Nisha’s Blog - Archived Copy

After two long years at the censor board… Chutney Popcorn will finally be shown in Mumbai this November. I’m thinking of going. Because, you know, I want to see the theater before it’s bombed.

So we are going to travel by miniature van to D.C for the Margaret Cho show at American University. Because, if you haven’t seen the Revolution show yet, you are missing out on some serious tear streaming down you face as you almost start to cry laughter. This is the dilemma: I hate the miniature Van. They are ridiculous vehicles. I refuse to even call them ‘mini-van’ because that term seems like propaganda to make them sound somewhat acceptable and they are not. They are, in fact, miniature vans. It’s ridiculous. And I think we should call them out by their full shameful names. But alas we are travelling to D.C. with Queens and camera equipment. And as Lorene has pointed out, “Queens gots luggage.”

Feed your kid chocolate on public transportation. Unless you’ve got a stash of handy wipes or some Purell all up in that overloaded bag of yours - think before you give your child chocolate that ends up all over their nasty hands and all over the nasty seat and then all over me and every other New Yorker that has to take the bus or wants to sit down for the few minutes they can on the subway.

And while you’re at it - why not take a few minutes out of each day to explain to your child that they are not the most important thing on the planet. That their conversation is NOT more important than the one you are having with your adult friend. And that they don’t need you to haul everything they own that could entertain them to every place you go today. Maybe this is easy for me to say from my no child rearing platform - but I am afraid of the generation of children that are being raised right now. I am afraid because they are going to be the entitled adults running the world that I’m going to have to live in when I’m all old and too tired to fight ‘em. I don’t know who started this new brand of parenting - this “I’m going to be everything to you that my parents never were for me” kind of attention giving and coddling. But I’m afraid of the repercussions. I mean - yes I think good parenting is very very important. I think child abuse is the cause of so much evil in our world. But this new parenting attitude is just going way to far in the opposite direction. If I see one more strung out skinny mom on the Upper West Side trying to keep up with all the activities and moment by moment nonsense that comes out of their kids mouths as if what they are saying is some of the most original thinking of our times I don’t know what I’ll do. I mean our parents certainly didn’t do that and we all turned out fine didn’t we? I mean yeah we’re fucked up all in our own ways but that’s what makes us special and original too isn’t it? And that’s what gives us a common language with each other. What is that new generation going to bond over if you keep this behavior up anyway? I don’t know and frankly I’m afraid of it already. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

The premiere is all set for November 5th at Lincoln Center… It looks so far like the question/answer will be me, Jen Small, Sabrina Dhawan, Madhur Jaffrey and maybe Carol Kane if her filming schedule permits. Roshan is in India and so won’t be able to make it - which is a shame because he’s an incredible story teller. See you there or at the screening Friday Night (Nov 7th) at the Jacob Burns Center (http://www.burnsfilmcenter.org/)

sorry! no time to hyper link - i’m running late and my html skills are SLOW -ass!

There seems to be some huge discussion taking place on the guestbook to Chutney Popcorn about how to become a surrogate mother. It’s really fascinating to watch - this spiral of questions, offers, suggestions, etc. But I am a little concerned about the idea of the guestbook for a fictional film being the best place for this exchange of information. Perhaps a different exit on the super highway is closer to the destination…

If that Jed Bartlet doesn’t get his ass back to work the whole world is gonna be on the brink of World War III. Damn it - he do look a lot like Emilio Estevez when they show his profile though don’t he?

The tallest person in the movie theater sitting right in front of me is directly proportional to the amount of time I’ve given up to get to the movie early. Aside from that - Lost In Translation had some great music…

CNN headline news just reported that the South has the “highest growth rate for Hispanics in America” The reporter then went on to state that “Hispanics are drawn to the south because of the high number of manual labor jobs in agriculture industries that are available there” Like it’s a career choice. That’s why they are drawn there, can’t wait to do all that manual labor!

Not to sound like a Canadian propagandist but… I just have to say that today the city of Montreal closed it’s downtown streets to car traffic for the annual ‘traffic free’ day that the city holds in order to keep Montreal from becoming polluted.
One day a year, is all it takes to keep the air cleaner. That’s all I’m saying. That and that the day NYC was closed to car traffic because of the snow storm was the most joyous day I’ve ever spent in Manhattan.

It looks like the Asia Society screening was cancelled and the Lincoln Center is on… there are also more screenings coming up, so if the opening night screening for IAAC Film Festival is too expensive… wait for the next screening in the coming months. Otherwise - Madhur Jaffrey, Jen Small, Sabrina Dhawan and I will see you Nov 5th!