Nikhat Kazmi, Bollywood reviewer for Times of India, world’s largest circulation English language newspaper, vs. Rachel Saltz, Bollywood reviewer for New York Times, world’s most famous English language newspaper. Rachel gets the “Ras” or “heart” of this film whereas Nikhat does not. Nikhat called Jhoom Barabar Jhoom a “no-brainer”. He is right in this respect. The…
During the “Sacred Cow” conversation on CNBC, Erin Burnett told Mark Haines that she was so busy working on her special that she did not have time to eat a full meal and that she had to subsist on Power Bars. Mark Haines, who seems to have the same aversion to Power Bars that I do, offered…
The most popular article on this blog is “Erin Burnett’s One Hour Special on India” with a 16.5% hit rating. The second most popular article (with a hit rating of 12.1%) is our critical piece “Flagrant Foul on Mark Haines and Erin Burnett – Their conversation about India’s regard for “Sacred Cows”. We are happy to…
We are expanding the focus of this blog to include articles on Global Issues and their coverage by Media. This does not dilute our focus on Bollywood but enhances the coverage. This decision is based on your feedback and the statistics of article views. As you have seen with the Myanmar coverage, there are few…
(Left – View from Manhattan; Right – View from Pier I, Brooklyn) “The Brooklyn Bridge remains an original – like most NYC residents” says NYC Tourist.com. They are right.New York City celebrated the 125th anniversary of this NYC landmark on May 22, 2008. All NYC television channels ran stories. But none of them could play a video or a song…
The incredibly talented Wil Smith plays Alex “Hitch” Hitchens, a “date-doctor’; a sentimental advisor who teaches men how to date the women of their dreams. He gets a new client, a nerdy financial consultant Albert (played by Kevin James of the King of Queens fame) The story revolves around Hitch helping Albert to date the wealthy and…
Sanskrut and Greek are the two oldest Indo-European languages. So, it is difficult to figure out when the relationship between India and Greece began. The first contacts we know of occurred in the Mahabharat Era. The Mahabharat War (The Great War of the Bharats) is considered to be the end of the post-Vedic age in Indian History. By many accounts,…
“Mahatma Gandhi could transform the soul of a nation but could not save the soul of his own son.” – so ends the description on the DVD cover of “Gandhi my father”. This is the story of the relationship between Mahatma Gandhi and his eldest son Harilal, who wandered the streets of India destitute and…
A couple of years ago, I had the distinct pleasure of hearing an address by Professor Salman Akhtar, a noted observer of Bollywood and a renowned psychoanalyst. In his speech, Dr. Akhtar laid out what he thought were characteristics traits of the Global Indian or Desi men. These are: Trait 3 – At a party, the…
The conversation described in this note took place on Friday, May 16 between Mark Haines and Erin Burnett, co-anchors of the daily “Squawk on the Street” show aired on CNBC from 9 am to 11 am. Picture the setting of this conversation. Erin Burnett calls Mark Haines from India. She has set a table with a variety of Indian food items, one of which is a…