Kamla Bhatt Show show

Kamla Bhatt Show

Summary: Connecting the Indian diaspora across the world. It is all about life, people and ideas. Every week we speak to an interesting mix of people about business, technology, films, food, books and a host of other subjects. This is the place to come to listen to a stimulating conversation on India.

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Podcasts:

 Bollywood Music Director Ehsaan Noorani | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 22:51

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/3-150x150.jpg) Meet Bollywood's music director Ehsaan Nooran, part of the musical trio of Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy (http://www.shankarehsaanloy.com/), harbingers of the new wave of Bollywood music . Within a short span of 10 years  Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy as created memorable music for Bollywood films like Dil Chahata Hai (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRFhKDbSKFY&feature=fvst), Mission Kashmir (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9ZUWVtZq0k), Taare Zameen Par, Kal Ho Na No (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hdjp1lEeWU), Wake Up Sid (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0fCS34P7tA), Rock On (/www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iCnPk4ACpo)and Patiala House (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA0PPTdyeyM). In this interview Ehsaan shares his musical memories of growing up in Mumbai (Bombay)and how he developed his love for playing the guitar and about his first guitar teacher - Bismarck Rodrigues. What kind of music did Ehsaan listen growing up? Who are some of his favorite musicians? And of course we talked about how Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy was formed. Ehsaan is the first Bollywood musician to have a Fender signature guitar. This interview was recorded in January 2011 in California. Photo credit: SEL

 Meet Bjorn Lomborg: Skeptical Environmentalist | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 19:41

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/BjornLomborg-150x150.jpg)Meet Bjorn Lomborg, the skeptical environmentalist,who advances a different approach to handle the global warming issue. In his documentary Cool It (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPUcfQS-slo) (2010) Lomborg travels to different parts of the world and highlights the challenges faced by different societies. Lomborg is a Danish political scientist and a former member of the Green Peace movement, who has written, talked, debated extensively on this issue for many years. His recent efforts are about cooling the high volume debate around global warming and also shine light on other pressing global issues like potable water, education and health. Lomborg has his share of people that oppose his views. In this interview Lomborg talks about the film, the solution he is proposing and the criticism leveled against him. Related link: Here is a short video interview with Lomborg (http://www.youtube.com/kamlabhatt#p/u/1/hoKNP1Tpsd8).

 Walter Luh on Corona & Building Cross-Platform Mobile Apps | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 23:30

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/WalterLuh_AnscaMobile_Corona-150x150.jpg)2010 will go down as the year of apps. There are thousands of apps available for different handsets that use different operating systems (OS), which creates a challenge for app developers. Developers have to tweak and test their code for different handsets and OS. Sensing an opportunity in the nascent and burgeoning apps marketplace Walter Luh and Carlos Icaza started Ansca Mobile (http://www.anscamobile.com/). They developed a cross-platform dev tool tailored to meet the needs of a rapidly changing mobile app landscape. Their product Corona (http://www.anscamobile.com/corona/) allows developers to create apps and games for both Apple's IOS and Google's Android. This simple but powerful tool is helping developers quickly create and deploy their apps online as Luh points out in the interview. Corona (http://blog.anscamobile.com/2010/11/corona-in-apples-top-10-development-tools/) is one of the top dev tools downloaded from Apple's website. Corona SDK is currently available for Mac platform. Luh and his team are working on making their tool available for Windows platforms. Luh has degrees from Swarthmore College and Stanford University (http://www.stanford.edu). He previously worked with Adobe and Apple. He has worked with the top two authoring tools for the creative community - Adobe's Illustrator (http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/whatisillustrator/) and Apple's Final Cut Pro (http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/finalcutpro/) This interview is part of a longer interview that was first aired on 90.1 FM, KZSU in Stanford Spotlight program in Dec 2010.

 Anglo-Indians Of India:Glenda Michelle Singh | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 22:13

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/GlendaMichelleSingh_TheKamlaShow_Copyright2010-150x150.jpg)You probably have heard of Russell Peters, the  Canadian comedian. But, did you know he is an Anglo-Indian? He is perhaps the best known Anglo-Indian in the world today. Famous Anglo-Indians include Hollywood actress Merle Oberon and singer Engelbert Humperdinck The Anglo-Indians are a diminishing minority of India. Glenda Michelle Singh, who grew up in Lucknow (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucknow), India, shares her memories of growing up within a small and tight-knit community of Anglo-Indians. Her father worked for the Indian Railways, which is where Anglo-Indians worked during the British Raj. Christmas a specially important celebration for the Anglo-Indians, who started their celebrations in the first week of December. Besides the dance and singing, food and friends was the highlight of the season. Glenda talks about the long and tedious process of preparing the ingredients for the Christmas cakes, which was then baked by Lucknow's Muslim baker called Speedy Gonzalez. That is right - the baker was named after the famous song and Disney character (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedy_Gonzales). During the 19th and 20thc there was a small and dynamic Anglo-Indian community in different parts of British India. After India became a free country in 1947 many of the Anglo-Indians migrated to Canada, UK and Australia. You can also watch a short video interview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Q1FlyUNJo) with Glenda.

 Bollywood’s Akshay Kumar | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 13:40

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/akshaykumar-138x150.jpg)Bollywood's Akshay Kumar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akshay_Kumar) talks about his new movie Tees Maar Khan, directed by Farah Khan. The film stars Katrina Kaif, Akshaye Khanna and others. Akshay talks about his new film Tees Maar Khan, and  his next film Breakaway, where he has a cameo appearance in the form of a music video with Ludacris, an American rap singer. He also talks about his love for music, especially with Punjabi rappers and musicians.  Snoop Dogg was featured in Singh is Kking (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRraAQ-VgvQ), and was perhaps the first time that a wel-known American rap singer was featured in a Bollywood film. Akshay was a a sport and and did our version of rapid fire questions. (Hat tip to Karan Johar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karan_Johar) for his rapid fire question series.) Originally from Delhi he confesses that becoming a Bollywood star was far from his mind. Instead, he was interested in martial arts and becoming a teacher of martial arts. As luck would have it he got a couple of offers from Bollywood and that started off his career in tinsel town in Bombay, now called Mumbai. Akshay is married to Twinkle Khanna, daughter of Dimple Kapadia and Rajesh Khanna. The couple have a son and live in Mumbai, India. The interview was recorded in the USA.

 YouTube Instant’s Feross Aboukhadijeh | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 23:09

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/feross-140x150.jpg)This can only happen in Silicon Valley.You create an app, post it and the next thing you know everybody is talking about it, and you get a call from YouTube's (http://www.youtube.com) CEO. That is exactly what happened to  the creator of YouTube Instant's (http://www.feross.org/) Feross Aboukhadijeh (http://www.feross.org/), a junior at Stanford University (http://www.stanford.edu) and an intern at Facebook. YouTube Instant was inspired by Google Instant. (Video interview (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Xvfqu-J6jw)with Feross explaining YouTube Instant.) In September 2010 YouTube Instant became an instant hit and got a million hits within the first 10 days. Feross wrote the program as a challenge to his roommate in Stanford and posted it on his Facebook page. Within hours he got the first call from a Melissa Bell, a  journalist (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2010/09/youtube_instant_trumps_google.html) at The Washington Post and the media (http://www.nytimes.com/external/venturebeat/2010/09/10/10venturebeat-stanford-student-creates-youtube-instant-get-38618.html?ref=technology) deluge began with calls and emails from all around the world. And within the next 24 hours YouTube Instant went viral, and the next thing Feross got was a tweet from YouTube's Chad Hurley (http://chadhurley.com/), co-founder and former CEO. In this interview Feross talks about what brought him to Stanford, the idea behind YouTube Instant, working at Facebook, and entrepreneurs that inspire him. This is part of a longer live interview that originally aired on Stanford Spotlight, KZSU in September 2010.

 In Conversation with Gurcharan Das Part-2 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 24:00

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/GCD-in-Conversation-150x150.jpg) In Part-2 of our conversation Gurcharan Das (http://gurcharandas.org/) talks about his new book  “The Difficulty of Being Good: On The Subtle Art of Dharma.” He turned to the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata to study the concepts of dharma or doing the right thing.  He writes that the Mahabharata “is unique in engaging with the world of politics.” What is more the epic is “suspicious of ideology.” “The Mahabharata is about our incomplete lives, about good people acting badly, about how difficult it is to be good in this world,” writes Mr. Das. Can the ancient Indian epic help us understand the moral failure of governance and financial disasters of the 21st century? Tune in to find out. In case, you missed you can listen to Part-1 of the interview (http://kamlashow.com/podcast/2010/11/04/in-conversation-with-gurcharan-das-part-1/). This interview was recorded in Silicon Valley in October 2010. Related links: Videos:  Interview with Gurcharan Das (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyrZwnYDsFc) and  The Difficulty of Being Good about (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x06z7prS66I)? Photo credit: Gurcharan Das website

 In Conversation With Gurcharan Das Part-1 | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 25:12

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/GCD-in-Conversation-150x150.jpg) When Gurcharan Das took an early retirement from his corporate job and decided to pursue a "full-time career as a writer" that was greeted with a fair amount of surprise. How could this be? He was a "box-wallah"  or a corporate executive.  Mr. Das (http://gurcharandas.org/) was the CEO of Proctor and Gamble, India who later became the Managing Director, Procter & Gamble Worldwide. That was in 2002 and since then he has published "India Unbound," and writes regular columns for a handful of Indian newspaper. The Satyam Scandal (http://kamlashow.com/blog/2009/01/08/the-truth-about-satyam-computers-from-ramalinga-raju-indias-first-corporate-scandal/), dubbed as the largest corporate scandal in India prompted Mr. Das to ask how could this be? What induced this moral failure on the part of a well-known Indian entrepreneur? He turned to the Mahabharata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabharata), the old Indian epic and wondered if this "dark and epic" tale could provide answers to his question about moral failure in business, government and human beings? He had spent time at the University of Chicago learning Sanskrit and reading the Mahabharata (http://web.utk.edu/~jftzgrld/MBh1Home.html). The result is his latest book "The Difficulty of Being Good: On The Subtle Art of Dharma." In it Mr. Das writes that the Indian epic "is unique in engaging with the world of politics." What is more the epic is "suspicious of ideology." "The Mahabharata is about our incomplete lives, about good people acting badly, about how difficult it is to be good in this world," writes Mr. Das. This interview was recorded in Silicon Valley in October 2010. Related links: Videos:  Interview with Gurcharan Das (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyrZwnYDsFc) and  The Difficulty of Being Good about (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x06z7prS66I)? Photo credit: Gurcharan Das website

 In Conversation With Edward Norton | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 13:00

Edward Norton is an actor, director, filmmaker and conservationist. Recently he was appointed as the UN envoy for biodiversity. Norton (http://www.edward-norton.org/) has won critical acclaim and recognition for his roles in films like Primal Fear, American History X, Fight Club and Painted Veil. In mid-October Norton's (http://bit.ly/dkID9Y) new film Stone (http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/stone,1167546/critic-review.html?hpid=topnews) directed by John Curran is set to release. In this interview Norton talks about films, technology, philanthropy and biodiversity. You can watch a short interview (http://bit.ly/dkID9Y) of Norton talking about Stone and Robert De Niro. With reference to filmmaking and acting Norton shares his thoughts on what does draw him to a character. Think complex and layered personalities. He also talks about director Curran's vision for making Stone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_(2010_film)) and Robert De Niro's approach to acting. Besides acting, Norton is deeply interested and involved in conservation (http://www.crowdrise.com/maasaivillagersneeda/fundraiser/edwardnorton) and philanthropy work. Earlier this year he created Crowdrise, an online social networking platform that helps raise funds for charities. In July 2010 he was appointed as the UN Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiveristy (http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=36075&Cr=biodiversity&Cr1), a subject that is of deep interest to him. You can follow Norton on Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/edwardnorton).

 In Conversation With Filmmaker Shyam Benegal Part-V | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/Shyam_Benegal.thumbnail.jpg)In our final segment Indian filmmaker, director and writer Mr. Shyam Benegal (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0070867/) talks about his cousin  the legendary filmaker Guru Dutt (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=wwwkamlabhatt-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=external-search%3Fsearch-type=ss%26index=blended%26keyword=019567233X%20)(http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwkamlabhatt-20&l=ur2&o=1) and Satyajit Ray, and how they  influenced and inspired him. A prolific filmmaker he continues to make feature films and talks abou the changes in Indian films. Mr. Benegal talks about the changing India and how that is influencing his story-telling. Mr. Benegal was part of the creative team that designed the spectacular opening (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f12e6390-cf0e-11df-9be2-00144feab49a.html)ceremonies of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. In 1950 when Guru Dutt's first film became a success Mr. Benegal says, "Guru Dutt made it big."  Mr. Benegal was in high school at this time. "Suddenly he had become this enormous figure in my eyes...and I said that is what I want." Mr. Benegal wanted to make different kinds of film and not the grand romantic films that his cousin directed and starred. He points out this cousin's films were young people's films with young people's sensibilities. Tragically his cousin Guru Dutt died very young. He was only 39 years old. Mr. Benegal says Satyajit Ray (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=wwwkamlabhatt-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=external-search%3Fsearch-type=ss%26index=blended%26keyword=Satyajit%20Ray)(http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwkamlabhatt-20&l=ur2&o=1)'s Pather Panchali(http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwkamlabhatt-20&l=ur2&o=1) opened up the filmmaking path for him. After watching the film he realized that he could make films of his own choice, style and method. Later on, Mr. Benegal went on to make a film titled, Benegal on Ray. This two-hour long film is one of the rare instances where Mr. Ray talks about his private life and films. Mr. Benegal concludes our conversation by discussing the changing India and how this is influencing his story-telling. He dismisses any ideas of retiring and laughingly admits, " I am very jealous (of the new films) because I am not keeping up." He has two projects in the pipeline: Chamki based on Prosper Merimee 's Carmen, and a second project that is based on a 21st century Indian village. This one-on-one conversation was recorded in Mr. Benegal's office in Mumbai, India. Since then Mr. Benegal has produced a couple of feature films.

 In Conversation With Filmmaker Shyam Benegal Part-IV | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

In our fourth segment  Indian filmamker, director and writer Mr. Shyam Benegal (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0070867/) talks about his last film: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero. This one-on-one conversation was recorded in 2006 at Mr. Benegal's office in Mumbai, India. Since then Mr. Benegal has directed films like Welcome to Sajjanpur (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_Sajjanpur)and Well Done Abba (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_Done_Abba).  Mr. Benegal was part of the creative team that designed the spectacular (http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2010/1003/India-kicks-off-Commonwealth-Games-Beijing-Olympics-these-are-not)opening ceremonies of the 2010 Commonwealth Games (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/commonwealthgames/8039871/Commonwealth-Games-2010-India-kick-start-19th-Games-with-colourful-opening-ceremony.html)in India. It took a long time to research and make the movie, and when the movie was released last year there was quite a bit of controversy surrounding it. Mr. Benegal talks about that and Justice Mukherjee Commission's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukherjee_Commission) findings on Bose. Interestingly the findings of the commission will be tabled in the Parliament in early May, which Mr. Benegal will attend as an MP. Growing up, Mr. Benegal heard about Bose and his Indian National Army from his uncle Ramesh Benegal (http://www.konkani2004.com/docs/Pg198-200.pdf), who was recruited by Bose as a teenager and sent to Japan to train as a pilot. After independence, Ramesh Benegal joined the Indian Air Force from where he retired as Air Commodore. Mr. Benegal idolized his uncle as a child and was fascinated by the stores that he heard from him.

 In Conversation With Filmmaker Shyam Benegal Part-III | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/Shyam_Benegal.thumbnail.jpg)In our third segment Hindi filmmaker and director Mr. Shyam Benegal (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0070867/) talks about his career in advertising, and how he got into feature films. Mr. Benegal  took a circuitous route before he started making feature films. He spent 14 years in the advertising world, and produced about 150 films per year. He made ad films for Gold Spot, Thums Up, Rexona, Surf and Amul (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amul). He was part of the creative team that came up with the Amul butter baby mascot. A After spending 14 years in the advertising industry, he took a sabbatical and traveled to the US on a Homi Bhabha fellowship. In the US he attended a children's TV workshop, and worked briefly at Boston's WGBH (http://wgbh.org/) and NY WNET (http://www.thirteen.org/index.php). When he returned to India, he got busy with the production of his first feature film. Mr. Benegal made his first feature film Ankur in 1973. Everybody in the film was a newcomer, except for the camera person Govind Nihalani (http://www.govindnihalani.com/).

 Filmmaker Shyam Benegal Part-II | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

Mr. Shyam Benegal (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0070867/) is one of India's best known film directors, and was part of the Hindi parallel or art cinema of India during the 1970s and 1980s. A prolific filmmaker he has made feature and TV films and documentaries along with  hundreds of advertisement films in India. In part 2 of our conversation  Mr. Benegal discusses how his interest in films began. As a six-year old boy he got hooked to films and that developed into a life-long passion. The first film that left an indelible impact on him was Cat People, a horror film that he saw as a six-year old boy. He confesses that he got nightmares after watching the film. But, that did not preclude him from watching films, and he sometimes watched two films a week at his local cantonment theatre. At home his still photographer father dabbled in making films of his family and also showed short films that he bough from Kodak.  So, in a way he was surrounded in an atmosphere of films and photography. By the time he was in college Mr. Benegal's cousin Guru Dutt  had started to make a fame for himself in Hindi films, now known as Bollywood.  So,  after completing his studies Mr. Benegal decided to move to Bombay since ce there was no film industry in Hyderabad during that time. Instead of joining his cousin's Guru Dutt's film production company he decided to work in the  advertisement industry. He spent about a decade in the advertisement industry before he made his first feature film Ankur (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071145/). After the success of Ankur, Mr. Benegal went on to make films like Mandi (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=wwwkamlabhatt-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=external-search%3Fsearch-type=ss%26index=blended%26keyword=B0001HN0WC%20), Nishant (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=wwwkamlabhatt-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=external-search%3Fsearch-type=ss%26index=blended%26keyword=B0001IU54M%20), Bhumika (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=wwwkamlabhatt-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=external-search%3Fsearch-type=ss%26index=blended%26keyword=B0001IU3EO%20)(http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwkamlabhatt-20&l=ur2&o=1), Junoon, (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077783/) Manthan (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074858/), Kalyug, (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080982/) Zubeida (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=wwwkamlabhatt-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=external-search%3Fsearch-type=ss%26index=blended%26keyword=B00005KIUM%20)(http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwkamlabhatt-20&l=ur2&o=1) and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero This is part-2 of a 6-part interview with Mr. Benegal.

 Filmmaker Shyam Benegal Part-I | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: Unknown

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/Shyam_Benegal1.thumbnail.jpg)Mr. Shyam Benegal (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0070867/) is one of India's best known film director, who prefers to use the term Hindi cinema rather than Bollywood.  A prolific filmmaker he has made feature films, TV films and documentaries and hundreds of advertisement films in India.  He was part of the creative team  (http://ibnlive.in.com/news/xix-commonwealth-games-all-set-to-roll/132257-5-23.html?from=tn)that designed (http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/10/03/5222567-2010-commonwealth-games-begin) the spectacular opening ceremony (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f12e6390-cf0e-11df-9be2-00144feab49a.html)of the 2010 Common Wealth Games (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y2vTMLzD48&feature=player_embedded#!) (video clip), New Delhi, India. This multi-part one-on-one conversation with Mr. Benegal was recorded in his office in Mumbai, India in 2006. A wonderful storyteller Mr Benegal talks about his childhood and his career in the advertisement industry and how he got into making feature film and the influence of his cousin Guru Dutt (http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/Culture/Cinema/GuruD.html) that brought him to Bombay, now Mumbai, the entertainmment capital of India. In Part-1 Mr. Benegal talks about his recent nomination (2006) to the Upper House (http://rajyasabha.nic.in/) (Rajya Sabha) of the Indian Parliament. Earlier this year President APJ Abdul Kalam (http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&q=India+President&meta=) nominated Mr. Benegal as a member of the Rajya Sabha. His tenure as a Member of Parliament (MP) is for a period of six years. This is the first time that the filmmaker has held a political office. Mr. Benegal (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=wwwkamlabhatt-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=external-search%3Fsearch-type=ss%26index=blended%26keyword=shyam%20benegal)(http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwkamlabhatt-20&l=ur2&o=1) was born and brought up in Aliwal, near Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh. He relocated to Bombay after graduating with a Masters in Economics from Hyderabad, and instead of joining his cousin Guru Dutt's film production he decided to work in the advertisement industry. He spent about a decade in the advertisement industry before he made his first feature film Ankur (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071145/). After the success of Ankur, Mr. Benegal went on to make films like Mandi (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=wwwkamlabhatt-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=external-search%3Fsearch-type=ss%26index=blended%26keyword=B0001HN0WC%20), Nishant (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=wwwkamlabhatt-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=external-search%3Fsearch-type=ss%26index=blended%26keyword=B0001IU54M%20), Bhumika (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=wwwkamlabhatt-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=external-search%3Fsearch-type=ss%26index=blended%26keyword=B0001IU3EO%20)(http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwkamlabhatt-20&l=ur2&o=1), Junoon, (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077783/) Manthan (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074858/), Kalyug, (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080982/) Zubeida (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=wwwkamlabhatt-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=external-search%3Fsearch-type=ss%26index=blended%26keyword=B00005KIUM%20)(http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=wwwkamlabhatt-20&l=ur2&o=1) and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero Mr. Benegal introduced many talented actors like Shabana Azmi (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000818/), Anant Nag (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0619047/), Smita Patil (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0665599/), and Naseerudin Shah (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0787462/) among others to the Indian film industry. Mr. Benegal has no immediate plans to retire. This interview was originally recorded in  Mr. Benegal's office in Mumbai in April 2006.

 In Conversation With Bollywood Director Abhishek Sharma | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 41

(http://kamlashow.com/podcast/wp-content/uploads/abhsiheksharma-150x150.jpg)Abhishek Sharma's Bollywood film Tere Bin Laden (Without You Bin Laden) came from the left field & became an instant hit when it was released in July 2010 in India. Since then the film has had limited releases in USA and other countries. Tere Bin Laden (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jul/22/tere-bin-laden-review-tunzelmann) is probably the first Bollywood film that has a Pakistani actor  Ali Zafar (http://www.alizafar.net/) known as "King of Pop" in the lead role. The film is a spoof that revolves around Ali Hasan (Ali Zafar) , a US returned Pakistani journalist who is intent on getting back to the USA. He creates a fake Bin Laden (Pradhuman Singh) tape to achieve his goal. I spoke with director and writer Abhishek Sharma about the film, Hollywood directors that have influenced his filmmaking and about his upcoming first trip to the United States of America. The film (http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan/2010/09/2010968455534861.html) is a first not only for Abhishek but also for Ali Zafar, Pradhuman Singh and Walkwater Media (http://www.walkwater.in/flash.html) that produced the film. The film stars Ali Zafar, Nikhil Ratnaparhi, Pradhuman Singh and John Barry.

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