Disha Theatre Dishes up Three Nights of Sex, Drugs and Mothers

Reena Dutt, Disha’s Director of Development, and Purva Bedi, its Artistic Director and Founder (www.dishatheatre.org)

In Sanskrit and Hindi, Disha means direction. Expanding in a new direction, Disha Theatre, the South Asian theatre company originally founded in New York City, has arrived in Los Angeles. Starting next week, Disha brings us a collaborative reading festival of works by emerging South Asian writers, at various Los Angeles theatre companies. This fall’s lineup includes a mix of comedy, sex and angst featuring performers who you may recognize from tv and film. Read the descriptions below to whet your appetite for Disha’s offerings.

ON THE ROCKS: A Staged Reading Series

Three Nights of Sex, Drugs, and Mothers.
Featuring Ravi Kapoor (Crossing Jordan), Meera Simhan (Date Movie), Reena Dutt (Medium), Rizwan Manji (Transformers), and Purva Bedi (Boston Legal) among others.

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Padma Lakshmi Talks About Her Curling Iron

Uh, in case you ever wanted to know how Padma uses a curling iron… here you go. (I don’t know why I found this so amusing but I did.) From New York Magazine’s Fashion Week Look Book.

Navi Rawat in Feast

Oh, Navi!

So I’m emailing with Ismat while we’re putting the archives back online and the Google contextual ad at the top of my screen starts showing, “Rotten Tomatoes: Feast.”

Feast is a Project Greenlight film starring the lovely Navi Rawat… I remembered that we had spoke to her about it when we talked to her in the spring of last year. It’s apparently being released in limited markets on September 22nd plus the release of the on DVD in mid-October in time for Halloween. Halloween? Oh, yeah. It’s a bloody slasher horror movie about a group of people locked in a bar while human flesh-eating creatures try to attack them from outside.

The trailer is here, lots of blood and guts but there are some pretty cool shots of dear Navi cocking a huge gun. (Might be slightly NSFW, kiddies.) See our article with her here from our April 2005 Issue.

Suphala in NYC Tonight

Suphala is a tabla master.

One of the most interesting people I’ve met through Nirali is tabla player Suphala. If you’re in New York City, you have a chance to see this amazing musician tonight. She’s performing at midnight with cellist David Gotay and violinist Yuko Naito at the Spiegeltent at Fulton Fish Market. After her set, King Britt will take the stage. Tickets are just $15.

New York Magazine writes, “Ultrahip tabla player Suphala shares a bill with King Britt, a D.J whose realm spans from jazz to Afro-tech.” What an endorsement! Go for me and enjoy the show, if only because I’ll be dealing with the unenviable task of moving into a new apartment instead.

Russell Peters: Outsourced!

Russell Peters is Outsourced

I love stand up comedy. I don’t know why. I also love desi stand up… Aziz Ansari, Dan Nainan, Paul Varghese and Russell Peters are among my faves.

Very excited to see the press release today that Russell Peters will be on Comedy Central this Saturday… His one-hour special, called “Russell Peters: Outsourced” will be airing at 11pm as a tie to the release of the special on DVD next Tuesday, August 29th. I’ve watched his Comedy Now! show so many times and I’m really wondering if Saturday’s show will be new material. (And if you haven’t seen his other stuff, watch the above video.) Great to see desi comics on Comedy Central… hopefully more will appear.

Kal Penn Joins Cast of 24

Kal Penn’s star is rising—he’s been everwhere since Nirali interviewed him in September 2004.

Kal Penn has joined the cast of 24, Fox’s Emmy-winning drama about Jack Bauer and his quest to stop the terrorists. I don’t watch the show, but word is that Penn is going to play the recurring role of a man who is involved with a nefarious Muslim leader who “may or may not be plotting a terrorist attack.” (Aside: Oy. I’ve heard good things about the show, but as a Muslim, I’m reluctant to check it out—does it perpetuate stereotypes? Hmm, I may have to rent the DVDs.)

Penn’s star is certainly rising: Not only was he in Superman, he will soon film Harold & Kumar Go to Amsterdam, the follow-up to 2004′s Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. The Van Wilder sequel is going to be based on Penn’s character Taj and will be called Van Wilder 2: Rise of the Taj. And who can forget his leading role in The Namesake, Mira Nair’s film adaptation of the Jhumpa Lahiri novel, due out this spring.

Looks like Kal Penn is officially in the big leagues. Good thing he still knows how to have fun. Check out his official MySpace profile for some hilarious videos that are somewhat…unexplainable?…but amusing nonetheless. And don’t forget to read our September 2004 feature on Penn himself.

Rise with Anoushka Shankar

Courtesy of Amazon.com

Chicagoans attending the final concert in the city’s Music Without Borders series were treated to performances by talented sitarist Anoushka Shankar and DJ Karsh Kale. I considered myself a lukewarm fan of Indian classical music at best, but after sitting in the open air Pritzker Pavillion of beautiful Millennium Park in the shadow of Anil Kapoor’s Cloud Gate sculpture, the sounds of Kale’s innovative stylings and Shankar’s sitar blended with electronic music quickly changed my mind. I’m going to check out Shankar’s Rise and Kale’s Broken English and I suggest you do the same.

Looking for Lovely Rita

Pals Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson re-unite in The Darjeeling Limited. Photo courtesy of Slate.

Wes Anderson, the director of cult classic Rushmore and 2001 hit The Royal Tenenbaums, is headed to the subcontinent. He will direct Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman as three brothers who journey through India in The Darjeeling Limited. Production Weekly reports that filming begins in December.

Meanwhile, casting director Cindy Tolan is scouring the South Asian community for a young woman to play Rita, an “attractive, intelligent and articulate” stewardess on a train in India. This may be your chance to become the next Ash—no experience is necessary for the role. The actress-to-be should be in her mid-20s to mid-30s, speak English and preferably Hindi, as well. Email dlcasting@gmail.com with a letter and headshot to apply.