With the recent successes of the Broadway hit “Bombay
Dreams” and the movies “The Village,” “Bend
It Like Beckham” and “Harold and Kumar Go to White
Castle,” a new wave of entertainers of Indian ethnicity is
cooking up a melange in the West spicier than any curry, cumin,
coriander or chili powder.
And though their paths to fame and ultimate goals vary greatly,
these rising stars share a common heritage.
“There are signs everywhere,” said pop singer Tina
Sugandh. “It’s a great, great time to be doing what
I’m doing. Bollywood is becoming a trend, and I know
that’s not the greatest word for it, but it’s the
truth. I hope that we have another kind of Latin explosion, which
happened several years ago. Now when you hear Latin music on
mainstream radio, you don’t think twice ““ it’s
just normal.”
Bollywood is the multi-billion dollar Indian movie industry that
churns out over 800 films a year. Its name is a splicing of Bombay
(India) and Hollywood, and its movies are musicals that mix
MTV-style dance and music with Indian sounds.
And now Bollywood is traveling westward with entertainers like
Sugandh, who is performing at the One Night for India AIDS charity
concert Aug. 21 at the Wiltern Theater. Concert producers/founders
David Grohol and Mark Porter witnessed the phenomenon of Bollywood
firsthand while visiting India and subsequently wanted to share the
phenomenon with non-resident Indians while also helping the AIDS
cause.
Proceeds from the event go toward the UCLA Aids Institute and
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Though Sugandh will perform alongside pop acts Michelle Branch
and Kimberley Locke (of “American Idol” fame), the
majority of the performers at the event are of Indian heritage.
Sugandh’s parents are from Bombay.
These musicians, like other entertainers of South Asian descent,
must take special, tactical steps to make it big in the Western
entertainment industry, where CD sales have slumped severely and
stereotypes and prejudices abound toward South Asians.
On Sugandh’s debut album,
“TablaGirl,” due out in early 2005, the artist
appeals to average pop-loving American youth, but she’ll
admit her rather mainstream-sounding pop debut album is just a
launching pad for her to move more heavily toward Indian sounds
with future albums.
The first album slowly will expose Sugandh to American youth,
many of whom she admits probably don’t even know what
Bollywood is.
“I shouldn’t say this, but I’m a businesswoman
at heart,” Sugandh said. “I definitely put a lot of
thought into what I was doing. I want your average (MTV television
program) “˜TRL’ viewer to appreciate this album. But as
I progress “¦ (with) album No. 2, there’s always room
for a little bit more.”
Even for a girl who has performed in over 500 shows with her
musical family since she was five years old, a record deal for
Sugandh seemed like a long shot, considering that there never has
been an Indian American pop music star. If she makes it,
she’ll be the first.
“I didn’t know I had a chance to make (music) a
career until recently,” she said.
For Sugandh ““ who graduated from Rutgers University on the
dean’s list with a degree in biology, grew up in New Jersey
to everything from Sade to Pantera to Duran Duran, and learned to
play the tabla (Indian tuned hand drums) ““ the goal simply is
to bring the magic of Bollywood to Americans.
“I want to do everything in the future,” she said.
“I’m meeting with TV stations and movie companies, and
I want to go into acting, as well “¦ (and) perhaps (develop)
an Indian clothing line. Anywhere I can add that fusion would be
great.”
But some others of Indian heritage see themselves as more than
just entertainers bringing spice to the current Western
entertainment industry. They see themselves, more importantly, as
humanitarians. British Asian electronic and fusion
songwriter/producer Nitin Sawhney, who also is slated to perform at
One Night for India, often has expressed his belief that his music
has the power to defeat prejudice, which, he said, is particularly
prevalent in the music industry.
Sawhney ““ who often was harassed in his school years due
to his race ““ raises many questions about religion, politics
and racial identity in his music. He often says, “From
oppression comes expression,” and his successful career lends
his slogan greater credibility.
Sawhney has worked with Sinead O’Connor, Paul McCartney
and Sting and on music for Cirque du Soleil. He has received
numerous accolades from the British press, including a Boundary
Crossing BBC Radio 3 Music Award for his 2001 album,
“Prophesy.”
For other rising entertainers of Indian descent ““ such as
Kal Penn, a star in “Harold and Kumar Go to White
Castle” ““ being Indian American entertainers
automatically entails battling stereotypes. Penn recently wrote on
his Web site about a rather vivid, negative childhood experience
with a media-influenced stereotype.
“Remember when “˜Indiana Jones and the Temple of
Doom’ came out and no one would sit next to you in school
because they thought you had monkey brains and snakes in your
sandwich?” he wrote.
Though not every Indian American may share Penn’s
experience, he expressed that most have experienced some type of
stereotyping from depictions of South Asian Americans in the
movies.
“Unfortunately, most of us within the South Asian American
community have had negative experiences with media images,”
Penn wrote. “”˜Harold and Kumar’ (is) the first
studio film ever to positively feature two Asian American dudes!
(It) will determine opportunities for and depictions of South Asian
Americans in entertainment in the immediate and long-term
futures.”
But seldom does mass social change come easily, and these rising
entertainers of Indian ethnicity only can effect positive change
with massive exposure and economic success, whether at the box
office or with album sales.
“If it’s good music, people will buy it,”
Sugandh said.