As I delve deeper into the "Cultural Analysis" of India, I begin to fear that we (In-Resident-Indians) are being propelled into looking at our culture as an expat-NRI-immigrant would.

Indian literature is largely dominated by immigrant Indian writers in English - Amitav Ghosh, Jumpha Lahiri, Rohinton Mistry, Shashi Tharoor, Vikram Seth, Naipaul etc. The marketability of these books in Indian are enormous, they are Indian writers isn't it?

I appreciate these writers for building up stories around India.Alas! Their stories are all too ethnic to a point of being termed backward in the modern context.Even diasporic films are dominated by these stories.


Bollywood films, the largest Indian cultural icon is now catering to suit NRI audiences, so Indian Directors are beginning to say stories that the NRI's want to hear - the story between trendy and traditional.

With cross over films like "Bend it like Beckham" and "Bride and Prejudice" directed by diasporic film makers becoming box office hits,it is the same story of portraying India as a land of the exotic and ethnic, therefore an amusing diversion, but not providing an authentic version of contemporary India.


So the culture version of "India" is now being largely defined by diasporic intellectuals. Where do the resident Indians figure?

I would love to hear views.

PTI reports:

DURBAN: Jawaharlal Nehru was on Tuesday conferred with the highest South African honour for foreign nationals in recognition of his struggle against colonialism and racism. The South African President, Thabo Mbeki, presented the award — the Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo — to member of Parliament, Rahul Gandhi. — PTI

This award goes to show how South Africa is till battling with racism and colonialism, how these are still issues which are relevant long after the new world order was established. Just after Nelson Mandela fought hard to abolish apartheid.I realize these issues have now become national heritage for former colonies.

My meeting and reading of the South African Indians, is that they face a very tricky situation of being BROWN. So they would like to identify with the Whites, while protest with the Blacks.

South Africa was home to Gandhiji, where he was the the educated lawyer, dressed as an English man. But getting thrown out of a train compartment reserved for only whites, he realized he was Indian. The rest as they say is "Indian Independence".

Away from the homeland, in lands where people look and live differently, we look back at our native hometowns to figure where we come from, why we are the people who we are. In the process one hangs onto that home-identity tightly and this carries on for generations.

NRI-made film in Houston festival - Dancing in the Twilight & Vishwa Tulasi

Houston celebrates ‘Incredible India’

A movie called "A Return from India", is also being featured at the festival.

Are these films cultural amusements alone?

PUKAR

cordially invites you to a talk

by

Dr Raminder Kaur


on

Cruising on the Vilayeti Bandwagon: Diasporic Representations and Reception of Popular Indian Movies

Date: Tuesday, 26th April 2005

Time: 6:30 p.m.


Venue: Max Mueller Bhavan
Next to Jehangir Art Gallery
Kala Ghoda
Mumbai


Since the 1990s, the UK has become the site of maximum profits for popular Indian films, particularly amongst its South Asian diaspora. This paper critically examines the debates about the representation of diasporic subjects in films as well as the reception of two blockbuster movies in London: Dilwale Dulhane Le Jayenge and Dil Se. It argues that box office successes and ratings cannot simply be translated into a discourse about the prevalence of 'NRI nostalgia' for India. It also highlights a new global hegemony which has been created by the capital and distributive networks surrounding Indian cinema, which in the end amounts to authorative statements about what it means to be a 'proper Indian', regardless of other particular histories and cultural productions.


Dr Raminder Kaur is Lecturer in Anthropology and Cultural Studies at the University of Sussex, UK. She is the author of Performative Politics and the Cultures of Hinduism (Permanent Black, 2003), co-editor of Travel Worlds Journeys in Contemporary Cultural Politics (Zed Books, 1999), co-author of Diaspora and Hybridity (Sage 2005), and co-editor of Bollyworld: Popular Indian Cinema through a Transnational Lens (Sage, 2005).


The talk is open to all.

See you there!



Warm regards,

The PUKAR team

PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research)
Mumbai

Address:: 1-4, 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Sir P. M. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001
Telephone:: +91 (022) 5574 8152 / +91 (0) 98204 04010
Email:: pukar@pukar.org.in
Website:: www.pukar.org.in

When I read about this film festival , I became sad and guilty. It is a long story.

As a child, I wanted to be the doctor, engineer, teacher, scientist not forgetting the catholic option - becoming a nun. These were the only careers, I knew of, having the very predictable Hyderabadi's girl life.

I wanted to join FTII, after I flunked my class 12 exams. I knew I would go to college study, do my BA and finally learn to make documentaries there. My Dad who supported me in every endeavor, thought I was asking too much of the family to support this idea and finally I gave up. Making documentaries was not safe. I then went to the University of Hyderbad for my Masters where I studied documentary making along with other mass communication theories. And by that time I was afraid of being next to the camera, because I wanted to use it to say stories, most people won't want to see, in the process how poor I would become. Isn't it a film makers nightmare to think nobody will ever watch their movie and s/he will live on the streets.

I am still afraid, but I'm working on my fears, I am working on a Ph.D which involves "Films" and "Documentaries" on the Indian diaspora. They offer much scope for research as they address various issues we face within a global context: Identity, Race relations, Transnational Communities, Cultural Politics, and Multiculturalism. The larger goal of my Ph.d is a personal endeavor to understand my own suburban Indian identity in the context of a modern India.

I am hoping to be inspired by all the films and documetaries that I see and create, a few stories on digital-tape. If nobody watches, it should still be fine.

I nearly slipped of the chair when I saw the new Coca Cola ad featuring Aamir Khan as a NRI in an arranged marriage coup.

There is a bit of the drag queen and double role masala as well, Aamir is the NRI and also the the ever vigilant, sharp and knowing it all - Bhabhi of the family. She serves Coke and no big guesses makes the NRI turn a pyaarasa (loving) Indian home boy.

Another Ahmedabad based cool drink company Rasna with global plans, has thespian Paresh Rawal, once again as an NRI suited and booted fails to recognize his poor country bumpkin cousins at the airport, holds on to his blonde girlfriend and acts the typical up-started Gujrati-Patel NRI returning home.But one glass of Nimbu Pani (lime Juice) he turns into a Gujju style Bhai with his Kurta and Pyjama, at the feet of his old grandmother.


Even products now recognize that middle-class India suffers from two cultures - the Non Resident Indian culture and the In-Resident Indian Culture.

The NRI is supposed to be hip-hop styled overly done dude coming to India, awkward in the presence of the ever prying Indian family. But salvation comes in the form of home coke and nimbu paani.

Once more they realize how comfortable it is to feel at home, in India. Coca Cola has colonised the world, even the shifting transnational diaspora so much that it is a part of every home, from Atlanta to Ahmedabad every one has coca cola. Talk about changing with the global times.

If commercials are partaking in wooing diasporas- the new-rich uncatered to audience, it shows how brands travel between various countries adapting to local cultures and appealing to citizens. Moreover what is most noteworthy is how "Coca Cola" and now "Rasna" has imaged itself as a "cultural commodity" , so even when one shifts from one culture to another, coca cola anchors and roots them right there.

PS: Take a look at the Indian Site of Coca Cola and you realize how the site is mean to appeal to the accusations recently made on them by the Centre of Science and Environment.

Thanks to Santosh Daniel for pointing me to this very interesting reality-film 4 weeks in Bombay.

Here is Santosh's report of the film project on hollywoodmasala.

After reading through the report, I am kind of intrigued at the numerous ways in which South Asian Americans will find ways to seek their identity. They will send an an average white-American guy to Bombay for four weeks with 20 dollars. Bombay, now Mumbai, the diaspora still like to use the word Bombay, not Mumbai. This diaspora likes to acknowledge titles only of the good ole' India. Part of the first-generation legacy.

The concept is very simple. We have hired a typical/average American - Phil Mikal - and he has to survive in Bombay for 4 weeks. And, you can watch snippets of his daily struggles.

The South Asian American film makers have already assumed that the guy is going to struggle in India. With just 20$ for 4 weeks, your going to be struggling in any large city anywhere in the world! So this reality documentary has bitten of into its imagined reality of India. Big Mistake. How about not working with assumptions of struggle?

Will he get a job, will he sleep on the streets, will someone steal his money and passport, or will he simply give up? Each day, this displaced American will face a new challenge! Essentially, an ordinary person with minimal disadvantages will be placed into an extraordinary situation.

The displaced American as we read is going to face a new challenge each day, the challenges assumed are - a stolen passport, sleeping on the street. He could very well have done that in the ghettos of New York City, why come all the way to Mumbai.

An ordinary white guy living on the streets of a big Indian city, with only 20$ is not an extraordinary situation, it is a highly unlikely situation. Trying to make it real for 4 weeks is akin to what the hippies did way back in the 70's.

It is all but natural that the South Asian Diaspora in the USA, particularly the gen-x desis have a very Americanized world view, nothing wrong with that. But from my observations the American academia and other intellectual/political lobbies have always compartmentalized its citizens along ethnic, racial, economic, political and social lines. This has given rise to stereotypes. And India is stereotyped as a land of struggle and petty passport rogues. Very objectionable!

The project puts an American dude on the streets of Mumbai and inferences will be drawn on the reality of India from the video clips. I am afraid life on the streets of Mumbai is going to be seen as the average "Indian" life. This is called seeing what you want to see.

I doubt I am going to watch this reality show, because it is hardly real for anyone except for Phil.

All the best, hope India receives him with open arms and the journey is without struggle.

Last evening I spent time with a dear friend, just arrived from the USA and talking to him brought a very basic question back to my mind. Why should I research "Diaspora" films? I've written a Ph.D proposal but somehow my mind is usurped into feeling that there are more reasons to study diaspora films than not. I will post on this another day after deep thought over the weekend!


Here is the concluding part of my email dialogue with Santhosh Daniel


Cecilia: Have the first generation Indian cultural dilemmas been captured on film. I find that movie directors are mainly from the second generation so they showcase more the second generation problems?

Santhosh: Good point... The second generation does dominate film and I think that if any questions of dichotomies are to be answered, the first generation has to
be addressed...first.I think most people disagree with me on this, as they believe that the second generation experience differs greatly from the first generation, but how I'd love to see a movie in which the Indian parent and the Indian-American child actually find a meeting point. Of course, that would be an idealized version of the world, but then, I also believe that seeing some reconciliation between the two generations [that have created the identity crisis] on film would at least hint that such things are not impossible and indeed necessary.

I remember Nagesh Kukunoor, visiting the University of Hyderabad in 1998 and asking us then students to work as assistant producers on his movie called "Hyderabad Blues". At that time, being at University, I dreaded toiling away with cameras and most of all I hated retakes. The whole class washed their hands of a good opportunity in retrospect.

I just watched Hyderabad Blues over the weekend and all I thought was, if I knew I would be analyzing this movie for my Ph.D , would I have worked on this film?

It was a different experience to watch an immigrant return to his home country to question its traditions, but then accept it with sincere affection. The successful negotiation of how we accept what Mom and Pop said/say and did/do.

From what I see, I think an immigrant coming home or an immigrant leaving home have a hard time placing themselves in a singular culture. Completely understandable. But in this multicultural world I think not only immigrants but other citizens are going to question their traditions and cultures. There is going to be a new wave of culturalism that is taking on the world slowly. A culturalism where every thing is questioned but accepted with affection and pride.

Don’t tell me I was not warned about doing a part-time Ph.D while working full time, I was warned adequately, “it is really difficult doing a Ph.D while working full time”. I accepted the warnings as one would accept “terms and conditions” while signing up for a free email account.

It is really difficult to wean my mind away from reading an interesting film study paper to researching on rainwater harvesting which is a part of my job that gives me my salary. My mind is constantly in dialogue with itself on what chapters must be included in my thesis and then I rudely interrupt my mind to look at things to be done on my work desk. Which is more important? Both.

My home folks are used to me being a working woman, who by duty must socialize with them in the evenings. To ask them in the gentlest of tones to turn down the volume of the television to help me concentrate on my self-inflicted study makes me feel guilty. After all they have spent my school and college years keeping their voices low.

Then comes bed time, when I resolve to do substantial readings before I lay my head to rest. Two pages of academic jargon-filled film theory and I pass into deep slumber. After all, I have spent the whole day working at my full-time day job and being dutiful to my part-time Ph.D.

Being a part-time researcher means you don’t have the luxury of talking to your guide about various details that you would want his or her opinion on. Your full time doctoral colleagues aren’t present to be sounding boards. All light-bulb moments will have to be shared at the next scheduled meeting. You can’t get eclectic with your readings, the library is not a haven of knowledge, you mean business when you enter the library, you pick up titles most relevant and go home to attend to other earthly duties. Entertainment will always be shrouded with anxiety over ‘wasted time’.

When preparing for the Ph.D entrance, Puneet a friend at that time would allow me to use his room to study in peace and quiet. He and I are now married, an army officer posted in Kargil, we discuss my research excitedly over telephone. After the call, I realize I must hasten in completing my Ph.D, before I join him at his next posting. I am enrolled at the University of Hyderabad, where I live, so meeting with my guide and accessing other university resources is relatively easier. From another town, this would be a strain on time and financial resources.

I wonder at my motivations for pursuing a part-time Ph.D., I am not an academician so the degree isn’t going to ensure a promotion or a salary hike. Most research grants are not for part-timers. So I pay my fee every semester. I have to work full time because after 6 years in the professional work force - I have a lifestyle to maintain and a home loan to repay. Don’t forget I buy a whole lot of books online!

So is this a labor of love, is it trying to find a place in the annals of some obscure academic journal, is it trying to prove that I can do two things at the same time, is it a chance to satisfy my intellectual curiosity?

On introspection, it is all of these but the overriding reason will always be my respect and regard for higher scholarship.

Tips for part-time Ph.D students:

1.Do your full time job to the best of your abilities, this is self-encouragement to pursue your part-time study.
2.Explain to your family the need for space and time for study, be willing to rise early or go late to bed.
3.Choose a research theme that you’re passionate about.
4.Don’t feel torn or guilty to spend time with friends and family. Make up for the lost day on a weekend or a holiday.
5.Make appointments with your guide periodically, it will help keep the focus.
6.Use email and telephone to keep connected with your guide.
7.Send updates or notes just so that he/she knows you’re at it.
8.Publish papers in smaller academic journals, this will give you the necessary preparation for publishing in international journals.
9.If there is a grant apply for it, it might give you the chance to do your Ph.D full time.
10.Learn to save time, by using a computer to make notes, creating agendas when meeting with resource people etc.
11.Create a research proposal that is not going to get you into the field often, if the topic warrants field activity keeps it close to where you live.

Cecilia: Is the community coming to terms with its issues and dichotomies of culture through film.

Santhosh: Well, I think the U.K. is doing a better job of it, I think perhaps the British South Asian community is taking more time to understand its issues than the U.S. community and when I say this, I suppose I'm thinking of everyone from Hanif Quereshi to Gurinder Chadha et al.

Thus far, it seems that in the U.S., South Asians are obsessed with either talking about the clash of cultures or spoofing the culture, but not so much interested in showing how that have developed a true culture that is worth taking seriously. That said, the U.K. has a much longer history with South Asia and, in general, a much longer history than the U.S. and so, it makes relative sense that British South Asians are more deliberate that in how they consider their culture...

But, to answer your question, do I think the communities are coming to terms with their issues through film? As for the U.K., I can't say, but for the U.S., I'd give it a resounding "no" for the reason stated in the previous paragraph.

Cecilia: I was hoping if you could help me understand why is there such a spate of Indian Diaspora related films being made in the US and UK?

Santhosh: It's an interesting question and my answer comes in three parts:

a) I think that many South Asians in the U.S. and U.K. have a hard time fully understanding or rather, coming to terms with the fact that their presence in those countries was due to choice... In Africa, Malaysia, Fiji, etc., many of the South Asians arrived as laborers, some indentured,and most had no control over the decision. In the U.S. and U.K., however, people migrated over, established an interest in the culture and stayed (or vice-versa, especially in the case of the U.K.)

b) Understanding why someone makes a choice to move to the U.K. or the U.S.
is one of those things that can split the mind in two, three, more: Why choose to leave the homeland? Why choose another land? Am I choosing to be British or American? Am I choosing to just participate or completely assimilate into the culture? Do I choose this as my new culture? Did I choose at some point before emigrating to distance myself from my own culture? For each question, each person will create a different image of themselves to find an answer.

And then, the children of immigrants compound those questions by asking: Having had no choice in being here but given two choices of what to be, do I choose to be Indian or American/British?

Most don't have a good answer, most have a comfortable mid-point and just about everyone talks about having seen or "imaged" themselves as both Indian and American/British at some point in their lives. But everyone makes a choice, consciously or not and thus, when it comes to third- fourth- fifth- and so on-generations, how you answer that question depends on what subculture of choice you're in (i.e. politically Indian, culturally British; Indian-American, patriot through-and-through; Indian living in America; etc). Ultimately, however, there is always some level of discomfort with whatever choice has been made because it never entirely coexists with the image you have of yourself, what other people have of you, how India sees you...

c) In terms of understanding this image (or, self-image), film is a perfect medium. It allows for ambiguity (like photography), but it also allows for explanation (like literature). And that's necessary for the question of diaspora because there are no absolutes or governing rules to guide the investigation, it's a testing ground to stretch and play with the image, change or reinvent one's self to see how life "might have been" if certain choices hadn't been made. Moreover, it works because the entire diaspora is based on a maintained image of India, for whatever it means to each person,that lives in the mind. And deciding how to recreate, animate and ultimately, choose to let that image go is something that film--with it's textures, sounds and motion--can do, perhaps better than literature.

The Arabs get a slap in the face by Indian Pick up Trucks! The Arabs turn the other cheek.

I don't know how I missed this story - where Tony Blair praised India, for its sense of adventure. Would never have expected this from USA's George Bush! Then again British diplomacy charmed India into being a colony.

An interview with Murtaza Vali, a Ph.D student in Art History, Indian citizen, raised in the UAE and studying in the USA with some scholarly interest in Bollywood. This guy is my man!

In India, I still have to hear of University students taking "Bollywood dancing" as seriously as their Western counterparts. We take Bollywood for granted, and they
take Bollywood for culture.

JoSH has been ripping up the MTV World Chart Express with a popular mix of tracks inspired by bhangra (the folk music and dance from the Indian state of Punjab) and Urdu ballads with a North American sensibility.For more ...bhalle bhalle North American sensibility Ummm! ??????

I rock these bare feet like no one else can
My hands are dirty I like 'em that way
Shows Who I am - Nelly Furtardo



I really do find it distasteful to watch "Fresh of the Boat" (FOB) characters in diaspora movies. Their portrayal has crossed the line of fine and mature humor. Then again Indian diasproic films don't use humor, they hinge highly on romance and confusions. Think movies such as Green Card Fever, ABCD and Where's the Party Yaar. Looking at it from a social perspective, I find that each group - the FOB and the first-second-generation immigrants do have issues with each other, just being brown or ethnic Indian isn't a strong enough bond.


FOB's leave Indian shores to make a good living they bring with them a lot of petty mindedness or let me use the term meager-mentality, because life at home is not as convenient and as multi-cultural as it is in the USA.

For the ABCD's life is about balancing the Indian high-culture and not having that image get disturbed by the FOB's oily hair and rustic earthiness. Understandable because to be "respected" one has to be very cultured and behave in accordance with society.

Can they be an exchange or a dialogue between these groups - the old/middle-aged Indian Diaspora (1950's - 1970's) and the relatively new diaspora (1990's) I think this would give a clearer distinction to the term "Indian Culture". The old diaspora went abroad for a "better" life, ditto for the new FOB. I think this is the point that the community sadly forgets.This reflects in the movies.

The class system of Indian society, once more gets reflected in the diaspora the FOB's and the Uptown Desis.


I quote from the Hindu, an article on the Jewish community

More than 30,000 came from Ukraine during the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is this section, which was exceptionally of poor financial status, but swift community support is helping them shine.

We have a lot to learn from the Jewish Diaspora on how to treat FOB's. (this includes their characterization in movies)