Raageshwari brings peace, love and harmony to Pakistan

Peace, love and Raageshwari

Laaleen Sukhera Khan

http://tribune.com.pk/story/456359/peace-love-and-raageshwari/

ISLAMABAD: Raageshwari Loomba has moved on siginicantly from her chirpy 90s persona as Bollywood actor, pop singer and VJ. Overcoming Bell’s Palsy with great courage and determination, she is today a sagacious motivational speaker and yoga devotee who surrounds herself and others with positive affirmation.

“Pakistan is my largest fanbase outside of India,” says the elfin Ms. Loomba in an exclusive interview in the capital city. “I am honoured to be here. My father’s father died with the dream of visiting Lahore and Karachi, and my mother’s family had their home in Lahore.” The multifaceted star is currently on her first trip to here and has visited Nankana Sahib and Panja Sahib gurdwaras with her parents.

Back In India, Raageshwari is an ambassador for AIDS awareness and leads a choir for vision-impaired children. Her trip across the border has highlighted causes including the Pakistan Sweet Home for children orphaned from terrorist attacks and natural disasters as well as SKMCH, where she taught ‘mirror therapy’ techniques to a group of young cancer survivors.

Known as ‘Ragz’ to her friends, she reveals how her ‘peace, love and harmony’ mantra has formulated her journey from entertainer to healer and how it isn’t necessary to be a “yogi in the mountains” to “heal the world together.”

“Spiritualism is about great balance,” she says. “I need to pay my bills too. I felt I should go out of my comfort zone to see if I could stick to my beliefs and lead my example on reality TV. Bigg Boss opened avenues for me and I now deliver motivational talks to thousands in corporate circles.” Raageshwari has also appeared in a children’s TV show for ARY which she scripted with her father and recalls various characters whose role was to encourage healthy eating and outdoor play.

Referring to her yoga workout DVD, ‘5 Ancient Tibetan Rites: The Secret of Eternal Youth,’ she says, “Every word has an energy. Cells react at great speed with endorphins and heal. ‘Dis-ease’ is a body not at ease.” She refers to her holistic side in collective terms, as in ‘we,’ explaining, “I feel odd and immodest to use ‘I.’ So many wonderful people are all healing the world, like Jack Canfield (author, Chicken Soup for the Soul) and Louise L. Hay (author, Heal Your Body).”

Raageshwari has a nurturing aura that strikes one immediately in her presence. Her eyes sparkle with keen observation while her speech is peppered with traditional references such as “Allah ka shukar” and “riyaaz karna.”

LSK: What brought you into the entertainment world?

RL: “I was only 15 when I auditioned for Shekhar Kapur for Bobby Deol’s debut film. Bobby said ‘Oh my God, she looks like a child!’ The screen test was a disaster and the film was never made! I was very embarrassed (about overt Bollywood-style acting) and you can see that in the few films I’ve done” (as a leading lady in Aankhen in ’93 and Mein Khilari Tu Anari and Zid in ’94). “Today, I know the best thing for an actor is to nosedive into the part, whether it’s a savitri devi or an anjuman sheikha.”

LSK: How did such diverse inspiration for your musical career come about, from Hindi pop to Sufi music and Tibetan chants?

RL: “All my pop music was been composed and written by dad (award-winning musician Trilok Singh Loomba). HMV Saregama asked me to be the face of their yoga album as Rekha ji couldn’t do it. Lorraine More taught me postures formulated by the monks about the 7 energy vortexes scientifically proven in our bodies. There are whirling dervish moves that centre your body, help with nausea, indigestion and headaches, and then a stomach crunch and so on. You’d find that namaz also has yogic postures because Islam is a religion of peace and science.  I have great regard for the Muslim community and made the Sufi album for this community.”

LSK: How do you manage to still look 17? You look even better now than you did in the 90s…

RL: “I’m 36. The Internet calls me younger but I have great pride in my age! I want women to realize there’s so much more than trying to work at being young. Your biological age doesn’t matter. At Bigg Boss I was with girls who were younger than me but they couldn’t bend down and sweep the floor or clean the bathroom. Physically, I’m 16. Spiritually, I could be 500.”

LSK: How did you completely overcome Bell’s Palsy in your 20s? Is this how you were introduced to yoga?

RL: “I speak openly about it because real stories inspire us. I woke up one day to brush my teeth and couldn’t hold the water in my mouth. One side of my face and chest was numb so when I spoke, my lips reached my ear. I couldn’t recognize myself, couldn’t talk, and had no voice. Doctors were amazed that I recovered perfectly without steroids, it was all yoga and self affirmations. Yoga pumps more blood into parts of your body and paralysis is a nerve related illness. Bell’s Palsy is for people who fail to express anger. I suppose I’d had spiritual arrogance! Now I let it out through meditation.”

Raageshwari’s Picks

Fave Bollywood star: “Govinda. I learned from his great love for his art. He has unbelievable timing in comedy and dancing.”

Fave Pakistani celebrity: “Reshma ji, Abida Parveen, Shafaqat ji is my alltime favourite, Adnan Sami Khan aka ‘Mr. Romantic,’ his mother, and Nusrat and Rahat Fatah Ali Khan. I’ve performed at the same event with Ghulam Ali in Dubai.”

Trickiest dance move you’ve had to master: “With Govinda and Chunky Pandey, I had to do a dance move where my hand was between their thighs in Aankhen and they jerked back and forth. At the time I was horrified even though it was considered cool. No wonder people get  backaches after all those hip thrusts!”

Genre of TV you’d like to try next: “A cookery show. Something progressive for children. Alternative healing.”

The most difficult yoga move you’ve achieved: “A headstand.”

Your most memorable music video: “Duniya, directed by my brother, where I was a knapsack-wearing young traveller on the beach with children.”

Favourite fashion designers: “My designer friends dress me up but I’ll never indulge in criminal expenses. I’m wearing Annie & Nimmu today” (she’s dressed in a blue A-lined kameez with shawl-style embroidery).

Fave cuisine: “Everyone asks me if I’m vegetarian and I’m not! I love biryani and Mughalai food.”

Recent fave film: “I really liked OMG.”

Last mp3 you played? “I listened to Paradise by Coldplay on the motorway between Lahore and Islamabad.”

TV viewing addiction: “Cooking shows and the TLC channel. Also, Satyamev Jayate and KBC are great shows that you take something back from instead of watching in semi-coma! My DVD is about beginning and ending your day with positive affirmations instead of with the news and soap operas.”

Some yoga poses to try out:
http://www.zimbio.com/Yoga/articles/xr6FtUSYRtF/Surya+Namaskar+by+Raageshwari

Brown is the New Black: South Asians breaking into mainstream Hollywood

South Asians in Hollywood: From fringe to mainstream

By Laaleen Khan

Published: July 6, 2011

http://tribune.com.pk/story/203704/south-asians-in-hollywood-from-fringe-to-mainstream/

ISLAMABAD: 

It seems that brown is the new black, and there’s no going back! The fast-growing South Asian-American demographic has led to some major changes in Hollywood studios. Motion pictures, sitcoms and TV dramas that started off featuring requisite African American, Hispanic and Asia-Pacific characters to represent diversity now also feature desis as bit part extras, token sidekicks, or prominent protagonists, not counting the production crew behind the scenes.

This is a significant leap for the Indo-Pak talent pool that’s been trying to break into the mainstream entertainment world, struggling to pay the bills while working in indie (independent) films on a shoestring budget.

Although there are several Hollywood heavyweights of South Asian ancestry working behind the scenes (M Night Shyamalan — born Manoj Nelliyatu Shyamalan, Tariq Anwar, Shekhar Kapur and Mira Nair), casting South Asians in mainstream Anglo-Hollywood projects has traditionally been limi-ted to projects set in the British Raj (Art Malik and Zia Mohyeddin), or with a backdrop of Third World squalor (Shabana Azmi and Om Puri), and even in soap operas, cast as randy Arab sheikhs (Kabir Bedi). Things have now changed, however; while actor Kal Penn (born Kalpen Suresh Modi) played teenaged Iranian-American terrorist Amer Ahmed on “24”, he also had the plum comedic role of Kumar in the Harold & Kumar films (the third instalment is out next Christmas).

It’s also likely that more and more desis are choosing film and theatre degrees as an alternative to traditional academic choices like medical, business, IT and law degrees. As a result, Hollywood’s new Indo-Pak breed is an eclectic group of trained, talented professionals whose craft humanises otherwise one-dimensional portrayals of South Asians as either insane terrorists in dram-atic features or goofy con-venience store clerks with an appalling accent in ensemble comedies (like Apu Nahasapeemapetilan on “The Simpsons”, as voiced by Hank Azaria). Although there are still plenty of computer geek and doctor parts for mocha-hued actors in mainstream Hollywood, they are now part of a wider spectrum of characterisations that include: The lovelorn co-worker (Kelly Kapoor, as played by Mindy Kaling, born Vera Chokalingam, in “The Office”); the geeky friend/colleague (Kunal Nayyar plays Raj Koothrappali on “Big Bang Theory” and Vik Sahey plays Lester Patel on “Chuck”); the boisterous college student (Kal Penn as Taj in Van Wilder 1 and 2); the rich playboy (Anil Kapoor as Brij Nath in Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol); the cancer-stricken surfer dude (Manish Dayal is Raj Kher on “90210”); the savvy British Asian doctor (Parminder Nagra as Dr Neela Rasgotra on “ER” and Reshma Shetty as Divya Katdare on “Royal Pains”); the pendu-but-likable Pakistani exchange student (Adhir Kalyan plays Raja on “Aliens in America”); the thwarted ex (Noureen DeWulf plays Melanie in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past); the attractive mathematician (Navi Rawat plays Amita Ramanujan on “Numb3rs”); the forbidden love interest (Bipasha Bashu is Tulaja Naik inSingularity); and the refreshingly non-Muslim comic-book villain (Irrfan Khan as Nels van Adder/Proto-Goblin in the upcoming The Amazing Spider Man).

In fact, actors with South Asian ancestry, including biracial ethnicities, are even getting cast for parts that could have been written for Caucasians, Hispanics or Italians: Aasif Mandwi played neurotic literary editor Bob Spaulding in Sandra Bullock’s The Proposal; Kal Penn was Dr Lawrence Kutner on “House MD”; Aziz Ansari  played Eugene in I Love You Man, Matty in Get Him to the Greek, and the hilarious Tom Haverford in “Parks and Recreation”; Aishwariya Rai Bachchan was cast as the feisty Mira in The Last Legion and Sonia Solandres in Pink Panther 2; Rhona Mitra’s savvy lawyer Tara Wilson moved from “The Practice” to “Boston Legal”; and Janina Gavankar, who played the Eva Torres in “The L Word”, is “True Blood’s” latest shape shifter in the form of Luna Garza.

International crossovers, between commercial Bollywood, the indie film festival circuit and mainstream Hollywood, create a more sophisticated global audience which appreciates — and expects — multiculturalism on screen as well as behind the camera.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2011.

On being South Asian in Hollywood:

“People who aren’t ethnic are just actors. There are not ‘white actors.’ Why do we have to be Indian actors? Why do we have to be Asian actors? Why do we have to be black actors? Why can’t we all just be actors? I’m just trying to be good at what I do, and it should be good enough...We are the generation who has been living a double-life — we’re doctors, lawyers, engineers, but we’re also artists. I think the next generation is going to be able to show their parents that this is an honorable profession and you can actually make a living. It’s really, really hard, but it is still worthy of a life, if you are dedicated to it.” Janina Gavankar (True Blood)

“The Indian parts that I’ve played, like in ‘The English Patient’ or ‘Kama Sutra,’ are parts that white people would have given their left arm to be able to play. That said, it’s always refreshing when something like “Easy” comes up where how it’s written in the script has nothing to do with India or race or color or any of that s**t...I think one of the reasons why I was pleased to do it (Bride and Prejudice) is because it’s one of those rare times where things aren’t defined by race or anything as boring as that…And obviously I’m talking to you now…not like the geezer on ‘The Simpsons.’” Naveen Andrews (Lost)

“There’s always been opportunity for me. If the role calls for a forty-something cabbie that doesn’t speak English, I’ll probably get a call, you know? But I get to make a living doing what I love, so it’s great.”  Iqbal Theba (Glee)

“It’s always difficult for any actor to break out of ‘type’ and ‘typecasting,’ and especially when you first start out, the first few years are particularly rough. I have been fortunate in my opportunities, and have now in the last 2 years, finally been able to work with amazing directors, writers, and producers who truly think outside the box. But it’s always an uphill battle trying to convince someone that you’re right for a role that they may have envisioned differently. Hopefully that continues to change for the better -- I think it’ll ultimately provide more equal opportunities, and better products for audiences.” Kal Penn (House)

Mon Dieu! A 'beta' (son) for Bruni-Sarkozy

Mon Dieu! A ‘beta’ (boy) for Bruni?

http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/6767/a-beta-for-bruni/

Life in the upper echelons of European society can sometimes be as gender biased as it is on our side of the globe. On the one hand, there’s Drottningholm Palace of Sweden, that has followed equal primogeniture in their law of succession since 1980, while Buckingham Palace that plans to do the same to enable William and Kate’s firstborn boy or girl to succeed to the throne after the future King William. Then, on the other hand, there’s Èlysée Palace, home to President Sarkozy of the Republic of France, where (as reports suggest) the First Lady, Ms. Carla Bruni, is desirous of producing a mini-Sarkozy to uplift their public image and help her husband win another presidential term.

According to various sources, the glamorous, 44-year-old Carla Bruni prayed to specifically conceive a baby boy when visiting the shrine of Hazrat Salim Chisti in Fatehpur Sikhri, India, with her 56-year-old husband last winter. Why would an accomplished, wealthy celebrity, one-half of progressive France’s power couple who already have a total of 4 sons and 1 grandson between them, be so interested in producing yet another male child?

After all, the celebrity world does not reflect a partiality toward little boys in its obsession with celeb baby bumps. In fact, the paparazzi seem more ‘focused’ on female celebrity offspring: the media’s darling is little Suri Cruise and her million dollar wardrobe and antics and, probably, Baby Beckham #4 (David and Victoria Beckham are ecstatically expecting a baby girl this week after producing their mini-football team of three sons, and we can expect her to be photographed a lot more than her brothers).  

On the global political arena, there are no less than twenty female heads of state in office at the time of this article (twenty eight if you count monarchs). In many Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin American countries with an inherent machismo culture, an infant phallus is often preferred to little female bundles of joy. One can even assume this to be the case in some traditional Italian families, where men continue to live with their mothers well into their middle age so there is a strong maternal longing for producing sons. However, this is hardly expected in très libéral, unconventional France, where hejab is illegal, extramarital affairs are an acceptable mode of society, and where women are certainly not pressured to produce sons. So it’s flabbergasting that the country’s First Lady inexplicably prayed for another son at a Sufi mazar.

Pregnancy rumours:

“I would love to have children with Nicolas. I hope to, if I am young enough. It would be a dream.” (Carla Bruni, Vanity Fair magazine, 2008).

Gala magazine reported Bruni’s desire in 2009 to have a male child with Sarkozy in 2012 and, failing to do so, planned to adopt one. This year, Bruni fuelled rumours by replacing her slinky gowns and stilettos with looser silhouettes and ballet flats.  She also declined to attend the premiere of her Woody Allen film, Midnight in Paris, at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, which led to further speculation in the French media. The June cover for Elle magazine (French edition) only served to confirm the pregnancy, depicting Bruni with a generous abdomen and a glowing complexion.

A brood of boys:

From their previous relationships, Bruni has eight-year old Aurelian, and Sarkozy has 25-year-old Pierre, 23-year-old Jean (whose wife Jessica has had a baby boy), and 12-year-old Louis—a considerable amount of testosterone as it is! The President’s father, Pal Sarkozy, expressed the hope that couple’s future child would be “a girl as beautiful” as his daughter-in-law even though the couple reportedly seems disinterested in having a daughter.  Carla herself was born from a love affair between her mother, concert pianist Marisa Borini, with a young Brazillian classical guitarist, Maurizio Remmert. Carla grew up thinking that her step father, the late Italian billionaire Alberto Bruni Tedeschi, was her biological father. An heiress, model and pop star, Bruni has had several high profile romances with celebrities including Mick Jagger, and her son Aurelian was the result of a relationship with then-married philosopher Raphael Enthoven.  After being introduced to Nicolas Sarkozy at a dinner party by advertising executive Jacques Seguela, the divorced President Sarkozy said to her, “You’ll be my Marilyn to my JFK” (as described in Seguela’s biography). Eighty days later, they were husband and wife.

Mujhe larka de ('give me a son'):

Last winter, the Sarkozys made an official trip to India and paid a visit to the mazar of Hazrat Shaikh Salim Chisti in Fatehpur Sikhri, famed for assisting childless people with conceiving male children including Emperor Akbar, whose wife Jodha conceived Prince Salim (later Emperor Jehangir) soon after visiting Salim Chisti and built the shrine afterwards. With Bruni wearing a shawl atop her head, the couple wore soft soled socks and carried a blanket of roses as an offering and tied a kalava at the latticed marble windows of the dargah before requesting a qawwali from Aziz Chisti. The Sarkozys also spoke with the mazar’s ancestral guardian, Peerzada Rais Mian Chisti:

“I told them this (shrine) grants wishes to (the) jobless, unmarried and childless. He (Sarkozy) asked me to pray for him and wish him success ... Carla said ‘Pray for me, I want a son’ and I prayed for them…They followed the customs and seemed very happy...Begum Sarkozy (is an) extremely family oriented lady” (Sources: PTI, The Telegraph and Sufitimes.com).

Un petit garçon:

In recent months, Bruni’s mother mentioned that she was expecting a grandchild, while the couple’s matchmaking friend, Jacques Seguela, confirmed that it was a boy in an interview with Le Soir magazine.

A political tool?

The Sarkozys aren’t exactly the most popular couple in France at the moment; last year, Carla Bruni was voted France’s most irritating celebrity in a poll, while Sarkozy came in fourth in France’s most irritating politicians. European media mostly agrees that the birth is ideally timed before Sarkozy begins campaigning for the presidential elections in May 2012:

·      Le Post mocked the pregnancy with, “Is this child going to appear at birth with a press release aimed at disproving everything ever said about its parents?”

·      Gala magazine reported, “The child would also be a way of silencing everything that has been said and written about their relationship in the French media.”

·      Le Parisien newspaper stated, “Carla Bruni's constant presence in the media clearly gets on a lot of people's nerves.”  

·      In a biography on Carla Bruni, author Besma Lahouri described her as being one of her husband's biggest handicaps to getting re-elected.

Can a Bruni-Sarkozy beta change all that? We’ll have to wait and see.