SAJAforum

AUTHORED: Shilpa Agarwal on "Haunting Bombay"

This is our third installment of Authored. The idea of this most venerable series is to look at how writers are marketing and promoting their works. Earlier we looked at "The American Muslim Teenager's Handbook," by Dilara Hafiz and her kids, and Minal Hajratwala's "Leaving India." 

Today we have a first-person piece by Shilpa Agarwal, who is currently on tour in support of her new work of fiction, "Haunting Bombay," from Soho Press. The book went on sale on April 6. We were approached by her publicist, at Mandalan Media. What I found intriguing was Shilpa's use of a movie trailer to promote her book. It uses a real director, real actors, full-fledged post-production - the works. Check it out:

Also listen to this NPR story on how trailers are all the rage among writers these days: "In a World... Where Books are Hyped Like Movies"

As you'll read below, Shilpa had to grapple with issues like whether to market her work as ethnic-literary, ghost story or mystery. For both writing and promoting it, she made ample use of her ArtWallah network in L.A., and has turned to Facebook and other social networking sites these days. Curiously, she thinks there may have been a Slumdog effect on her work and other South Asian fiction. She's also been blogging. The tour dates she refers to at the end of her piece have come and gone, but here are some remaining ones:

• Los Angeles - Saturday April 18th, 4pm @ The Mystery Bookstore
• Los Angeles - Sunday April 19th, 2pm @ Book 'Em Mysteries
• Pittsburgh - Sunday May 3, 1pm @ Waterworks Barnes & Noble
• Washington DC Area - Tuesday May 5, 7pm @ Reston Barnes & Noble
• San Francisco - Friday July 10, 7pm @ Book Passage
• Atlanta - September 4-6 @ The Decatur Book Festival

Writing and Marketing "Haunting Bombay" - by Shilpa Agarwal

Almost ten years have passed since I picked up my pen and wrote the first words of my novel, words that came to me in a dream-like haze: The bluish hue that clung to her body at birth had not yet left her when she died.  

PAKISTAN: The press pushes back against the Zardari gov't (Q&A)

[A guest post by Maha Atal, who works for Forbes and blogs here.]

Once a week, I go to my grandmother's apartment to watch Pakistani TV stations via satellite. Like many Pakistani-American families, we have spent the past two years glued to our screens as lawyers, politicians and citizens agitated for the restoration of the judiciary, disbanded by then-President Pervez Musharraf in 2007. Meanwhile, just as Pakistanis were tuning in, Musharraf and his civilian successors increased regulation of the televised and print media. Journalists ventured onto new media platforms and my mother and I spent many hours following the protests on news websites like GEO.tv, and when these too were restricted, on social media platforms like YouTube. Sometimes, we saw content from activists who used the web to promote their cause; sometimes, we saw journalists wander into the fray to cover it, and occasionally, to insert themselves into the protests. Now that the Chief Justice and the judiciary system have been restored, I asked Ayesha Tammy Haq, host of 24Seven on BusinessPlusTV what the convergence means for Pakistan's Fourth Estate.

SAJAforum: In some sense, there have been two protest movements underway here, one to free the judiciary and one to free the press. But the line between them is pretty thin, since many journalists have been active cheerleaders of and participants in the lawyers' marches and rallies. Can you describe how this happened? 

HAQ: When this started [in November 2007], an independent press was a relatively new phenomenon in Pakistan. We didn’t have a formal code of conduct yet. The journalists and young reporters who went out to cover the movement were sympathetic as they saw it as a force for change. The clampdown on the press brought them in to direct confrontation with the state hence their active role [in the events covered].

So the press became fairly partisan. During the marches, the producers would keep the frame tight so they never showed gaps in the crowd. People were killed in the streets in Karachi, but the media never showed the bad side.

The Daily Times did a whole series about whether the movement should be transitionist or transformationist. They became active participants not because they were marching with the lawyers but by using [their coverage] to shape government policy and saw this as their role. It was a conceptual movement.

Is there any concern about journalists giving up their objective stance to become newsmakers?

BLOGS: The South Asian Philanthropy Project (Q&A)

A report from the US Census bureau came out a few weeks ago, noting that as of 2007 Indian-Americans have the highest median household income of any nationality: $91,195. This is specific to those 1.5 million who were born in India. The overall median household income in the U.S. is $50,740, and $46,881 for the foreign-born population.

Indians also have the highest percentage of people with bachelors degrees (69 %) and "the highest percentage of civilian-employed people working in management, professional and related occupations" (69 %). No surprises here, right?

But just where does all that crazy Indian-American wealth go - or for that matter, the time (and energy) of other South Asians? Apparently no one's really sure. Which is why Archana Sridhar and Venu Gupta set up the South Asian Philanthropy Project last April.

The two are Harvard Law graduates, and set out with these questions:

    * Where do South Asians give their resources and time?
    * What issues captivate the philanthropic imagination of South Asian Americans?
    * What portion of South Asian giving is directed overseas?
    * How developed is South Asian philanthropy compared to that of other ethnic groups in the United States?
    * Are there culturally specific challenges with regard to philanthropy and volunteerism among South Asians?

The site is a great resources for journalists--check out this list of research and policy papers, and another list, of South Asian nonprofits and advocacy groups across the country. It's also useful for desis trying to figure out where to direct their cash. SAPP also has an active blog; recently, Sudhir Venkatesh ("Gang Leader for a Day") led a discussion with Sayu Bhojwani, Sunil Garg and Aly Kassam-Remtulla, around this basic question.

“South Asians are, for the most part, an economically successful group, so why organize their charity along ethnic lines? In particular, perhaps they should think about looking outside their own base to find recipients of philanthropic largesse. If South Asians should not necessarily give (solely or primarily) to South-Asian causes, then how should they approach their philanthropy? Give us some alternatives.”

That followed a piece that Sudhir wrote in Novemer on the NYT's Freakonomics blog, "What Should South Asians Do With Their Wealth?"

With all this in mind, I asked Archana and Venu a few questions about their organization.

Tell us about your group.

The South Asian Philanthropy Project (SAPP) was founded in April 2008 by me and Venu Gupta.  We were classmates at Harvard Law School, and since then we have both worked in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors.  With SAPP, we want to inspire and galvanize charitable giving and volunteering among South Asians living in the United States because of our experiences with fundraising in and beyond our community. 

Our goal is to raise awareness around issues of philanthropy and give South Asian donors (or potential donors) more tools to make charitable decisions.  More than advocating for any particular cause, we want to create networks that link donors to each other and to organizations in need, and launch a national conversation about giving.

MEDIA: Q&A with media critic Sevanti Ninan on the Mumbai attacks coverage

[ See SAJA's full coverage of the Mumbai attacks, including our webcasts ]

In the immediate aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, we asked Sevanti Ninan, media columnist and editor of The Hoot, to give us her thoughts on the coverage. At the time, she was too busy, but the uproar over the Indian media's coverage hasn't subsided so we put some questions to her last week.

Some background: There's an ongoing debate in India over whether the government should impose greater controls on the media. Additionally, several prominent journalists are under constant attack from people who felt the media either did a poor job, or even worse, aided the terrorists during the operation by broadcasting sensitive information.

NDTV's Barkha Dutt, who seemed to report nonstop throughout the ordeal, has been taking constant heat since the attacks, from prominent pieces in The Telegraph and the Christian Science Monitor to a Facebook campaign ("Barkha Dutt for worst senior journalist on the planet" has 1,748 members now). She also has lots of fans who have come to her defense, but recently another controversy emerged over Dutt/NDTV's threats of legal action against a blogger who criticized her. As this Hoot article makes clear, the blogger retracted his original post and conceded that it had been "untrue and defamatory." Dutt and NDTV have been accused of trying to stifle free speech.

In that context, we caught up with Sevanti Ninan. We also asked her a couple questions about the state of the Indian media, which is now seeing a downturn after a period of intense growth.

SAJAforum: What do you think are the more constructive criticisms to have emerged of the media, in the wake of the Mumbai attacks?

NINAN: That it should be far more restrained in its live coverage, that it should be aware of the import of the information it is dishing out in an unfolding crisis, that its editorial bosses should be in the studio directing sensitive coverage and not out in the field reporting breaking news, because no one  in the studio is  senior enough to rein them in when they go overboard. That it is neither the place of  TV reporters and anchors  to editorialise constantly while reporting, nor to war monger or promote ridicule of politicians.And that there should restraint in labelling the news, and trying to queer the pitch with slogans like "enough is enough."

OBAMA INAUGURATION: Five questions for South Asians for Obama

In 1993, the last time I was in Washington to attend a presidential inauguration, Representatives Robert Matsui and Norman Mineta cohosted the first significant Asian American reception in connection with any U.S. presidential inauguration. While some attendees had mixed feelings, since by then it had become clear that President Clinton’s initial round of cabinet nominees would not include any Asian Americans, there was nevertheless a sense that the Asian American community had marked an important political milestone.

Fast forward sixteen years: The president-elect is a biracial, second generation American who grew up in Hawaii and considers himself desi. South Asians and other Asian Americans feature prominently in both the transition and the new administration’s significant appointees. And in contrast to that one Capitol Hill reception in 1993, Washington is chock full of Asian American events in connection with the inaugural celebration, including several South Asian-oriented gatherings.

South Asians for Obama got a jump on the festivities on Saturday evening, hosting an informal happy hour which drew over 300 attendees. One of the group's cofounders, Hrishi Karthikeyan, took some time out of his inaugural week schedule to answer a few questions.

MUMBAI ATTACKS: NPR's comprehensive coverage

[See SAJAforum's full coverage of the Mumbai attacks]

During the Mumbai attacks we tried to highlight resources for journalists and others. Our goal now is to look at some of the coverage itself. We asked a few questions of Madhulika Sikka, the Deputy Executive Producer of NPR's Morning Edition (see below). The show (independent of other NPR programming) has an audience of about 13 million people, making it the most listened-to radio program in America, after the Rush Limbaugh show.

NPR's coverage was anchored by Philip Reeves, its New Delhi correspondent. Here are some of his reports from Mumbai and its aftermath (full list here), ending with his earliest reports:

• In India, Anger Grows At Response To Attacks (Dec. 2)
• India, Pakistan Relations Hurt By Mumbai Attack
  
• Security In Mumbai: An Impossible Task?
• India Reeling From Mumbai Rampage
• Mumbai Siege Ends With Gunmen's Deaths (Nov. 29)
• In Mumbai, Militant Violence Not Quelled
• Indian Commandos Try To Oust Gunmen
• Indian Forces Continue Battle With Mumbai Gunmen
• Toll In Mumbai Attacks Expected To Rise (Nov. 26)

But NPR also turned to a number of Mumbai writers and other commentators to round out its coverage:

• Suketu Mehta: "Mumbai is India's New York" 
• Filmmaker Smriti Mundra & Journalist Sara Rajan: "Witnesses describe attacks on Mumbai"
• Sandip Roy: "Mumbai Attacker's photo haunts commentator"
• Sree Sreenivasan: "Technology helps speed Mumbai web call-in show" (ie., SAJAforum's webcasts)
• Shobhaa De: "Columnist: Mumbai bigger than terror attack"
• Vikram Chandra "Mumbai terrorist attacks echo an Indian novel"
• Shashi Tharoor "Mumbai stands out from other terror attacks"
• Madhulika Sikka's written piece: "Why the location of the Mumbai attacks matters" 

In response to a few of our questions, Madhulika gave us a window into NPR's work, in coordinating its reporters and commentators from around the world:

On the overall coverage:

We approached this as we would any breaking news story, try and provide the most up-to-date information we could (on a major holiday I might add), but also provide some context.  This was complicated by the fact that it was an ongoing story that lasted three days and obviously it was
constantly changing.

FILM: Ashok Amritaj's "The Other End of the Line" opens in the U.S.

"The Other Side of the Line" is the title of a new movie opening today in the U.S. Its executive producer is Ashok Amritraj, the former-tennis-player-turned-Hollywood exec (click on the photo to magnify). His most recent film was "Traitor" with Don Cheadle; he's also worked with stars like Angelina Jolie, Bruce Willis, Antonio Banderas, Martin Lawrence, Sylvester Stallone, etc).  From the press materials:

Starring Jesse Metcalfe of "Desperate Housewives" and Shriya Saran who recently starred opposite Rajnikanth in the Indian blockbuster "Sivaji: The Boss."  To be released nationwide on October 31, the film isthe first in a five-year co-production deal between Amritraj's U.S.-based Hyde Park Entertainment and India's powerhouse studio Reliance.  Amritraj's previous Hollywood comedies have included "Bringing Down the House" starring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah, and "Raising Helen" starring Kate Hudson.THE OTHER END OF THE LINE was shot in Mumbai and San Francisco and also stars Anupam Kher.

Entertainment writer and SAJAboard member Aseem Chhabra has been speaking to Amritraj about the film. Here's the audio of a SAJA/SAMMA webcast this week:

And here is the text of a one-on-one interview that Chhabra did this week, too, for SAJAforum...

- - - - -

Former professional tennis player Ashok Amritraj came to Hollywood in the early 1980s with plans to launch a film career.  It took him some time, but now Amritraj and his Hyde Park Entertainment have produced a series of high profile Hollywood productions with top stars, including Raising Helen (Kate Hudson), Bandits (Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thorton), Bringing Down the House (Steve Martin, Queen Latifah), Shopgirl (based on Martin’s novel and staring the comedian with Claire Danes) and Premonition (Sandra Bullock).  But along the way, Amritraj has also kept alive a project that was eventually going to take him back to India – a romantic comedy about an Indian womanl working at a call center in Mumbai and an American man who falls in love with her.

After delays, Amritraj’s new film The Other End of the Line starring Jesse Metcalfe (Eva Longoria’s gardener in Desperate Housewives) and Shriya Saran (Shivaji) opens in the US on October 31.  Directed by James Dodson, the film is based on a script by Tracey Jackson (The Guru).

Aseem Chhabra spoke to Amritraj about his new film.

Aseem Chhabra: This is your first film in India since "Jeans."  Why this long gap?
Ashok Amritraj: Yes, "Jeans" was one of Aishwarya Rai’s early films and was nominated as India’s official entry for the best foreign language film Oscar.  Since then, you know, it wasn’t as if I didn’t want to do something in India.  Life here has kept me so busy.  Trust me, I’m not complaining.

AC:  How did this project evolve and do you think that the call center is story is tad bit old news?
AA: Tracey came in my office and pitched a two liner and then MGM and I decided to develop it.  The script went through a couple of drafts, but then MGM got sold, so the project was put into limbo.  Finally I was able to pull it out of limbo status and get it made.  And actually Premonition was also in that same limbo status.  And now, with my relationship with MGM, I was able to get this script out and decided to make a small and what turned out to be a lovely project.

I think this is far less about call centers and far more a romantic comedy, where one of the two leads works in the call center.  It is the MacGuffin to get the story going, but it’s really the relationship between these two people.  And I wanted to show Mumbai in a romantic light, which I think it is, just as San Francisco and New York City.  It is a feel good young romantic comedy with a lot of good music.

FILM: Sarah Singh's "The Sky Below," a documentary about Partition

"The Sky Below," is Sarah Singh's 75-minute documentary (she was the director, cinematographer, editor) about the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. From the press materials:

An award-winning documentary on Pakistan and India vis a vis 1947 Partition of Indian Subcontinent. Featuing voices from both sides of the border; while exploring ancient and historic sites - along with music - from Kutch to Kashmir and Karachi to the Khyber Pass.

Here is a video clip that gives you a taste of the film:

Singh (seen here in a montage of coverage the film has received; click to magnify) is certainly making use of the web - here are some of the places you can learn more about her and the film:
www.sarahsingh.com
www.youtube.com/user/theskybelowfilm
www.sarahsingh.blogspot.com
www.temporarypassenger.wordpress.com
www.temporarypassenger.blogspot.com

We asked her five questions about the film and what she's learned about herself and the subcontinent. Her answers are below.

Journalists and others interested in contacting her about the film (she has DVDs for sale) can write to seetheskybelow[at]gmail.com.

Q: How did this project come about?
A: For two years, I explored the Indian Subcontinent in search of cultural history and the politics of divide and rule.  That exploration culminated in a documentary, THE SKY BELOW.

SURVEY: Likely Indian voters overwhelmingly support Obama (Q&A)

The National Asian American Survey (NAAS) has been described as the most comprehensive survey of Asian-American political views ever, with 4,394 people surveyed by phone (between Aug. 18 and Sept. 26), including 920 Indian Americans. A sub-report specific to California has just been released (download it here), and it has some important findings, especially considering that California has more Asian-Americans than any other state. The sample comprised 1,891 Californians, including 229 Indian Americans. Scroll down to read our Q&A with Professor Karthick Ramakrishnan, one of the authors of the report. First, some of the findings:

• 67% of Asian Americans who are citizens are considered "likely voters," with Indians just above the norm (68%), following Japanese (81%), Koreans (73%) and Filipinos (70%) and ahead of Chinese (62%)
• Indians are the strongest supporters of Barack Obama, preferring him by 62% to just 12% who favor John McCain (with 25% still undecided). Nationally, 53% of Indians favor Obama. On the other end of the spectrum in California were Vietnamese Americans, who favor McCain by 52% to 21%. Asian Americans in California favor Obama by 42% to 24%. (click on the table at right to enlarge it)
• Asian Americans are twice as likely to be Democrat as Republican (33% to 16%), with Indians by far the most Democratic (50%, vs. just 7% Republicans, 13% Independent and 30% Non-partisan).
• Those who think of Asians as socially conservative would be surprised to find that they oppose a ban on same-sex marriage. 57% of likely voters do not support Proposition 8, a ballot initiative which would eliminate the existing right for same-sex couples to marry. 32% favor the initiative. More on the possible rationale at the San Jose Mercury-News, where analysts suggest the opposition could be due to discrimination that Asians have themselves faced in this country.
• "Those who participate in the politics of their home countries in some manner are actually more likely to vote in the United States than those who do not (65% versus 50%)."

To better understand some of these findings, we got in touch with Karthick Ramakrishnan, one of the authors of the report. Ramakrishnan is an associate professor of political science at the University of California, Riverside. He noted that the survey, which he called "unprecedented in size and scope for election-year surveys of Asian Americans," only addressed Indians, and not South Asians as a whole, because  "it is very difficult to get statistically reliable samples of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis."

- on Indians and voter participation

Ramakrishnan: They have a higher rate of voter participation than many other Asian groups, but the same advantage does not extend to other forms of political participation (see Table 15 in the report).  Higher voter participation is likely due to three main factors: a) South Asians tend to have higher incomes than other groups, b) they have the highest levels of English proficiency, and c) they have stronger party identification than many other Asian groups.  Still, their participation is lower than the national average, with lower party attachments and lack of voter mobilization being an important factor.

PREZ RACE: Rekha Basu on John McCain's Meeting with the Des Moines Register's Editorial Board

[SAJAforum's posts, sources, resources about the 2008 presidential race]

Last Tuesday, Sen. John McCain met with the editorial board of the Des Moines Register in a bid to once again obtain the paper's endorsement. (In December, shortly before the Iowa caucuses, the Register endorsed McCain and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to be the nominees of their respective parties.) As news outlets widely reported, and as you can see for yourself in the video to the right, the interview at times became somewhat contentious.

On Friday, SAJAer Rekha Basu, who is a columnist for the paper and attended the meeting, shared some of her reactions in a column for the Register:

John McCain is angry.

You can feel it in the clenched muscles in his throat, the narrowing of his eyes, the controlled tone with which he handles a question he doesn't like, as if struggling to contain something that might spill out. We've seen that body language on TV. But around a Des Moines Register table Tuesday, the anger and tension were palpable. And unsettling.

McCain's volatility has been written and whispered about by staff and Senate colleagues: the mercurial temper, the quixotic outbursts of reproach, then jocularity. But those alleged episodes were behind the scenes. The combative, prickly McCain we saw was seeking the Register's endorsement. He already got it in the caucuses.

He took frequent offense at questions, characterizing them as personal viewpoints of the questioners rather than legitimate topics. True, he was asked some tough, pointed questions about his running mate and his honesty. But America is having those discussions, and you'd expect he'd be ready, not defensive. It takes a thick skin to be president. [link]

The entire column is available here, and video of the entire interview (which runs just under an hour) is available here. Basu answered three quick questions about the McCain interview:

SAJAforum: Compared to what you describe in your column, what was McCain's temperament like during his meeting with the Register's editorial board last fall, in advance of the caucuses?