South Asian Films and Books

In this episode, I speak with Deepali Jamwal, founder and director of Live2Dance Seattle, about her inspiring journey from the corporate world to building a vibrant community through dance. Deepali shares how Live2Dance became far more than a dance studio—a welcoming “home away from home” that celebrates South Asian culture, creates connection, and offers immigrants a powerful sense of belonging....

In this episode, I talk to India's legendary actor Naseerudding Shah about his relationship with theatre and cinema and the relationship between these two mediums.

In this episode, I talk with Amitava Kumar about his 2024 novel My Beloved Life, an absorbing, exceptionally moving novel that traces the arc of a man’s life, an ordinary life made exceptional by the fact that he has loved and has been loved in turn.

In this episode, I talk to the award-winning writer Yashica Dutt about her book "Coming Out as Dalit." The book exposes the blurred lines between caste and race, for both are fabrications meant to preserve the power of a few and require the ideological purchase of the many. And for women, for whom 'purity' is a measure of status and value, the traps of caste are even more sinister, even deadly.

In this episode, I talk with four highly accomplished and widely published, US-based South Asian scholars, professors, creative writers, and performance artists - Dr. Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Dr. Shreerekha Pillai Subramanian, Dr. Shoba Rajgopal, and Dr. Pramila Venkateswaran - about their contribution to the June 2022 special double issue of the Journal of International Women’s Studies and WAGADU (A tr...

In this episode, I talk with the Indian filmmaker, Shaunak Sen, about his Academy Award-nominated best Documentary film "All That Breathes," which tells the story of two brothers who've devoted their lives to protecting and rehabilitating birds in northern Delhi.

In this episode, I interview Mohsin Hamid, the award-winning British Pakistani novelist about his latest 2022 novel The Last White Man. Set in an unspecified city and country, this magic realist novel is about a white man who wakes up one morning to find himself changed to a darker skin color and a different, unfamiliar appearance.

In this episode, I talk with the award-winning Hindi language writer Geetanjali Shree, about her latest novel Tomb of Sand which won the 2022 International Booker Prize.

In this episode, I talk with India's acclaimed and award-winning actress, writer, and painter Deepti Naval about her memoir "A Country Called Childhood" where she talks about growing up in Amritsar, India, her life as a student of art in New York, her return to India as an actor, a career which she combines with poetry and painting.

In this episode, I talk with Dr. Tanmeet Sethi, an integrative family medicine physician, and clinical associate professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Our conversation focused on her debut book, Joy is My Justice, which explores cultivating and practicing joy in the face of oppression and day-to-day hardships.

In this episode, I speak with the award-winning film director Kanu Behl, about his film Agra, his second feature film, which had its world premiere at the 2023 Cannes Director’s Fortnight. Written by Behl and Atika Chouhan, Agra is an exploration of sexual dynamics within a family and the deep dystopian fractures created in modern India fast shrinking into pigeon-holed spaces. Kanu's first feature...

In this episode, I talk to the award-winning novelist and professor at UC Berkeley, Vikram Chandra, about his critically-acclaimed mystery/thriller novel Sacred Games. Winner of the Hutch Crossword Award for English Fiction, and finalist of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, Sacred Games is now the first original television series from India on Netflix.

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Lamia Karim, a professor at the University of Oregon, about her new book, Castoffs Of Capital: Work and Love among Garment Workers in Bangladesh, a book that dispels stereotypes about garment workers in the global apparel industry. It draws on fieldwork in Bangladesh to examine how female garment workers experience their work and personal lives within the strangle...

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 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 Trich...

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 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&q...

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 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.

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.