Art & Culture
Sepia Mutiny
In a world where bloggers are increasingly becoming the special du jour, the smart and mischevious South Asian uber-blog Sepia Mutiny has won a following of thousands of desi readers with its incisive and pithy commentary bites on politics, entertainment, sports, and everything else you can possibly imagine.
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Art & Culture
MTV Desi
MTV Desi launched with the kind of explosive charm that is so MTV, so New York, and so deliciously desi: an enormous screen in Times Square flashed images of music videos from top South Asians artists. EGO discusses what MTV Desi means for desis with Nusrat Durrani, the darkly charming creator of it all.
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Bollywood
Paheli
If Amol Palekar’s Paheli is your first acquaintance with the tale of a woman who fell in love with a ghost, you might be kinder towards it than me. The Rajasthan Palekar creates is vibrant and lush. With a tighter control over the script and fistfuls of otherworldliness, Paheli could have been far more than just a simple, lovable film.
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Queer
My Brother Nikhil
My Brother Nikhil, filmmaker Onir’s directorial debut, is a simple yet groundbreaking movie. Its main character, Nikhil (Sanjay Suri), is a gay man diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. The movie neither ridicules nor vilifies Nikhil’s sexuality, and it does not completely define Nikhil by his sexuality or his HIV+ status.
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Economy & Politics
Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy
Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy has become somewhat of a celebrity in Pakistani circles: at twenty-six, she has made documentaries on the rise of religious fundamentalism in the northern regions of Pakistan, how Pakistanis viewed the U.S. Presidential race, and on the everyday life of Saudi women.
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Reviews & Previews
Merger
In writing Merger, investment banker-turned-author Sanjay Sanghoee has taken a large step outside the realms of typical South Asian diasporic literature. Merger, a suspense novel that takes place in New York, surrounds the villainous but extremely charming money-mongerer, Vikram Suri.
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Bollywood
The Music of Dus
Typically after listening to a soundtrack for a week, I find I am a bit tired of the songs. Not true with Dus. All of the tracks have a haunting, shadowy feel that translates as eerie, dark, or sexy, depending on the song, faithful to the emotional landscape which director Anubhav Sinha has worked so hard to create.
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Inner Sanctum
The Secret of the Female Orgasm
In contrast to the male orgasm which has a very clear biological purpose – to impregnate – it seems that people have not been able to find a clear biological purpose for the female orgasm. When you ask this simple question at a cocktail party, you will find out that almost no one knows the answer.
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Economy & Politics
Can Mukhtar Mai Obtain Justice?
The Mukhtar Mai case is a glaring example of the ingrained cultural and social bias against women’s rights in Pakistan. What separates this case from the hundreds of others is that Mukhtar Mai, an uneducated and illiterate woman, has chosen not to suffer in silence, emerging as the Rosa Parks of Pakistan.
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Fashion & Beauty
Bikinis Fit For A Princess
Half-Indian, half-British swimwear designer Tara Matthews has taken the fashion world by storm. In just one season, her beautiful bikinis in pomegranate red, peacock blue and emerald green sequenced with eclectic Indian embroidery, have given new meaning to the phrase, “luxury and couture swimwear.”
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