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Harry Potter will be start his role in the London Production of Equus. Check out what the magic cape has been hiding all these years..
Speaking of magic, Kevin%20Federline">watch Kevin Federline working as a fry cook in Nationwide Humiliation..err Insurance's Superbowl Ad. Despite his turnaround, K-fed can't seem to catch a break with the National Restaurant Association steamed
J.Lo's dad was a scientologist..let the couch jumping begin
Along with being 100,000 pounds richer, Shilpa Shetty's Big Brother win has catapulted her into the international spotlight. with reports of movie offers pouring in. Jane Goody on the other hand has been on the receiving end of death threats and negative press.
Relive the drama below:
Kevin Federline can't seem to please anyone. A week before his Nationwide Insurance commercial debut, fast food workers are unflattered by his negative portaryal of them in the spot. According to Page Six, his stint is "demeaning and unpleasant" to restaurant workers everywhere
Check out part of Kevin's Superbowl ad below:
Earlier this week I mentioned that Ash was at Sundance as part of a panel of speakers. The panel was on monday 1/22, where Ash talked up DY in a presentation titled "Community Voice and Social Networking". We'll be posting that footage up shortly, but in the meantime you can check out some fun party... sorry "networking" pictures..
In Ash's words:
Party like a rockstar was definitely the mantra of sundance. No matter what size or access the venue was; it was good times all around. Check them out.
Spotlight: WATER and Writer / Director Deepa Mehta
Article by The Angry Critic.
As soon as the nominations were announced, it was gratifying to know that the critics rose up and chose WATER as one of the best foreign films of 2006, not because of the fact that it was an Indian film, or because of the controversy behind the movie, but because it is the right choice!
WATER is a fantastic movie, and the right movie, in terms of content to represent India at the Oscars, but wait a minute, is it even an Indian movie at all? WATER, the movie's official entry comes from CANADA.
What cruel fate is this for Indians around the world, except maybe the Indians in Canada. Already besmirched and led astray with false hopes of Oscar dreams from the Amir Khan starrer, LAGAAN, in 2001. A movie which was nominated from INDIA in the BEST FOREIGN FILM category, only to eventually lose to NO MANS LAND that year, but now WATER, a foreign language film in the native dialect of HINDI with English subtitles to be represented by CANADA? Say it isn't so!
But despite the cruel irony, that a movie focused on one of the most controversial subjects in Indian "pre-independence" era, Gandhian movement is ultimately a CANADIAN entry to get to the Oscars, nothing will derail the impact that will happen if this movie does win the OSCAR for BEST FOREIGN FILM.
It will finally put Indian subject matter and Indian filmmakers in the forefront in terms of world cinema and signal to the foreign press a very important harbinger that most Indians who live around the world already have known for sometime. We do make films besides Bollywood films! And yes, as a general population of authors, scholars, filmmakers, and auteurs, know very much like you do, how to create engaging, serious content!
If Deepa Mehta's WATER, is merely, the pebble splash in the ocean, then around the corner is the BOULDER, coming in the form of MIRA NAIR'S "THE NAMESAKE" perhaps for next year's Oscar race. Is it so ironic that both acclaimed filmmakers, MIRA NAIR, DEEPA MEHTA, along with their peer Gurinder Chada [BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM] have all enjoyed major distribution from FOX SEARCHLIGHT in the past two years?
When this writer used to work over at 20th Century Fox, the buzz about India and China, and the emerging films and new wave filmmakers had already caught their attention, and this was five years ago!
But this is 2007, and the first pebble has been cast officially, and it is WATER, and the movie carries with it, a potential DAM HOLDING surge of raucous popularity aimed squarely at thrusting INDIAN CONTENT squarely on the mainstream scene!
And so WATER carried with it, an important mantle, a crest, if you will, of importance in terms of BREAKING THROUGH, finally and winning the OSCAR for BEST FOREIGN FILM?
How good are the film's chances? I say very good, considering that this movie is coming off spectacular critical acclaim and the controversy of bringing this film to completion is almost as impactful as the subject matter of the film itself .
Finally, it's the other films in the category of BEST FOREIGN FILM that perhaps blueprint the real ODDS on the success of WATER. Only the recent release of Guillermo Del Toro's "PAN'S LABYRINTH" which released recently to spectacular acclaim poses the real serious threat to WATER in this year's race.
Despite this recent entry into the race, though, I do believe that WATER will EMERGE (ok had to throw in at least one pun) victorious come Academy Awards night and if it does, a new debate will RAGE, largely unnoticed by the rest of the world, but fervently among the Indian Community, did INDIA or CANADA win?
Let the games begin I say!
Other links:
Canada is proud of WATER
Here is the official nomination from AP News source
Recent interviews featured on DesiYou:
DesiYou on Deepa Mehta
Really there is no explanation for this, and nothing I can say will justify this experience. And they say there just isn't anything to watch at the movies anymore.
To you sir, I say, Superman, and Spiderman....now go....fly...fight....and most importantly....DANCE! DANCE DARN YOU! DANCE LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER DANCED BEFORE!
The Angry Critic
Last week you might have seen Pooja Kumar alongside Kal Penn in Law & Order, SVU. Well, we couldn't enough of Pooja and decided to pick her brain for Desi You's Rumor Has It, Q & A "Tell Me This"...
Rumor Has It: The name of DY"s blog is "Rumor Has it"..what's the wackiest/most fun rumor you've heard about yourself? Any that you wish were true?
Pooja: I have not heard any rumors about me, so please share with me anything that you have heard.
Rumor Has It: What are three words you would NEVER use to describe your self?
Pooja: Three words that I would never use to describe myself are Negative, Selfish, and Lazy.
Rumor Has It: You were on Law & Order, SVU last week..any chance you might be extending you stay on NBC with a stint on Heroes? How fun would that be to play opposite Sendhil Rammamurthy! ( I've got a teensy crush on him)
Pooja: I would love to extend my stay with NBC. Can you please recommend my name to them? Sendhil is a very talented actor and I it would be an honor to work opposite him
Rumor Has It: Award season is in full swing...would you ever gain weight, put on a prosethic nose, or shave your head role ala Renee Zellwegger, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman for a chance at Oscar?
Pooja: As an actor your job is to transform the words from paper into a form that the audience will identify with. That is why we love our job. We get to invent so many amazing characters. If the audience will believe the character with a prosthetic nose, a bald head, or with additional weight on the body, I would gladly accept the challenge.
Rumor Has It: This past week, bollywood actresses ruled the spotlight..Aishwarya Rai's engagement to Abhishek Bachan and Shilpa Shetty and the Big Brother episode, any predictions for next week as to who might grab international headlines?
Pooja: The next headline that might appear next week is that Shah Rukh Khan is doing a movie with Hally Barry!
Rumor Has It: What projects are you most looking forward to this year?
Pooja: The projects that I am looking forward to this year are "Hiding Divya", with Madhur Jaffrey which is a generational story having to do with mental illness, a short film that I co-produced called "1001 Auditions" and a feature lenth film that I will be producing.
I know this title might lead you to presume that another bollywood star has crossed over into reality shows..I mean how fantastic would it be if Govinda did the mambo with Ashley Delgrosso on Dancing with the Stars?! I know I'd watch it...but I'm just dishing about yet another cool thing Desi You is a part of. Our very own Ash Kumra, the CEO of Desi You will be on a panel at Sundance Film Festival..more details to come.
Yes, I could have live blogged the Golden Globes, but you can head on over to http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/index.html for that. To be honest, I am a little discombulated after seeing my hero Sendhil Ramamurthy on stage to present an award. Sendhil is on the cast of NBC's Heroes show which is slowly replacing Ugly Betty as my favorite new show to obsess over for the season. If anyone out there knows him..tell him I said hello!
G'nite
News channels across India are reporting that Bollywood's hottest couple, Abhishek Bachchan, and Aishwarya Rai, have finally been engaged! The engagement took place at Aishwarya's residence. Their marriage date has not yet been finalized yet, however. Big B has confirmed to the media that Abhishek proposed to Aishwarya in New York after the premiere of Guru in NY and Aish accepted! "The family is happy, as is to be expected ..."
Congratulate Bollywood's #1 couple ... comment below!
-Shefali
72 Hours, you ask? No, we haven't been living under a rock. We've known since August that Kal Penn will be on the 2 day season premiere of 24 starting this sunday. We're talking about the number of days Kal Penn will be gracing our screen.. look for Kal's third appearance along with actress Pooja Kumar on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit this Tuesday 1/16.
We know you love to "Empower the Desi in You" by streaming our delicious & insanely addicting selection of audio/video content on Desi You.com. After all Kal Penn, Pooja Kumar & a host of other South Asian American Actors do.
We also know at some point your boss and/or co-worker will be walking by and you've already exhausted your "taking a break" from work time...that doesn't mean you have to pull the plug on your celebrity info addiction..So go on..feed the need with Desi You.com's "Rumor Has it"