge to bring in change.

The Mumbai terror attack (26/11/2009)and what we in the aftermath of the public coming together proved to be a turning point.  It showed and proved that public movement can do wonders.Encouraged by this, a  group of young professionals conceived and that resulted in the birth ofNocriminals.org. The response to the initiative has been very encouraging.

(more…)

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Fast forward to 2009 and the involvement of entertainers from Bollywood (or the Hindi film industry) based in Mumbai, Tamil and Telugu film industry has registered a significant spike in the election campaign. Telugu actor Chiranjeevi launched a new political party in Andhra Pradesh, while Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt failed to get nominated because of his criminal record in the 1993 Mumbai blast. In Tamil Nadu former actress and Chief Minister Jayalalitha is in the running after being defeated in the previous elections.  But, it is the involvement of Bollywood folks that has captured people’s imagination.

Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan cum blogger offers a glimpse of his thoughts on the  upcoming Indian elections. He writes:

“The elections are upon us. Elections in the largest and most thriving democracy in the world. TV has nothing else to offer but the electoral scenario unfolding upon us. Exit polls and analysis and who will win from where and who said what to whom and why. Even the media questionnaires that come across to us are full of queries on politics. Friends have become foes, foes have become friends. Games and manipulations all parties play to come to power. To win for the next 5 years and remain in governance. To them politics is an aphrodisiac, an elixir, that compels them to perform.”

Bachchan’s wife Jaya Bachchan has been active politically for a few years now.

What could be the driving force that has prompted so many Bollywood actors to step out of their comfort zone and do their bit for this Indian election campaign? Gaurav Shukla of India Election 2009 might have unearthed the answer to that question. He writes:

“Celebrities who used to keep politics at an arms length have surprisingly chosen to rally around the need to vote this time. Industry experts suggest that the Mumbai terror attacks in November last year may be the reason for this change…Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, John Abraham, Kamal Haasan, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Anurag Kashyap, Shriya Sharan, Shruti Haasan and Sushmita Sen are among those who have joined the chorus.”

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan helped launch a voter awareness campaign for Association of Democratic reforms with the tagline: “Sachche ko chune, Achche ko chune” — meaning “vote for the honest, vote for good people.”  Besides being the face and voice of the voter awareness campaign, Khan went one step further and helped produce the videos and audio pieces. AamirKhanblog writes:

“The ads have been made by the actor’s production company, Aamir Khan Productions, free of cost. An ‘A’ list Bollywood ensemble has put together this campaign. The creative head is Prasoon Joshi of McCann Erickson, Rakyesh Mehra is the director, Avinash Gowarikar the still photographer, and Shashi Sinha of Lodestar Media the media planner for the campaign. Everybody is working for the campaign gratis.

The ad campaign is being aired in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Assamese and Oriya so that it can reach out to the masses.”

Aamir Khan, who is also a blogger reminds Indian voters to make an informed choice when they cast their post. He wrote in his  blog post:

To all Indians, remember to vote, and make an informed choice. Meaning, check out all the candidates from your area before you decide who to vote for.

Khan is vacationing in Montana, but according to media reports will fly back to Mumbai and cast his vote on April 30th, the day the commercial and entertainment capital of India goes to the polls.

Besides Khan, a whole slew of Bollywood actors and filmmakers have volunteered their time for various election mobilization and awarness programs. Perhaps, the most significant one is the involvement of the entertainment industry in the non-profit organization called Jaagore (that translates to “Wake up”). The NGO has created powerful short video clips like this one where Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor points out that average age an Indian is 23 years old, while the average age of a a cabibet minister in the Federal Governmnet is 62 years old.

Or, this video clip by Bollywood film director Rakeysh Omprakash, where he points out that in the state of Rajasthan a politican won the elections by one vote.

With this kind of star power and backing analysts and political pundits are predicting that that there could be a spike in voter turnout in this year’s elections.(This was cross-posted on Global Voices.)

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There are 714 million people that are eligible to vote. About 1,368,430 electronic voting machines have been deployed across the country. This is the first time where quite a few states have been redistricted to allow more urban representation. Karnataka, especially Bangalore,  is a case in point, where because of the redistricting there is an increase in the number of seats from the urban areas, when compared to the rural ones. (more…)

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Post Mira Nair’s The Namesake Kal Penn has  been doing some pretty interesting things including  a stint teaching at a univeristy and working for Obama’s campaign during last year’s elections.  More interestingly, he has been doing graduate work in International Studies at Stanford University. So, in a sense his appointment to the White House should not come as a surprise.

Here is my interview with Kal Penn and Mira Nair at the premier of Mira Nair’s The Namesake, where he talks about growing up in New Jersey and  his name Kal Penn. His name is Kalpen Suresh Modi. I vividly recollect that Kal Penn was dressed in a off-white kurta pyjama and spoke in a very quiet tone. And a few weeks later I saw him at a PR event in a mid-town Manhattan hotel, where he was more like his character from Harold and Kumar, which was open, outgoing and fun. (more…)

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But, it is  superstar Rajnikanth or “Rajni,” who has provided tantalizing glimpses of his political ambitions, who can change the political landscape in Tamil Nadu.

Rumor has it that if Rajni were to join the political arena he would be a big game changer. But, will Rajni make his political debut is the $64 million question. In the meantime his Telugu counterpart, Chiranjeevi made his political debut in the neighboring state of Andhra Pradesh.It was the the Telugu movie star NTR took a leaf out of the Tamil film makers turned politicians and ran for state elections in the early 1980s by forming a new political party; Telugu Desam (Aside: Before Hyderabad became a base for Telugu cinema in the mid 1980s, it was Madras or Chennai, where Telugu cinemas were made. When NTR became the CM of Andhra Pradesh, the Telugu film industry slowly moved its base out of Madras/Chennai.) To the surprise of many political pundits NTR won the elections and remained as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for multiple terms before being ousted by his tech-savvy son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu. Dominating the elections in Andhra Pradesh this time around is another megastar: Chiranjeevi, who started a new party called Praja Rajyam (roughly translates into People’s Rule).

This is what The Economist wrote about Chiranjeevi and his charismatic and mesmerizing influence over a crowd of 400,000 people. (I don’t think even Obama can match this kind of devotion). 

WHEN Chiranjeevi lifts his arms, a human ocean, stretching into the distant gloom, roars. Beneath the rickety stage that bears the 53-year-old film-star, idol of Andhra Pradesh’s Telugu-language film industry, or “Tollywood”, the crowd boils and threatens to burst. Having sweltered for hours waiting for this actor-prophet, the men and boys of Rajahmundry, a concrete city in southern Andhra Pradesh (AP), want entertainment. Feverishly, they shriek his nickname: “Megastar!”  

There is a lot riding on these actors to deliver. The question is will their star power convert into votes? Will Chiranjeevi be able to pull off a political coup and head the government in Andhra Pradesh?

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The second reason the article caught my eye was their use of the term Bollywood. I am a little disappointed that the paper chose to use the title Bollywood to talk about the involvement of Indian films stars from Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi film industry. They mentioned Nandita Morarji and Vijayshanit and did correctly identify them as belonging to the South Indian film industry, but then why have the title Bollywood in the article? Bollywood is a term that is generally applied to the commercial Hindi cinema produced in Mumbai. Bollywood does not automatically mean all Indian cinema. I am not being picky, but I think it is important that we don’t use the term Bollywood and the Indian film industry interchangably.  

 Once you get past the definition of the term Bollywood, the article provides a succinct summary of various film actors that are either running or contesting for the elections from a Bombay/Delhi perspective. Interestingly, the article does not talk about Sanjay Dutt, who is trying to contest from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh as a Samajwadi Party candidate. But, Dutt has run into problems and needs to get clearance from the Supreme Court in order to run for elections. Dutt, who is on bail  in connection with the 1993 blast,will know on March 30th when the Supreme Court pronounces its verdict. In the meantime, the Congress Party has announced that it does not plan to field any candidate from Lucknow if Dutt runs for elections.More than Bollywood, it is the film stars in the South, who have been deeply involved in the politics of their states. To be continued….

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In India it is not so much the the political parties, but tech-savvy (mostly young)  people that are harnessing the Internet to appeal to young Indians to vote. There are non-partisan organizations like  VoteIndia and  Jaagore, who are using  tools like YouTube, and Twitter to reach out to 700 million people that will go to polls from mid-April through mid-May.

What is also interesting is that young Bollywood filmmakers and actors are pitching in to do their bit to get people to vote.  In this video clip Abhishek Bachchan urges the young voters to go out and vote and points out only 16 percent actually vote.

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Delhi 6 is an interesting movie that unfolds in a slow and unhurried pace and is set against a complex background and backdrop. The movie unfolds almost like a play. A lot of time is spent in weaving that backdrop and background and I suspect that might not appeal to the audience especially for those who might be looking for a fast paced movie. The movie captures the fears, aspirations and needs of normal, everyday Indians as Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra described in his interview that I did for NDTV.com. (more…)

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In this exclusive interview Danny talks about the making of Slumdog Millionaire in Mumbai, whether this is an Indian or a British film or a hybrid film and  about the future of the young kids that acted in the film. I also asked Danny if he has any plans to make a Bollywood film. Danny appears to be clearly smitten by Mumbai and all the while when he was shooting for Slumdog he had this constant thought that Mumbai would be a great city to shoot a thriller.

Slumdog Millionaire has won 10 Oscar nominations and has won a string of prestigious awards including 4 Golden Globes.

Tune in to find out what Danny has to say about Slumdog Millionaire, Loveleen Tandan, Tessa Ross,  Mumbai, AR Rahman, Aamir Khan and Bollywood.

And as always thank you so much for your support, encouragement and feedback.

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Should you see Slumdog Millionaire or not? Well, that is up to you. All I can say is that this is a good movie  just like Govind Nihalani’s Ardh Satya or Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya. (more…)

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Hollywood movie makers wants a share of the Indian film industry. Warner Bros appears to have gone all out in marketing their first Bollywood commercial film: Chandni Chowk to China or CC2C as the film is called in India. The film opens in the USA today and stars Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Roger Yuan and Gordon Liu and is directed by Nikhil Advani.

There are a lot of firsts in Chandni Chowk to China: first film backed and distributed by Warner Bros, first Bollywood film shot in China, first film starring well-known Chinese actors and first kung-fu inspired Bollywood film. I believe this is also the first time that a Bollywood film is releasing across 50 cities in the USA. Here is another first: the number of reviews in American media for a Bollywood film. I have never come across so many reviews for a Bollywood film like I did for Chandni Chowk to China. A by-product of all this coverage means that Akshay Kumar dubbed as India’s Jackie Chan  has got his fair bit of coverage including a profile in the venerable The New York Times. The paper describes Akshay as India’s superstar Everyman. (more…)

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British director Danny Boyle won the award for directing this independent film, film composer AR Rahman won the award for best musical score and Simon Beoufy won for the best screenplay based on Vikas Swarup’s novel Q&A. (more…)

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AR Rahman won the People’s Critics Award for best music composer for director Danny Boyle’s  Slumdog Millionaire in early January 2009. It is unsurprising that AR Rahman won the award giving the dynamic composition of the musical track for the film, which plays a pivot role in the film almost like it does in Bollywood films. In particular, O Saya sung by AR Rahman and MIA has won rave reviews from critics, moviegoers and music lovers. O Saya is a dynamic musical collage and the track brilliantly captured the essence of India at different levels.

Slumdog Millionaire, an independent film that come from the left field has become an instant hit and has turned out to be a hot favorite. The film is expected to win a clutch of awards at the Golden Globe Award on January 11, 2009.  By the way Shah Rukh Khan is presenting at the ceremony this year. The Golden Globe Award is generally regarded as the dress rehearsal for the big one: The Oscars. While competition is stiff this year there is a strong and persistent buzz that Slumdog Millionaire has a strong chance of walking away with a couple of  awards both at the Golden Globe and the Oscars.  (more…)

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The irony of the meaning of Satyam has been highlighted by many media reports. Satyam is derived from the Sanskrit word for truth and honesty.  The company turned 21 years old recently.

Satyam  is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Euronext. Earlier today NYSE  stopped trading Satyam’s stocks. There are reports that Satyam maybe removed from the Indian stock exchange. (more…)

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Thanks for all your support and feedback.

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Mumbai (Bombay) the financial and financial attack of India came under a series of coordinated terrorist attacks that started in South Mumbai or “town” as denizens of the city call their downtown. CNN has labeled these attacks as de-centralized, well coordinated and synchronized. This was a low-level terrorist attack that used grenades and handguns. As CNN reports this is not a suicide attack, but one that was focused on taking hostages.

The attacks started late on the evening of November 26^th 2008 and has continued on for nearly 2 days now. Mumbai is under siege.  The attacks clearly targeted Mumbai’s well-known landmarks like The Taj Hotel, Oberoi and  Leopold’s Cafe. The attacks appear to have originated in Nariman Point/Colaba area, which is where all these hotels are located and then gone up to the busy intersection where Victoria Train Station or VT as it was previously known, is located.  This is one of the busiest intersections in Mumbai and also home to Mumbai’s Municipal office and the police headquarters. And if you trace the route northwards there appears to be no attack in the Crawford and Muhammad Ali Road area, but if you go further north to Bandra/Juhu/Santa Cruz area there were attacks at the JW Marriott Hotel in Juhu. The hotel  is a popular watering hole for folks from India’s entertainment center esp. Bollywood.

Mumbai is home to about 17 million people and is one of the largest cities in India.

Here is a list of places where you can get updates and help if you are trying to reach people in Mumbai or India. Lots of very good resources in real time.

Get breaking news on Mumbai blasts from TweetGrid and BreakingNewz

Wikipedia page on Mumbai Blasts 2008.

Arzan Wadia  et al. have got a constant stream of updates on Metblogs Mumbai.

DesiPundit is aggregating stories about Mumbai blasts.

  (more…)

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Well, it turns out that in Bangalore if you work for any of the big IT companies like Infosys, Wipro, TCS,  or MindTree (there are quite a few of them) they  are labelled as “bus companies.” And, that is precisely what this young software engineer from Bangalore was referring to. (more…)

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