SAJA

SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, and SAMMA, South Asians in Media, Marketing and Entertainment, present their seventh annual BlogTalkRadio conversation about the biggest day in American sports - from a South Asian perspective. Join us as hosts Vijay Setlur (@VijaySetlur; who teaches sport, tourism and leisure marketing at Schulich School of Business, York University) & Sree Sreenivasan (@sree, Chief Digital Officer of @MetMuseum) chat with ESPN anchors Kevin Negandhi (@knegandhiESPN) & Adnan Virk (@adnanESPN); Priya Desai (@PriyaDesai), reporter/anchor, Sports Illustrated @SI_Wire; Aditi Kinkhabwala (@akinkhabwala), reporter for the NFL Network and Amar Shah (@Amarshahism), features editor, NFL.com - both calling in on game day from Santa Clara. Also participating is SAMMA co-founder Rajan Shah (@rajanCshah), who’s been involved in marketing campaigns with the NFL and Super Bowl over the past decade; Geetika Rudra (@GGGeetika), who works in breaking news at Dataminr and is new SAJA webcasts coordinator; and Neha Contractor (@NehaSoneji), co-creator of South Asians in Sports, @SAinSports.  Call-in live or send your questions: to sree@sree.net or @sree or @sajahq or #sajahq OTHER NFL NOTES: Paraag Marathe is President of the San Francisco 49ers; Sanjay Lal is Wide Receivers Coach of the Buffalo Bills; Megha Parek is Senior VP, General Counsel of the Jacksonville Jaguars. And, of course, the owner of the Jaguars is Shahid Khan [see the glowing "60 Minutes" profile: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50134050n ]

Join us for a conversation with filmmaker Afia Nathaniel, whose feature film, "Dukhtar" was Pakistan’s official submission for Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards®. In a village in Pakistan, a young mother Allah Rakhi (Samiya Mumtaz) kidnaps her ten-year-old daughter Zainab (Saleha Aref) to save her from a child marriage to a tribal leader. Their daring escape triggers a deadly hunt for them. With the pursuers close behind, the mother strikes an unlikely deal with Sohail (Mohib Mirza) a cynical ex-Mujahid truck driver to take them to Lahore. Carefully dodging the far-reaching influence of the tribal leader, the trio embark on an epic journey through the sweeping landscape of Pakistan where the search for freedom and love comes with a price. After a rousing reception at Toronto International Film Festival 2014 and in over 20 countries since then, the critically acclaimed "Dukhtar" recently screened in New York and Los Angeles from Pakistan for its one-week theatrical release. Team Dukhtar:  Producer: Muhammad Khalid Ali Co-Producers: Cordelia Stephens, Shrihari Sathe, Thea Kerman, Noman Waheed, Carsten Aanonsen *ing Samiya Mumtaz, Mohib Mirza, Saleha Aref FOR EASY SHARING OF THIS EVENT'S INFO, PLEASE VISIT THE FACEBOOK PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/events/905010746241453/ www.DukhtarTheFilm.com Hosting the show is SAJA board member Trisha Sakhuja.  Tweet questions for the filmmaker to @SAJAHQ.

SAJA presents a conversation with journalist Nisid Hajari, author of "Midnight's Furies: The Deadly Legacy of India's Partition," the most important book about the Partition of India and Pakistan. Hajari, a longtime SAJA member and former editor of Newsweek, joins us from Singapore, in the anniversary month of the creation of Pakistan and the independence of India from Britain. The book's Amazon description: A  few bloody months in South Asia during the summer of 1947 explain the world that troubles us today. Nobody expected the liberation of India and birth of Pakistan to be so bloody — it was supposed to be an answer to the dreams of Muslims and Hindus who had been ruled by the British for centuries. Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi’s protégé and the political leader of India, believed Indians were an inherently nonviolent, peaceful people. Pakistan’s founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was a secular lawyer, not a firebrand.  But in August 1946, exactly a year before Independence, Calcutta erupted in street-gang fighting. A cycle of riots — targeting Hindus, then Muslims, then Sikhs — spiraled out of control. As the summer of 1947 approached, all three groups were heavily armed and on edge, and the British rushed to leave. Hell let loose. Trains carried Muslims west and Hindus east to their slaughter. Some of the most brutal and widespread ethnic cleansing in modern history erupted on both sides of the new border, searing a divide between India and Pakistan that remains a root cause of many evils. From jihadi terrorism to nuclear proliferation, the searing tale told in Midnight’s Furies explains all too many of the headlines we read today. Feel free to send questions in advance to saja@columbia.edu or call in live during the show!

SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, and SAMMA, the South Asians in Media, Marketing & Entertainment, present the latest in their series of high-profile webcasts - via BlogTalkRadio.com - with leading names in global media, arts, entertainment, politics and much more... Join us for a show with New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) filmmakers Shonali Bose (Margarita, With a Straw) and Vibha Bakshi (Daughters of Mother India) and actor Kalki Koechlin. The festival’s opening night film this year is Bose’s “Margarita, With a Straw.” The film is a poignant portrayal of a rebellious young woman with cerebral palsy, played by Kalki Koechlin, who leaves her home in India to study in New York, unexpectedly falls in love and embarks on an exhilarating journey of self-discovery.  Bakshi’s “Daughters of Mother India” is this year’s National Award winner for Best Film on Social Issues under the Non-Narrative category. The documentary focuses on the aftermath of the 2012 Delhi rape incident and India’s ban on the broadcast of the documentary “India’s Daughter” by British filmmaker Leslee Udwin. The show will feature candid conversations around topics such as the prevalence of women filmmakers today and the role films can play in raising awareness for mental health and women’s safety issues in India. Hosting the show is SAJA board member Divya Singaravelu.  If you have a question you'd like to submit in advance, please email sajanyiff@gmail.com or tweet to @SAJAHQ with the #SAJANYIFF Official site of NYIFF:  http://www.iaac.us/NYIFF2015/ Margarita, With A Straw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDh7n6bte-c Daughter of Mother India: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em3cFAJotmY

SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, and SAMMA, the South Asians in Media, Marketing & Entertainment, present the latest in their series of high-profile webcasts - via BlogTalkRadio.com - with leading names in global media, arts, entertainment, politics and much more... Join us for a live call-in show all about "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," the sequel to the 2012 hit movie. We will be joined by Oscar-nominated director John Madden, who also made "Shakespeare in Love" and "The Debt" and by actress Tina Desai, who reprises her role of Sunaina from the first movie. Hosting the show are entertainment writer Aseem Chhabra and SAMMA cofounder Rajan Shah.  The official movie description is below. If you have a question you'd like to submit in advance, please email saja@columbia.edu.  Following 2012’s global blockbuster comedy hit, the loveable cast reunites for the much-awaited follow-up THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL which releases in North American theaters this Friday, March 6. Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Dev Patel, Tina Desai, and Lillete Dubey are back along with Richard Gere who joins the fun for an all-new adventure set in India. Official site: http://thesecondbestexoticmarigoldhotel.com/ Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNoZcPInPR8 FB: http://www.facebook.com/marigoldhotel Twitter: http://twitter.com/foxsearchlight Hashtag: #LoveBlooms

SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, and SAMMA, South Asians in Media, Marketing and Entertainment, present their sixth annual BlogTalkRadio conversation about the biggest day in American sports - from a South Asian perspective. Join us as hosts Vijay Setlur (@VijaySetlur; who teaches sport, tourism and leisure marketing at Schulich School of Business, York University) & Sree Sreenivasan (@sree, Chief Digital Officer of @MetMuseum) chat with ESPN anchor Kevin Negandhi (@knegandhiESPN); Aditi Kinkhabwala (@akinkhabwala) a reporter for the NFL Network, calling in on game day from Arizona. Also participating is SAMMA co-founder Rajan Shah, who’s been involved in marketing campaigns with the NFL and Super Bowl over the past decade; and Sharaf Mowjood (@mowjood; producer for NBC News & Brian Williams), the newly-reelected president on SAJA. Call-in live or send your questions: to sree@sree.net or @sree or @sajahq or #sajahq OTHER NFL NOTES: Paraag Marathe is COO of the San Francisco 49ers and has played a pivotal role in the business side of the operations. Shripal Shah rejoined the Washington Redskins as senior VP and chief strategy officer. And, of course, the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars is Shahid Khan (see the glowing "60 Minutes" profile: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50134050n Call-in live or send your questions: to sree@sree.net or @sree or @sajahq or #sajahq

SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, and SAMMA, the South Asians in Media, Marketing & Entertainment Association, present the latest in their series of high-profile webcasts - via BlogTalkRadio.com - with leading South Asian names in global media, arts, entertainment, politics and much more...   Join us for an exciting, live global webcast and meet India's top actress and now singer/songwriter and voiceover artist, PRIYANKA CHOPRA. She'll be with us to discuss the worldwide launch of her first-ever single "Exotic," and her first animated film as the character "Ishani" in the Disney feature "Planes," which opened this weekend.   Moderating the conversation are SAJA Board member and arts, entertainment and lifestyle writer/blogger Aarti Virani (@AartiVirani) and SAMMA chair, musician and a Board Member of The Recording Academy, Radha Mehta (@RadhaMehta).      Sample "Exotic" at:https://itunes.apple.com/us/music-video/exotic-feat.-pitbull/id673022175

SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, and SAMMA, South Asians in Media, Marketing and Entertainment Association, present the latest in their series of high-profile webcasts - via BlogTalkRadio.com - with some of the leading South Asian names in global media, arts, entertainment, politics and much more... Acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair's newest film THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST releases in theaters Friday, April 26 in NY & LA, w/ additional US cities on Friday, May 3. Meet the director who brought you such hits as MISSISSIPPI MASALA, MONSOON WEDDING, NAMESAKE. Based on Mohsin Hamid's novel, THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST stars Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber, Om Puri & Shabana Azmi.  Joining us is actor Riz Ahmed - interview by SAJA's Aseem Chhabra, BTR's Chitra Agrawal & others. Send your questions to @sajaHQ or saja@saja.org - or call-in LIVE! Watch the trailer at: http://bit.ly/11ylqon

SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, representing 1,000+ journalists in the US and Canada, present their latest SAJA Briefing. Join Anup Kaphle, digital foreign editor of the Washington Post and Sree Sreenivasan, Columbia University's Chief Digital Officer as we discuss one of the biggest crises in four decades of Bangladeshi history. Our speakers: Maneeza Hossain, senior fellow at Hudson Institute, specializing in prospects of democracy in South Asia and the Middle East and has written extensively on Bangladesh; and Zain Al-Mahmood, a journalist based in Dhaka, covering Bangladesh for WSJ. His interests are politics, human rights and sustainable development. For the last 4 weeks, Bangladesh has been convulsed by the Shahbagh movement. What started as the protest of bloggers against a back-door deal between the government and the opposition Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, has mushroomed into continuous street protests against the war criminals of Bangladesh's 1971 liberation war. During the brutal war that gave birth to Bangladesh, the genocidal campaign of the Pakistan army was assisted by local Bengali collaborators, known as "razakars." In 2011, the Awami League government began long-delayed war crimes trials against some of the alleged razakars, most of whom are now top ranking leaders of the country's largest Islamist party, the Jamaat-e-Islami. But the unexpectedly lenient sentencing of Quader Mollah, known as the "Butcher of Mirpur," set off the protests that snowballed into Shahbagh, filling the streets with up to 500,000 protesters, mos

SAJA, South Asian Journalists Assn & SAMMA, South Asians in Media, Marketing & Entertainment, present their annual BlogTalkRadio conversation about the biggest day in films - from a South Asian perspective.   Our experts: Lance Still, EVP, Integrated Marketing & Promotions, The Weinstein Company; Gitesh Pandya, founder Box Office Guru & Raja Sen, Freelance film critic, calling in from Mumbai.   Hosted by Aseem Chhabra of SAJA & Rajan Shah of SAMMA - both film industry insiders themselves, who will moderate this session.   You should also note these South Asian ties to the 2013 Oscars.     Ang Lee's India focused "Life of Pi" is nominated for 11 Oscars, including one for classical singer Bombay Jayashri for the song "Pi's Lullaby"   Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty" focuses on the hunt and the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A substantial part of the film was shot in India, in and around Chandigarh.   Stephen Spielberg's "Lincoln" was co-financed by India's Reliance (which finances all Dreamworks films).   Anuradha Bhagwati, executive director of Service Women's Action Network and a former U.S. Marine, is featured in "The Invisible War," a nominee for feature-length documentary. It is an expose about the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military.   Tarsem Singh directed "Mirror Mirror," which has been nominated for costume design. (Eiko Ishioka, the designer, died this past year and is nominated posthumously).    Last year, SAJAer Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy won an Oscar for her short documentary "Saving Face."

SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, and SAMMA, South Asians in Media, Marketing and Entertainment Association, present their fifth annual BlogTalkRadio conversation about the biggest day in American sports - from a South Asian perspective.   Join us as hosts Vijay Setlur (@VijaySetlur), Raakhee Mirchandani (@raakstar) & Sree Sreenivasan (@sree) chat with three ESPN anchors Kevin Negandhi (@knegandhiESPN), Adnan Virk (@adnanESPN) and Zubin Mehenti; Amar Shah (@amarshahism), digital features editor of NFL.com (see the Super Bowl trailer he wrote and produced: http://on.nfl.com/11qSbWA ) as well as filmmaker Evan Rosenfeld (@evansss), whose is directing "Birth of a Sport," about the Elite Football League of India, the first pro American football league in South Asia.   Other South Asian NFL notes: SAJAer Aditi Kinkhabwala - @akinkhabwala is now a reporter for the NFL Network. Paraag Marathe is COO of the San Francisco 49ers and has played a pivotal role in the business side of the operations. This season, Shripal Shah rejoined the Washington Redskins as senior VP and chief strategy officer. And, of course, the new owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars is Shahid Khan (see the glowing "60 Minutes" profile: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50134050n   Call-in live or send your questions: to sree@sree.net or @sree or @sajahq or #sajahq Last year's version: http://b

SAJA continues its in-depth series about Indians in the Caribbean, live on Blogtalkradio.com/saja. This segment explores the impact of the Indo-Caribbean peoples on the American landscape, culture, politics, economics and youth. Featuring Ambassador Dr. Neil Parsan, Ms. Annetta Seecharran and Ms. Pritha Singh. Moderated by Darrel Sukhdeo. Email your questions: saja@saja.org

SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, presents a conversation about the plight of blue whales in the waters off Sri Lanka. Join SAJA board member Jigar Mehta (@JigarMehta) for a webcast with 2012 SAJA reporting fellow Erik Olsen (@olsentropy) of the New York Times. In Sri Lanka, ship traffic and a rapid increase in whale watching tourism is putting a little understood population of blue whales at risk. Sri Lankan marine biologist Asha de Vos has committed her life to protecting these magnificent animals. In this video and print work, New York Times Video Journalist Erik Olsen traveled to Sri Lanka to look into this story. Video: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2012/07/02/science/100000001641208/in-the-land-of-blue-whales.html Print article http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/03/science/traffic-in-sri-lankas-waters-threatens-blue-whales.html LEARN HOW YOU CAN APPLY FOR A SAJA REPORTING FELLOWSHIP: http://saja.org/2012srf * Questions to awards@saja.org

Currying Culture: The impact of South Asian food on the larger cuisine of  the the multi-ethnic Caribbean   In the fabric of culture that is Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname many cultural  strands weave together to form a tapestry of larger ethnicity. Nowhere is  this more apparent than in the multiethnic cuisines of these societies.  But it is the South Asian/East Indian influence on the foodways of the Caribbean that is the gold thread shot through the design, shimmering, constant, and  alluring. In Currying Culture, the third installment of the SAJA  discussion series on Indo Caribbean peoples, moderator Ramin Ganeshram, will lead a panel discussion of chefs, food writers, and food entrepreneurs to discuss the larger social influence of East Indian cookery on the cuisine of the Caribbean.

SAJA, South Asian Journalists Association, presents the latest in its series of world-class conversations with fascinating speakers from the media, arts, politics and more.  For much of the nearly eight years of its existence, SEPIA MUTINY was a singular phenomenon, tackling just about every South Asian diasporic issue there was, serious or inane. In the process, it established itself as a model of intelligent, interactive blogging, and the voice of a generation.` Those of us who worked elsewhere in the desi media, including at SAJAforum - looked on with a combination of admiration and envy -- How are they so prolific? What makes their readers so damn smart? But we felt nothing but regret when the Mutineers decided to close their doors last month. We know there will be nothing else like it.   But join us Thursday night at 11 pm (Eastern time) for a very special SAJA webcast, as we conduct the SEPIA MUTINY EXIT INTERVIEW.   We'll be joined by Sepia Mutiny founder Abhi Tripathi, blogging hellion Anna John, and the mysterious but always trenchant Ennis. We hope to also have plenty of SM fans participate, too.   Moderating the conversation will be Arun Venugopal (@ArunNYC), WNYC reporter and Prof Sree Sreenivasan (@Sree), Columbia J-School.   [ Want to get an automagic email one hour ahead of every SAJA webcast? Create a free BTR account and hit the "follow" button above. You can also find us on iTunes, free, at http://bit.ly/sajaitunes ]