Results tagged “india”

Bryan Singer spent something like $200 million a few years back trying to revive the Superman movie franchise. Shaikh Nasir’s Malegaon ka Superman came somewhat more frugally: about two grand. But every rupee of that modest sum is on the screen. He shoots on a handheld digicam. A "dolly shot" consists of three guys stabilizing him and pushing him forward on a bicycle while he clutches the camera with both hands. And he sure isn’t going to hire a stunt double for Sheikh Shafique, the poor, scrawny bastard he’s cast as the Last Son of Krypton.

Ever wonder how much luck is involved in the success of the average quiz show winner? Sure, being a brainiac doesn't hurt, but no matter how much you know, unless the Venn diagram of your knowledge and those questions has significant overlap, you're done and luck trumps preparation. If Ken Jennings' first Jeopardy! appearance had the set of questions from the day on which he eventually lost, instead of being the most famous game show contestant in history, he might just be some nerdy computer programmer from Utah you never heard of. But what if you got on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?, and every question you got, by pure coincidence, had a tie-in to a specific event in your life, fate putting the fix in so that you were only asked questions your life had been preparing you to answer? If you're a poor 18-year-old kid from the Muslim slums of Mumbai who grew up as an orphan and a grifter, it means you get to your final, 20 million rupee question and are hauled off by the cops on suspicion of fraud.

Bhangra, an infectious folk music and dance style from the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, has slowly crept into the mainstream club scene. The driving force behind this increase in popularity are the South Asian DJs of Great Britain and North America, who took this traditional form and infused it with the programmed sounds of hip-hop, dancehall, and techno. One of the most well-known names in this movement is DJ Rekha (pictured), a New York-based artist who is bringing her international grooves to the Black Cat on Saturday.

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: Romance & Cigarettes John Turturro's third film as a director is the sort that seems tailor made to become a cult classic. Not nearly polished or glamorous enough to be the sort of Broadway to big screen musical hit that Chicago or Hairspray was, it was too oddball to fit into the heads of most...

Reuters has a video up of a performance outside the White House yesterday by a Dutch magician called Ramana, in which he appears to levitate. Ramana apparently trained at something called the Academy of Magical Sciences in India, but sources tell us he had to drop out during his senior year to go on a long, circuitous trip with his two best friends in search of an evil nemesis. Now that David Copperfield has...

Written by DCist contributor Meghan Welsh Cultures will collide this weekend at The Kennedy Center as Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company presents the world premiere of "Chico Latino," a work which explores the intersection of Asian American and Latin American communities throughout the Americas. "Chico Latino" is a fusion of Latin and Asian modern dance, and the program will also include classic works by the choreographer, inspired by his experiences, such as a visit...

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: The Darjeeling Limited By now, five features into his career, it's likely you already have a strong opinion on Wes Anderson. Despite his tendency to borrow liberally from his own film and literary heroes, from Kubrick to Fitzgerald to the entire French New Wave, a Wes Anderson film feels like a Wes Anderson film from...

>> Tickets are still available to see Argentine-Swedish songwriter and solo classical guitar player José González, he of the awesome indie cover songs (and a bunch of originals, too) play the 9:30 Club. Doors 7:30 p.m., $20, with James Blackshaw.

One could say sitarist/composer Anoushka Shankar has music flowing through her veins. Daughter of Ravi Shankar, the most celebrated indian musician in the world, she grew up immersed in the ancient traditions of indian classical music. With her 2005 release, Rise, the 26-year old musician, who will be performing with her father at the Kennedy Center this fall, began a quest to merge her musical heritage with more contemporary sounds and influences. Thus, it comes...

The most recent exhibition at the Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, organized with help from the National Museum of African Art, Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries, is as much a chronicle of history as it is a document for how art records history. Trying to pigeonhole this exhibition into a one category is difficult. It is more than just the fact the exhibition displays more than 260 objects, from several nations, which were created over the span of two centuries. Partly, it is that a gallery typically focused on the art of Asia is featuring a show about Portugal. Partly it is a remark made by Portugal’s Minister of Economy and Innovation positioning Portugal as the leader of the first age of globalization. The explanations layer like an onion.

>> Tickets are still available for Fiery Furnaces, dios and Orphan tonight at Black Cat. $15, 8 p.m. >> Check out our full preview of RAMP, performing a free show tonight at Bossa Bistro and Lounge, 9 p.m. >> DCist favorites Robbers on High Street come to Iota tonight promising to play songs from their upcoming disc, "Grand Animals." Expect another solid, fun show, along with two Chicago bands, The Redwalls and Baby Teeth....

MONDAY: Min Jin Lee will be at Politics and Prose to read from her debut novel, Free Food for Millionaires. No, it doesn't promote welfare for the wealthy. It's actually about a first-generation immigrant trying to find balance between the ways of her parents and American culture. 7 p.m. TUESDAY: We don't know what to think about 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis. His win last year was surrounded by controversy over whether he...

FRIDAY: >> It may be that we've simply gotten so, so, so many press releases about The Horrors show tonight at the Rock and Roll Hotel, and we've been beaten into submission to mention it. Give the punky-garage rock revivalists a chance for $12 at 8:30 p.m., and let us know if they're worth all the fuss. Seattle's Schoolyard Heroes open, plus locals Scanner Freaks. >> One of the most anticipated new hip hop albums...

Unlike its cinema, music, dance, and literature, India's dramatic arts have made very few inroads in garnering any international exposure. So it was a pleasant surprise to learn that Jana Natya Manch (The People's Theater Forum), or JANAM, one of India's most active street theater groups, would be stopping in DC for a week as part of its U.S. tour.

It's a little dreary out today, isn't it? Please accept this video of adorable baby meerkats at the National Zoo trying to dig holes as a token of our concern for the mental well being of Washingtonians in desperate need of a sunny, warm spring day. [DCGuide]. >> There are plenty of things D.C.'s federal workers can complain about: shifts in the administration, incurring public ire during tax season, being treated like a number in...

>> Welcome to March and another First Friday in Dupont Circle from 6 to 8 p.m. Find the gallery locations here. >> We've all got our old movie favorites. If you pop in Gone with the Wind everytime you're home sick, or channel surf for old episodes of I Dream of Jeanie on a Sunday afternoon, you're just the person Mark Bennett is drawing for. His India ink draftings of the fictional homes used in...

Restaurant Week is becoming the must have fashion accessory for the D.C. area this winter. Everyone’s got to have one.

I've somehow been assigned the slot of taking over DCist Heather's POTD duties this week as she leaves for a long trip to India, despite the fact that I know next-to-nothing about photography. But nevertheless, here I am, and this shot by Flickr user calcitrate caught my eye. EXIF data is here. Other notable shots included a classic sunset, and this explosion of Christmas lights....

D.C. Police Chief Declares Crime Emergency: You heard right. Police Chief Ramsey has officially declared a Crime Emergency for the District, which in practical terms means he now has greater authority to change police officer's schedules in order to increase manpower on the street without the 14-day notice typically required by the union. With 13 murders since the first of this month, many residents are upset and demanding action. The Post notes that the number of murders in the city so far this year, 94, is the exact same number we had this time last year — though robberies are up 14%. DCist definitely noticed a lot more patrol cars last night in N.W., which is we guess is never a bad thing — though the Post also quotes Officer Kristopher Baumann's concerns that officers will only be further demoralized by not receiving overtime pay — so maybe it's sometimes a bad thing. Our Crime Emergency status will continue for at least the next 30 days, when Ramsey will reevaluate.

>> The Washington D.C. Human Trafficking Meetup which tonight hosts freelance photographer Kay Chernush in the Langston Room at Busboys and Poets. Chernush will present photos she took while on assignment for the U.S. State Department in India, Thailand, Italy and Hong Kong in 2005 for their annual Trafficking in Persons Report which "serves as the primary diplomatic tool through which the U.S. Government encourages other countries to help fight forced labor, sexual exploitation, and...

What happens when a Cambridge trained historian goes foodie? In Lizzie Collingham’s case you get an interesting story that’s 5 parts history, 1 part culinary, and wholly entertaining to read. In her Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors, Collingham couples excellent story telling with exhaustive research. The result is a historical perspective on Indian fare that is as mouth watering as it is informative. Lizzie scorns those seeking authenticity when searching for perfect Indian....

If there was any silver lining to the cloud of cigarette smoke District residents nervously enjoyed in area restaurants and bars last night, it's that hookah bars may be granted a blanket exemption from the smoking ban that the City Council endorsed yesterday on a 12-1 vote. Council-member Jim Graham, whose Ward 1 enclave includes a number of the Middle Eastern-themed establishments, has announced that he will introduce an amendment to the smoke-free legislation to...

The worst part about National Geographic magazine, if there is a worst part, is the between-the-pages fold. It cuts large images right in half. The pages are too small. It’s like a magazine for ants. How are we supposed to see the pictures if they can’t even fit them in the magazine? It needs to be at least ... three times bigger. Until they make some changes, DCist has found a solution: check out the...

Today will be mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of rain, with highs in the lower 60s. Matthew Bradley posted this photo of historian Howard Zinn to DCist photos yesterday. Also, it's only one more day before DCist celebrates Cinco de Mayo at Chief Ike's! Same-sex Couples Prohibited from Filing Joint Taxes: D.C.'s Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi ruled yesterday gay couples could not file taxes jointly in D.C., even if they were...

>> Don't forget to catch part of the US ASEAN Film, Video & Photography Festival before it ends on Saturday. The festival features fifteen nominated and selected films by talented independent filmmakers from Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. The accompanying photography exhibitions showcase works that capture the beauty of Southeast Asia. Films are shown in the National Geographic Society's Gilbert H. Grosvenor Auditorium. You can buy tickets here. >> Another photography exhibit of interest opens...

>> Everybody knows that the only true thing going on tonight is the DCist happy hour! From 5-8 p.m., DCist editors and contributors will be at Biddy Mulligans on Dupont Circle, starting our weekend off with a Guinness or four. Definitely drop on by with some friends for a chat, a rant, or to confirm that we are indeed real, live people as opposed to automated Gothamist bots.

After several weeks of renovations, Savino Recine is set to open his new dining lounge at One Dupont Circle. Recine, whose eponymous Savino's Café and Lounge previously inhabited the location, closed his three-year-old fine dining restaurant and lounge after realizing the marriage was less than optimal. Recine has switched concepts and rechristened the space Cloud. The decor will reflect the new theme, with "a pearly, iridescent white floor, white faux leather seating, and gauzy white curtains that allow guests to see and be seen." The menu will consist of internationally-themed small plates and a raw bar. The lounge (apparently not to be called a "club" within earshot of the owners) will also feature a VIP dining room called "Cloud 9", with multiple faux white leather beds for lounging and enjoying cocktails such as the "Star of India," "made with rum, orange liquor, passion fruit juice, Sambuca, a splash of sprite and organic rose petals."

So what does an embassy of a country that just dissolved its government look like? Well, as you can see at left, the Royal Nepalese Embassy, on Leroy Place in Kalorama, is pretty quiet. We aren't sure what happens to diplomatic staff abroad when one's country undergoes a radical shift. But the embassy did issue a press release detailing a translation of the king's proclamation. (Look under Announcements, you can't link directly to the press release.)

President Bush today appointed former Presidents Bush (41) and Clinton (42) to spearhead a private fund raising effort to aid victims of the tsunamis that hit southern Asia. After a somewhat tepid response, the U.S. has now promised $350 million in aid. With the death toll still rising, President Bush met with the former presidents and urged Americans to "join a broad human relief effort" by giving to "reliable charities."

As today's Post notes, many in the D.C. area have been personally affected by the deadly tsunami that struck Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand this past weekend. DCist is at a loss for words. The disaster struck some of the poorest regions of the world, and we encourage all of our readers to do what they can to send some help to the region. The Sri Lankan Association of Washington D.C. provides an opportunity...