Monthly Archives: November 2005

Sweaterhead confusion

Posted on by

In the post below, Manish introduces us to young actor Neil Patil. I went through the images he has posted on IMDb, and was dismayed to find the photo below of Patil with what looks like a sweater tied around his head.

Let’s deconstruct this image, shall we? Photos on IMDb are carefully selected for the consumption of casting agents. It is unlikely that this is simply a snapshot of Patil clowning around with his buddies that got accidentally posted; it is one of only five photos deliberately chosen for display.

Why would he want to show this to casting agents? I’m trying to be as sympathetic to his aims as possible, but the only thing I can think of is that he wants to show people both that he’s willing to wear any type of silly headgear and that he’s capable of looking debonair doing so.

I have a lot of sympathy for young desi actors. The American film industry is a hard one to break into, and he’s just starting out. Nor am I offended by the picture – he’s not claiming to be a Sikh or anything else. He’s just a guy with a sweater around his head.

I’m simply confused. As somebody who has been called “raghead” more times than I can count, I don’t understand why he would want to put this picture up. Black actors don’t put up minstrel photos in their IMDb profiles, why would Patil choose to portray himself in this way?

p.s. Also – what’s up with the whip?

Continue reading →

Come on, Naureen

Posted on by

In Wedding Crashers, actress Naureen Zaim plays the credulous babe on the other end of this exchange:

Hindu woman: French Foreign Legion?
John Beckwith: Yeah, we lost a lot of good men out there. [Link]

She soon falls into bed, bouncy and topless, with Owen Wilson. Like Yasmeen Ghauri and Rhona Mitra, she’s part desi, part white:

I am originally from Chicago. I am half Pakistani, and 1/4 Irish, and 1/4 German. [Link]

She has an advanced degree in glass blowing, like mine in home ec and underwater basket weaving:

I blew glass at University of Illinois, and actually received a degree in it. [Link]

After teaching the The Republic by Plato at an Ivy League university, she shoots a TV show: model boxing.

· · · · ·

Also from Wedding Crashers, actor Neil Patil’s resume shows Hollywood offers desis lots of ground-breaking, non-stereotypical roles without accents:

  • Terrorist
  • Cabbie
  • Limo driver
  • Valet
  • Indian wedding groom
  • Exchange student
  • Waiter

So here we’ve got Hollywood’s gender-specific treatment of desis neatly encapsulated in a single movie. Desi women are cast as random babes, men as servants and terrorists. It’s tribal: kill the men, fuck the women. About the only role I remember where the desi guy was neither mocked nor feared was Kal Penn’s in the little-seen A Lot Like Love.

Continue reading →

Are We Doing Enough?

Posted on by

I know we mutineers have been pushing Quake relief and donations for helping manage the response to the the various disasters that have struck around the world this year. It is just hard to imagine, that in a little over a month (December 26), it will be a year since the Indian Ocean tsunami, what seems like the first tragedy in a cycle of monstrous natural diasters hit. Hopefully the South Asian Quake will be the last we’ll see from mother nature for a LONG time.

What’s making me pontificate you ask? Well, my friend Roshan Loungani, founder of desivision (I did want to, at some point, properly blog this interesting on-line Desi television channel) pointed me to a short film (free subscription required) desivision is hosting by Rohit Gupta. The five-minute plus montage, accompanied by Nitin Sawhney’s classic Homelands, has some poignant images from the South Asian Earthquake and makes clear the need for continued international assistance.

Even if you don’t intend or cannot donate, please check out the video. Perhaps it will change your mind. Continue reading →

Am I becoming a prude?

Posted on by

Over the tip line we got word from runyolarun about an organization up in Toronto that is promoting itself with a new set of agency posters:

“The Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention is a community-based, non-profit, charitable organization committed to providing health promotion, support, education and advocacy in a non-discriminatory manner for those who identify as South Asian living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.”

ASAAP is a Toronto based AIDS service organization. It was founded in 1989 as a result of the voluntary efforts of members of Khush (a social group for South Asian gays and lesbians that has since closed down), in a community response to a request for support for a South Asian couple infected with HIV/AIDS who died in isolation, unable to access services in their own language. Our catchment area is greater Toronto and all the surrounding suburbs/towns. Our services include preventative education, support to South Asians infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS, outreach, and advocacy. Services are available in Tamil, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, and Bengali. You may need to call ahead to arrange assistance in South Asian languages.

Seems like they do great work. I realize that I am about to possibly get myself labeled as a prude with the following comments (which I assure you is not true), but I’m just not that into their new posters. In my opinion AIDS education has always been difficult because too many people continue to associate AIDS with homosexuality or otherwise “deviant” behavior. In truth, as we all know, AIDS can affect anyone, and an important part in trying to educate people about the disease should be to reach out to populations who think they are above risk. With that in mind I feel like these posters are a bit too racy. I can’t help but feel that many people will think, “Oh, I’m not like the people in those posters (even the one of the straight couple). This doesn’t concern me.” To be specific, the first poster, which seems to be that of an orgy, has several buzz words on it which include “Slip n’ Slide,” and the poster of the Lesbian couple includes the single word, “fist.” Are orgies popular in South Asian communities in Canada (if so I am leaving Jesusland tomorrow)? Also was it necessary to use a clichéd Come/Cum pun on the poster of the straight couple? Am I just