SBS Spice

Drawn from real life testimonies from the Sri Lankan civil war, theatre production 'The Jungle and the Sea' brings one family’s story to Australian stages. Dilpreet speaks with writer and director S. Shakthidharan, and actors Prakash Belawadi and Nadie Kammallaweera, about memory, identity and why people are always more than the worst thing that’s happened to them. The Jungle and the Sea will be s...

Australia is part of the Asia-Pacific, so why do we still look to Europe and North America for cultural validation? Dilpreet Taggar sits down with Asia TOPA Creative Director Jeff Khan to discuss Australia's cultural identity and what it would take to truly embrace our place in the region. They also look ahead to Asia TOPA's return in 2028, following a 2025 festival that brought together more than...

We tried interviewing Kanan Gill. He had other plans. One of India’s finest comedians spends most of this interview doing everything except answering Dilpreet’s questions. Somehow, they still end up talking about why life is weird and whether anyone ever really figures it out. Kanan is bringing his latest stand-up show, Not This Again, to Australia. We talk about that too. Promise. Watch on YouTub...

Would you know what to do if someone told you to chuck a U-ey, grab your thongs and head to the servo? Australian is a language all of its own. More than a decade after the YouTube series 'How To Talk Australians' went viral, creator Tony Rogers has revived it as a feature film. Stars Robert Santiago, Ria Patel and Rohan Ganju join Suhayla Sharif for a crash course in Aussie lingo, cultural quirks...

Australia is debating multiculturalism. The Socceroos are living it. The SBS Spice girls invite SBS Sport’s soccer guru Seth Jayalth to break down the FIFA World Cup, politics in sport, Australia’s growing obsession with soccer and the legend of “Sex Before Soccer”. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch on SBS Spice's YouTube. SBS Spice is your go-to for South Asian Australian culture, ex...

Instapoetry marks a renaissance in the literary world— social media becoming a writer's new pen and paper. Author Nikita Gill has embraced this new chapter whilst also confronting how digital spheres can misconstrue meaningful commentary. As Greek mythology has opened Nikita up to a realm of boundless creativity, she unpacks for Suhayla Sharif 'Hekate', how she embodies her words and the goddess w...

Indira Naidoo was one of the first South Asian faces Suhayla Sharif saw on Australian television. Decades later, the two sit down for a conversation about identity, journalism, and the changing role of media in an increasingly fragmented world. A pioneering voice across SBS and the ABC, Indira reflects on her family's journey from apartheid-era South Africa to Australia, reporting on some of the w...

Long before migration dominated political debate, Rabindranath Tagore, the first non-European Nobel laureate in Literature, was writing about belonging. More than 130 years later, New Zealand's Indian Ink Theatre Company is bringing his beloved 'Kabuliwala' to the Sydney Opera House and Wollongong through 'Balloon Dog'. Co-founder Jacob Rajan speaks to Suhayla Sharif about why it still feels rippe...

With billions of streams and views to her name, Dhee has become one of the most recognisable voices in contemporary Tamil music. Growing up in Sydney before finding a global audience, the artist behind Enjoy Enjaami and Rowdy Baby Dilpreet Taggar to discuss her latest single, Vari Vari, filming in Sri Lanka and the stories, memories and experiences that continue to shape her work. Watch the full i...

Growing up in apartheid-era South Africa, Nashen Moodley learned early that great stories could come from anywhere. As Festival Director of Sydney Film Festival, he has spent the past fifteen years bringing incredibly compelling cinema to Australians. The festival is back, so Suhayla Sharif sat down with Moodley to discuss why, in an age of endless content, meaningful stories matter more than ever...

A Tamil Sri Lankan woman clones herself so the younger version can live out the acting career she never had. Years later, they finally meet. Chenturan Aran’s 'The Supposed To Be' spirals through migrant memory, failed desire, dead mothers, OnlyFans and the fantasy of becoming someone else, ahead of its Melbourne season at RISING. Listen, only on SBS Spice. SBS Spice is your go-to for South Asian A...

To be Indo-Fijian is to carry one of the most extraordinary origin stories in the South Asian diaspora. 147 years ago, Indians were taken to Fiji under Girmit, a British system of indentured labour that severed families and reshaped generations. In this special Girmit Day episode, Suhayla Sharif invites five Indo-Fijian Australians to confess what that legacy means to them today. There is black ma...

Satinder Sartaaj is more than a singer to many Punjabi Australians. He is a poet, philosopher and a reminder of home. Fresh off the viral success of his song “Jaiye Sajana” from 'Dhurandhar: The Revenge', Dilpreet Kaur Taggar met Sartaaj backstage before his Heritage Tour concert in Sydney for this interview. Why Gen Z is connecting with his work, how solitude shapes the Punjab he sings about, plu...

Some things are easier to keep to yourself. Comedians Sashi Perera and Urvi Majumdar don’t. And we're so glad. Ahead of the Sydney Comedy Festival, they join Dilpreet Kaur Taggar to talk about their shows, 'Pear Tree' and 'Miss!'. From identity and family to bad dates and classrooms, this is about figuring it out in public. Australian comedy is better for it.

He served two armies before 25. Now his wife marches for him. Born in Punjab in 1948, Sergeant Major Kuldip Singh served both the Indian and Australian armies, marching in Sydney from 2007 until his passing in 2020. His story sits within a longer, often overlooked history of Sikh service in Australia. Ahead of her fourth march, Suhayla Sharif visits Ravinder Kaur Singh at home, where his absence i...

Comedian Abby Govindan is asking big questions through stand-up: why is dating so broken, what has the internet done to intimacy, and why does tech keep pushing manosphere content? Fresh off a sold-out worldwide tour, she brings 'Pushing 30' to the Sydney Comedy Festival and stops by for an unexpectedly intimate conversation about the pressure South Asian women face to be desirable, marriageable a...

As SBS Spice turns two, we are reflecting on the legacy we stand on. And so, we had to speak to Manpreet Kaur Singh — a Walkley-nominated, multi-award winning journalist who has spent over three decades shaping South Asian media in Australia, from SBS Punjabi in 1993 to now leading SBS South Asian. She’s also our boss, so we’re on our best behaviour… for once. She might be the spiciest one in the...

There’s a gap within the South Asian community in Australia. We don’t talk about it enough. In this episode, Dilpreet and Suhayla unpack the divide between second gen South Asians and new migrants. Why do we love the culture but keep our distance from the people? Who gets included. Who gets ignored. And what “community” actually means in practice. Listen on SBS Spice, wherever you get your podcast...

The sari has never stood still. From the Indian independence movement to the Met Gala, it has carried politics, power and reinvention across generations. As 'The Offbeat Sari', a global exhibition exploring the contemporary sari, arrives in Australia curator Priya Khanchandani joins Suhayla Sharif to unpack the histories and wearers of one of South Asia's most enduring and the world's oldest garme...

The year is 2079. India survives only in memory. Digital artist Avinash Kumar (Thiruda) and sound designer Sri Rama Murthy (Murthovic) invite you into a one-night simulation to rebuild it. Would you step in? ‘Elsewhere In India’ drops Australian clubgoers into a collision of electronica, Indian classical sound, AI art and 3D worldbuilding. The duo behind the experience speak to Suhayla Sharif abou...

From Kolhapuris on global runways to Indian craft shaping luxury, fashion is looking to India. But is it understanding it? Sanjay Garg has reimagined the sari through his label Raw Mango, moving beyond ornament and towards intention. Currently touring Australia, he speaks with Dilpreet Kaur Taggar about handloom as rarity and why respecting weavers is the only way. Plus, when migration can freeze...

Aditya Gautam was addicted to porn. As Australia rolls out new laws requiring age checks to access online adult content, the India-born comedian speaks to Dilpreet Taggar about how porn became his sex education and how digital desire reshaped his expectations of intimacy, relationships and masculinity. Can new laws change behaviour, or has porn already changed a generation? Listen, only on SBS Spi...

Shocking new research suggests one in three Gen Z men believe wives should obey their husbands. Are we moving forward or quietly going backwards? Dilpreet Kaur Taggar and Suhayla Sharif unpack feminism, financial independence and the battles a single International Women’s Day cannot fix.

Thaikkudam Bridge doesn’t do neat genres. A band like no other, it moves between soulful ragas, roaring rock riffs and flashes of metal, all powered by a fifteen-member lineup. Ahead of their Australian tour, founding member Govind Vasantha and vocalist Anish Gopalkrishnan join Suhayla Sharif to talk creative clashes, big arrangements and how a band this large keeps its edge.

In a world that rewards neat labels, identity can start to behave like currency. In this episode, Dilpreet and Suhayla get into the tension between being seen and being flattened: the pressure to clap for “brown wins” no matter the craft, the fear of disagreeing within community, and the way “firsts” can become a marketing strategy instead of a milestone. Listen now, only on SBS Spice.