Indians in Hollywood: Behind and on the screen

[Filiprish]

I don't know a lot about Indians in Hollywood. Well, I probably know more than most non-Indians. But, this thread to discuss the contribution Indians have had and will have on Hollywood. Please share what you know and discuss.

My favorite Indian director is Mira Nair (http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0619762/). Her new movie, Vanity Fair (http://www.vanityfairmovie.com/), starring Reese Witherspoon, came out yesterday.

[truMp]

I don't think I could stand Vanity Fair. As for Indians in Hollywood, I do believe Kumar from 'Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle' was an indian; there was the indian family from the matrix. Other than that, I don't recall ever seeing many indians in the Hollywood biz.

[younggiftedandblack]

I don't think I could stand Vanity Fair. As for Indians in Hollywood, I do believe Kumar from 'Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle' was an indian; there was the indian family from the matrix. Other than that, I don't recall ever seeing many indians in the Hollywood biz.
The only one I can think of is Parminder Nagra (http://imdb.com/name/nm0619406/)

[yoMAMA]

M Nigth Shamalan....the guy with all those psycho movies.

[TB4000]

M. Night "i'm running out of ideas, but since it's cool to like my movies, people will still go see them"

yeah, ill say so. i think he lost his edge.

[truMp]

M. Night "i'm running out of ideas, but since it's cool to like my movies, people will still go see them" Shyamalan, Kal "Kumar" Penn, Ben Kingsley, and Rhona Mitra.

Ben Kingsley is a great actor.

[yoMAMA]

Ben Kingsley is a great actor.

I heard the house of sand and fog is aswesome.

[robotic]

ben kingsley is indian?

...;_; i didn't know that.
he looked perfect in "gandhi".

[hooligan]

ben kingsley is indian?

...;_; i didn't know that.
he looked perfect in "gandhi".
isn't he half indian and then some? well, there are some GREAT looking indian actors who can really act. i have never sat through a whole bollywood production, but i really like the dancing. : )

does anyone know of any good movies that we can check out. i've seen "bend it like beckham" but not "monsoon wedding."

[yoMAMA]

ben kingsley is indian?

...;_; i didn't know that.
he looked perfect in "gandhi".

yeah, i think he's half indian/half white.

[raacluse]

A coupla names come to mind. That guy named something like Shymalaman (sp?) who directed "The Village" (or is it "Village"). I think that's his 2nd major release.

Gurinder (sp?) Chadha, who directed "Bend it like Beckham" hit the goldmine with that film. I remember seeing her earlier films like "I'm British but..." and the one about the women going on holiday to Brighton. The former was the first time I saw South Asians (or "Asians" as they say over there) with Scottish and Irish accents.

Back in the spring, I finally saw "Mutiny; Asians storm British Music" by Vivek Bald. Found it pretty interesting. Too bad, that half of the time, I couldn't understand what people in it were saying. There was a problem with the clarity of the sound recording or the interviewees tended to mumble terribly, or maybe there was a bit of both. The filmmaker said he was thinking of adding subtitles (an expensive proposition). In retrospect, it's interesting that there was no appearance of Apache Indian in the film.

[I just realized that only the first person I mentioned is really a part of "Hollywood". That's the problem with being a "visible minority" (to borrow the Canadian term). It's tough making inroads.]

[Shuriken]

Yes, Ben Kingsley is ethnically Indian. His real name is Krishna Bhanji.

Hollywood's most famous ethnic Indian is probably Merle Oberon, who palyed Cathy in Wuthering Heights (1939). She spent her entire career hiding the fact that she was part-Indian. Her one-time husband, cinematographer Lucien Ballard, invented a lighting device to make her look more white; the device is still called the "Obie," after Merle Oberon.

Another Indian of silver-screen Hollywood was Sabu.

By the way, this isn't Hollywood, but I was amazed to discover that singer Norah Jones is the half-white illegitimate daughter of sitarist Ravi Shanker.

[robotic]

http://www.kalpennonline.com/KP2.jpg

interview with harold & kumar go to white castle star, kal penn (http://www.niralimagazine.com/features/0409_penn.html)
(nirali magazine (http://www.niralimagazine.com))

[s1eve]

Kumar Pallana who nearly stole the show in The Terminal. He was also great in The Royal Tenenbaums.

[Vedic_Warrior]

Hollywood's most famous ethnic Indian is probably Merle Oberon, who palyed Cathy in Wuthering Heights (1939). She spent her entire career hiding the fact that she was part-Indian. Her one-time husband, cinematographer Lucien Ballard, invented a lighting device to make her look more white; the device is still called the "Obie," after Merle Oberon.

Another Indian of silver-screen Hollywood was Sabu.



Wasn't Merle Oberon Sri Lankan?

Anyways, she had a lot of self-hate. When her mother came to visit her in California, she disguised her as a housemade so that people would not suspect her true ethnicity...... :eek:

But yeah, I remember watching Sabu's videos......I wonder what happened to him......

[Martino]

Wasn't Merle Oberon Sri Lankan?

Anyways, she had a lot of self-hate. When her mother came to visit her in California, she disguised her as a housemade so that people would not suspect her true ethnicity...... :eek:

But yeah, I remember watching Sabu's videos......I wonder what happened to him......

If memory serves, his 'career' was blighted by being type cast as your standard 40's jungle hero sidekick, doomed to make films with lower and lower production values and dumber titles. He appeared in a number of classic films though, and he had a life outside of cinema. He died of a heart attack in the late Fifties or early Sixties.

[hooligan]

No one mentioned Pooja Kumar from Imaginasian and other movies. Let me dig up her imdb.com info.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1136881/

[robotic]

Wasn't Merle Oberon Sri Lankan?.

merle oberon's father was from britain and her mother from ceylon (sri lanka)

Early publicity stated that she was born in Tasmania, rather than India. At that time, a Tasmanian background was considered "classier" than her true half-caste origins.

In 1949, twelve years after her mother's death, she commissioned a painting of her mother from an old photograph, instructing the painter to lighten her mother's complexion in the painting to hide the fact that she is part-Indian.

[Shuriken]

Wasn't Merle Oberon Sri Lankan?

Well, since Sri Lanka (or Ceylon as it was then known) was part of British India at the time she was born (1911), does it really matter? One resource says that she was born in Bombay, while another says Calcutta.

[robotic]

Kumar Pallana who nearly stole the show in The Terminal. He was also great in The Royal Tenenbaums.

i love kumar pallana!

and his spinning plates <3

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Anuma/catherine_zeta_jones1.jpg

[robotic]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Anuma/ray_lisa_250.jpg

lisa ray (of polish/bengali ancestry) was born in toronto and is famous for her roles in water & bollywood/hollywood.