Om Malik

If the title is any indication, then Gurinder Chaddha’s Bride & Prejudice is going to be a smash hit. Even though Bend it like Beckam is still packing them in, Ms. Chaddha has already started shooting her next movie. The shooting started on July 14th at Ealing Studios, UK and soon the crews will be jetting to India where the movie will be shot in Mumbai, Amritsar and Goa. Based on Jane Austen’s novel, the story revolves around a family of 4 daughters and how the poor parents find it difficult to marry each of the daughters without dowry.

The film stars Aishwarya Rai as Lalita and Martin Henderson (The Ring) as Darcy. The cast of UK, Indian and US talent also includes Daniel Gillies, Naveen Andrews, Namrata Shirodkar, Indira Varma, Nadira Babbar, Anupam Kher, Meghna Kothari, Peeya Rai Choudhuri and Nitin Ganatra. The film will feature song and dance

Many of us who have lived or live in New York, know how fortunate we are to have a high-quality Indian bistro like Tamarind. But apparently that pales in front of London’s Tamarind, which despite its age is still the gold standard amongst Indian restaurants. In article of four best Asian restaurants in London, The New York Times was gushing in praise of the Tamarind, the old school version.

The excitement generated by Tamarind’s opening eight years ago cannot be overstated. Here was an Indian restaurant on a chic Mayfair street charging upscale prices and serving Indian food in glamorous style. It quickly became not only the talk of the town but, with Zaika, below, among the first Indian restaurants in Europe to receive a Michelin star.

Forget the food, for there is one more reason to go to England.

The men’s room is among the best-looking I’ve seen, with

We all know how crappy the movies coming out of Bollywood can be, but I have a short list of films which might be easier to digest than the regular dance-drama fare.

• Chupke Se : A romantic comedy by Shona Urvashi’s. It is about the dreams of a middleclass girl played by debutante Masumi.
• Market : Debutant director Jai Prakash’s movie stars in which Manisha Koirala, Shweta Menon and Suman Ranganathan who all sweat it out as sex workers, while debutant model Aryan Vaid provides male meat to the provocative flick. Oh well anyone who has been to Mumbai, will find it hard to find sex-workers this good looking, not that we have not tried
• Late Anant Balani’s Joggers’ Park. The film portrays the relationship between a retired judge played by Victor Bannerjee and a 20-something bright woman (Perizaad Zoriban) whom he runs into in a park, says Times of

Far Eastern Economic Review has this wonderful review of Shoba Narayan’s Monsoon Diary. The review, unlike some of the mostly positive reviews in the west, is sharp, witty and gets to the point. If you are considering buying Monsoon Diary (please see the list on the right – you are helping the website by buying from here), you must read this review.

Monsoon Diary is light, fluffy and tasty just like the idlis–or rice cakes–that Narayan writes about. To be sure, her descriptions of the food, the smells and the characters of India are as delectable as the recipes that accompany the chapters.

The reviewer is not terribly impressed with some of the writing in the later part of the book.

Monsoon Diary is at its best when its realm is the India of Narayan’s childhood. The latter half of the book, which is set in America, is unfortunately filled