First released theatrically on March 16, 2001, American Desi emerged as a groundbreaking independent film created by the community, for the community. The anniversary screening served as both a retrospective and a forward-looking industry moment, bringing together creatives and collaborators who continue to influence the evolving South Asian media landscape.

Notable attendees reuniting included Piyush Dinker Pandya (writer/director/producer), Gitesh Pandya (producer), and Deep Katdare (actor, producer), along with cast members Kal Penn, Rizwan Manji, Purva Bedi, Sunita Param, Sanjit De Silva, Ronobir Lahiri and Alaudin Ullah also in attendance. Their participation highlighted the film’s continued relevance and its influence across film, television, and digital media. The post-screening talkback saw the American Desi team reminisce on the production of the film and discuss its impact in the years since.

This year’s celebration was made possible through the generous support of Zoya Ayan from Walmart Create Sparks, powered by Culture House, along with South Asian House, Epicenter, South Asians in Entertainment and Kalakars. Their partnership underscored a shared commitment to amplifying diverse voices and fostering cross-industry collaboration.

The event’s digital coverage was led by the social media team of Jaanan Mirza Pandya, Maiya Mirza Pandya, and Juhi Pandya, the NextGen American Desis. Following the screening, invited guests attended a private afterparty at MadamJi, presented with media partners AVS TV and DissDash. 

The 25th anniversary reunion of American Desi reaffirmed the film’s enduring legacy as an independent project that helped pave the way for South Asian storytelling in mainstream entertainment, a reminder that the film’s original mission, built by the community for the community, continues to resonate across generations.

Celebs shower love on the couple

The announcement soon went viral, drawing heartfelt reactions from across the industry. Celebrities like Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Kiara Advani, Ananya Panday were amongst the first to send their wishes for the couple. Samantha Ruth Prabhu also joined in with warm wishes for the growing family. The comment section soon transformed into a celebration filled with love, emojis, and affectionate messages.

Bollywood joins the celebration

As the news spread, more wishes poured in from across Bollywood. Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra, and Neil Nitin Mukesh were among those who shared their excitement. Messages ranged from heartfelt notes to strings of celebratory emojis, reflecting genuine happiness for the couple.

Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh’s growing family

Padukone and Singh first stepped into parenthood on September 8, 2024, when they welcomed their daughter, Dua. Married in 2018 in Italy, they later revealed her name during Diwali, sharing that “Dua,” meaning prayer, held deep emotional significance. Now, with a second child on the way, they are preparing to embrace another beautiful chapter in their family life.

Padukone-Singh’s work front

Deepika Padukone has King alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Suhana Khan. In addition, she is part of Raaka, featuring Allu Arjun and directed by Atlee. Ranveer Singh is enjoying a remarkable phase with the success of Dhurandhar: The Revenge. Next, he is set to appear in Pralay, directed by Jay Mehta.

By stripping away the excess and transplanting the Danish royal court into the heart of a wealthy British South Asian family in contemporary London, this Hamlet transforms from a sweeping epic into a breathless, culturally vibrant psychological thriller.

The Storyline: A Lean, Mean Revenge Thriller

Screenwriter Michael Lesslie makes the controversial but ultimately brilliant choice to carve away much of the play’s periphery. You won’t find Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, or even Horatio here. Instead, the narrative zeroes in with laser focus on Hamlet’s deeply personal spiral into grief and depression.

The story opens with a haunting Hindu funeral, complete with the Gayatri Mantra and cremation imagery—instantly grounding the film in its unique cultural setting. The “kingdom” is now a powerful family business, Elsinore Construction, rocked by the sudden death of its patriarch. When Hamlet returns to London, he is blindsided by the lavish, glittering wedding of his mother, Gertrude, to his calculating uncle, Claudius. The ensuing narrative trades castle ramparts for neon-streaked London streets, blingy nightclubs, and high-rise construction cranes, making the Prince’s descent into madness feel urgently, dangerously modern.

Riz Ahmed’s Towering Performance

To put it simply, Riz Ahmed is magnificent. In a role that demands everything, he leaves it all on the screen.

Ahmed approaches the Prince of Denmark not as a theatrical caricature feigning madness, but as an intensely wounded, traumatized man fundamentally broken by grief. When he delivers the iconic soliloquies, he does so with a raw, hushed desperation that forces the audience to lean in. We see his unravelling in real-time whether he is navigating a drug-fueled haze in an East London club or confronting the ghost of his father. He commands the screen entirely, injecting the film with a kinetic, unpredictable energy that makes the centuries-old dialogue feel like it was written yesterday.

The Supporting Cast

While the film is undeniably “The Riz Ahmed Show,” the supporting cast anchors his volatile performance with superb, lived-in authenticity:

• Sheeba Chaddha (Gertrude): Chaddha delivers a quietly powerful performance as Hamlet’s mother, capturing the complex, uneasy guilt of a woman trying to hold her fracturing family together.
• Art Malik (Claudius): Malik is a menacing presence. He plays the usurping uncle not with mustache-twirling villainy, but with the cold, calculated pragmatism of a ruthless modern CEO.
• Avijit Dutt (The Ghost): In a masterful stroke of cultural integration, the ghost of Hamlet’s father speaks to him from the shadows in subtitled Hindi, adding an eerie, deeply personal layer to the haunting.
• Morfydd Clark (Ophelia) & Joe Alwyn (Laertes): While their roles are slightly pared back to make room for Hamlet’s overwhelming POV, Clark and Alwyn deliver compelling, subdued performances that highlight the collateral damage of the central family’s toxic power struggle.
• Timothy Spall (Polonius): Spall brings a dark, enforcer-like edge to the role of the traditionally verbose advisor.

The Verdict

Karia and Ahmed who previously collaborated on the Oscar-winning short The Long Goodbye have crafted a Hamlet that is more interested in the visceral reality of human emotion than in preserving theatrical traditions. Cinematographer Stuart Bentley captures the tension beautifully with handheld, gritty camerawork, while the use of traditional South Asian elements (like a show-stopping play-within-a-play choreographed by Akram Khan) ensures the film has an identity entirely its own.

It is a powerful, burningly emotional film that proves Shakespeare’s masterwork is boundless. If you are looking for a traditional, four-hour Elizabethan stage play, look elsewhere. But if you want to see a mesmerizing, unapologetic actor rip the beating heart out of a classic, Riz Ahmed’s Hamlet is a must-watch.

Watch Riz Ahmed’s new video here:

Palestine ’36 is now playing in select cities and opens in more cities across US and Canada on April 3rd.

The poster and trailer have premiered for acclaimed Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir’s latest film PALESTINE ’36 which was shortlisted for this year’s Oscars in the Best International Film category. Watermelon Pictures will release the film in theaters starting March 20. Special advance preview screenings have been announced and will be held in New York City at the Angelika Film Center beginning March 17 featuring Q&As with Jacir.

Selected as Palestine’s Official Submission to the 98th Academy Awards and an Official Selection for the Toronto International Film Festival and BFI London Film Festival, PALESTINE ‘36 is a sweeping historical drama set during a pivotal moment in Palestinian history. 

Set in 1936, as the British Empire tightens its colonial grip on Palestine, the film follows Yusuf, a man torn between his village home and his work in Jerusalem. Against the backdrop of the 1936 Palestinian Revolt, British colonial rule, and the arrival of Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Europe, the lives of Palestinians, British authorities, and newcomers collide in a moment that will shape the region’s future.

Watch the trailer here:

Riz Ahmed boldly presents Shakespeare as it has never been seen before with his newest film HAMLET opening in cinemas on April 10. After playing at the prestigious Toronto, London, and Telluride film festivals, the critically acclaimed film reunites the Academy Award-winning team of Riz Ahmed and director Aneil Karia.

Shakespeare’s most enduring tragedy is reimagined in a bold, modern adaptation set within London’s elite South Asian community. When Hamlet (Riz Ahmed) returns for his father’s funeral, he is stunned to discover his uncle Claudius is marrying his newly widowed mother. Visited by his father’s ghost, Hamlet learns his brutal murder was at the hands of Claudius – and spirals into a quest for vengeance that exposes the rot at the heart of the family’s empire and threatens his own sanity.

Watch the intense new trailer for HAMLET here:

Hadi goes behind the scenes of the production in these new interview videos.

Hasan Hadi interview “Through Young Eyes”:

Hasan Hadi interview “The Perfect Recipe”:

After working in the Hindi film industry for many years, Priyanka Chopra moved abroad and took on English-language projects. Opening up about how the plan was to seek more chances that would break away from the limited possibilities being presented to her in Bollywood and how she felt being ‘pushed’ into doing so, the actress shared to Firstpost how the journey has been. She said, “I don’t think I ever wanted to leave Bollywood. I felt limited for many reasons when I was working in Hindi films. I was being pushed into… I was looking for opportunities that felt exciting to me as an artist and I landed up working in America.” 

The shift has not been easy as the actress juggles between India and Los Angeles, shooting for a SS Rajamouli project while promoting her latest work, The Bluff. However, the 43-year-old is finding momentum in having the choice and loves to be back to her country at the same time. “I am really excited to be doing Varanasi in India again. I would hate to have to choose between the two. I straddle both the worlds and I enjoy working in both the industries. They are both different in many ways just as cultures,” she added.

The actress moved to the West over a decade ago and started off her career there with projects like Quantico, and has continued to maintain double bases in India and the US. Following her marriage to Nick Jonas, the couple has welcomed daughter Malti Marie, whom they’re raising together in California.

Giving the example of his film Kaabil, which clashed with Raees, he believes both would have been better off without the clash and has attributed it to the financial status of the country. He said, “Our people don’t have money flowing that they can just go and watch two films back-to-back. There are many people who can’t watch two films in one month. It’s unnecessary, but again, the makers probably have their reasons.” And while he himself would be turning up for both projects, that seems less likely for the masses, according to him.

He predicted that both films would be able to perform; however, achieving their maximum potential is where he sees the problem, “Both films will do well, but neither will accomplish their individual capacity. So, it’s unfortunate.”

He lavished praise on the Aditya Dhar directorial and hinted at the future of Ranveer Singh’s character. He shared, “I have a vague idea of where the story is going to go and all of that. We’re going to have Hamza’s backstory, why he became who he is, and all of that. See, Dhurandhar is a phenomenon.” Meanwhile, Toxic has gained many eyeballs due to its star cast, including Yash, Nayanthara, Kiara Advani, Tara Sutaria, and more.