South Asian Films and Books

In this episode, I talk with Barkha Dutt, India's most well-known and leading broadcast journalist, about her 2022 book "To Hell and Back: Humans of Covid"

In this episode I talk with Zainab Fasiki, Morocco's most radical and disruptive feminist who transgresses the taboo on sexuality and the female body through graphic activism. We also talk about her 2019 graphic novel entitled Hshouma (Shame).

Beautifully written and deeply personal, Sonora Jha's memoir follows the struggles and triumphs of one single, immigrant mother of color to raise an American feminist son. From teaching consent to counteracting problematic messages from the media, well-meaning family, and the culture at large, Sonora offers an empowering, imperfect feminism, brimming with honest insight and actionable advice.

In this episode I talk with Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni about her latest novel "The Last Queen," which is the story of the spectacular rise of the beautiful Jindan Kaur. Starting out as the daughter of the royal kennel keeper, she went on become Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s youngest and last queen; his favorite. And when her six-years-old son Dalip Singh unexpectedly inherited the throne, Jindan Kaur became Queen Regent of Punjab.

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Geetha Jayaraman, a former journalist and a filmmaker who teaches film practice at the Culture Lab, Newcastle University, UK. Geetha’s debut feature film "Run Kalyani" won the Special Jury Award at the Kolkata International Film Festival and got awards in the Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor categories at several international film festivals including Trichur, New York, and Montreal. As a director, script writer and producer of a range of documentaries. Geetha produced the award-winning documentary ‘Algorithms." She also wrote a prize-winning script for "A Certain Slant of Light" which won the 2008 Goteborg International Film Festival’s development fund.

In this episode, I talk with Sultana Siddiqui, a Pakistani media mogul, and television producer and director, who is celebrated for her widely successful TV drama Zindagi Gulzar Hai. As the founder of Hum Network Limited, she is the first woman in Pakistan to establish a TV station.

In this episode I talk with Sameer Pandya about his debut novel "Members Only," where, when accused of reverse racism by white members of a posh tennis club, the novel's central character Raj Bhatt's life falls apart. Along the way, he wonders: where does he, a brown man, belong in America? Sameer Pandya is the author of the story collection The Blind Writer, which was long listed for the PEN/Open Book Award. He is also the recipient of the PEN/Civitella Fellowship. His fiction, commentary, and cultural criticism has appeared in a range of publications, including the Atlantic, Salon, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and Narrative Magazine. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

In this episode, I speak with Prof. Ramin Bahrani, director of his latest film The White Tiger based on Aravind Adiga's 2008 Booker-prize winner novel by the same name. The film stars Bollywood actors Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Rajkumar Rai, and in his debut role, the new actor Adarsh Gaurav.

In this episode, I interview Fowzia Karimi, an award-winning author of her illustrated debut novel, "Above Us the Milky Way." Fowzia Karimi was born in Kabul, Afghanistan. She immigrated to the US in 1980, after the Soviet invasion of the country. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College, California. Her work explores the correspondence on the page between the written and the visual arts.She is a recipient of The Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, and has illustrated The Brick House by Micheline Aharonian Marcom and Vagrants and Uncommon Visitors by A. Kendra Green.

In this episode, I talk to Vijay Seshadri about his latest book "That Was Now, This is Then." As a winner of the Pulitzer prize in poetry, Seshadri has three other collections of poetry: Wild Kingdom (1996), The Long Meadow (2003), and 3 Sections (2013), which won him the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. Seshadri has an MFA from Columbia University and teaches poetry and nonfiction-writing at Sarah Lawrence College.

In this podcast I interview Nitasha Kaul, a London based academic, writer and poet, about her new book "Future Tense". In addition to fiction, she writes and speaks about topics that cover the political economy, Bhutan, Kashmir, nationalism in India, gender and identity. Nitasha's first novel "Residue" was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize. "Future Tense" is her second novel.

For this episode I had the pleasure of interviewing Indian American novelist Avni Doshi about her debut novel "Burnt Sugar" (also known as "Girl in White Cotton"). Born in New Jersey, Doshi received a BA in Art History from Barnard College in New York, and a master's degree in History of Art from University College London. "Burnt Sugar" has been shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize.

In this episode I interview playwright and author Ayad Akhtar about his new book "Homeland Elegies: A Novel". Akhtar's writing covers various themes including the American-Pakistani experience, Islam, identity, immigration, nationalism, globalization, and economy. In 2013 he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play "Disgraced." Please enjoy

In this podcast I interview Fawzia Afzal-Khan, author of "Siren Song," which is an important and timely feminist intervention in the study of classical music and a cogent challenge to the prevailing anti-secular orthodoxy in the academy. In this complex and sensitive study...of the careers of artistes like Malka Pukhraj, Roshanara Begum, Reshma, and of the newer music and musical space offered by Coke Studio, Afzal-Khan shows us the multiple ways in which women performers negotiated and continue to negotiate their way through the numerous challenges thrown their way in the wake of the partitioning of the subcontinent and the multiple demands placed on them.

In this podcast, I talk to Japleen Pasricha, the founder-editor of "Feminism in India," the country's leading digital feminist media platform.

In this interview, I speak with Namita Gokhale, the founder-director of the Jaipur Literature Festival, about her latest novel Jaipur Journals.

In this interview, I talk with Kavita Krishnan, India's leading feminist and Secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association, where I discuss her new book "Fearless Freedom," published in 2019.

In this episode I talk to Booker Prize-winner Arundhati Roy about her latest book "My Seditious Heart," which is a 1000-page compilation of her complete non-fiction work to date.

In this episode of #SouthAsianFilmsAndBooks, I talk to Shabana Azmi, India's leading actress and feminist activist who has successfully straddled art and commercial cinema.

In my latest podcast on #SouthAsianFilmsAndBooks, listen to my interview with India's most formidable feminist filmmaker Shonali Bose talking about her trilogy: The Sky is Pink, Margarita With a Straw and Amu.

In this podcast I talk to Fatima Bhutto (@fbhutto) about her brilliant new book "New Kings of World: Dispatches from Bollywood, Dizi, and K-Pop," where she discusses the rise of a new cultural movement sweeping across the world, displacing mass-produced, Western cultural products. https://www.amazon.com/New-Kings-World-Dispatches-Bollywood/dp/1733623701/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=new+kings+of+the+world&qid=1571179358&sr=8-1

On the day of the world's very first Global Climate Strike, Alka Kurian talks to Amitav Ghosh about his new novel "Gun Island" a book about a world ravaged by climate change.

In this interview, I speak with Nandita Das on her book "Manto & I," which is based on her 2018 biopic "Manto," South Asia's leading author, playwright and scriptwriter Saadat Hasan Manto.