Latest / The Bridge by Sammy Chand / May 6, 2026

Transcript

May 6, 2026 · The Bridge by Sammy Chand

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: South Asian music and cultures can.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Be found around the world.
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: We tracked down the best and presented here for you
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: on Ruckus Avenue Radio.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Hi everybody, I'm katonage Land. You're listening to Ruckus Avenue Radio.
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: Hello and call.
• 0:22
  Speaker 5: This is Doctor Sinistas and you're listening to The Bridge
• 0:24
  Speaker 5: hosted by The Deal but Sami Chan on Ruckus Avenue Radio. Hey,
• 0:30
  Speaker 5: this is Vedas and you're listening to the Bridge with
• 0:32
  Speaker 5: Sammy Chon on Ruckus Avenue Radio.
• 0:36
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: I hope you all are well.
• 0:40
  Speaker 7: Thank you very much for picking up the signal wherever
• 0:43
  Speaker 7: you may be across this beautiful planet of ours. My
• 0:48
  Speaker 7: name is Sammy Chan and welcome everybody to a May
• 0:51
  Speaker 7: sixth edition of The Bridge. I hope you have your
• 0:58
  Speaker 7: jab a cup ready for this one.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: I got mine in my hand right now.
• 1:02
  Speaker 7: This is gonna be a fun hour and all week
• 1:05
  Speaker 7: long we've been paying tribute to the American dacy film
• 1:09
  Speaker 7: that came out twenty five years ago. And if you
• 1:12
  Speaker 7: joined us on Monday, you heard from the two leading
• 1:14
  Speaker 7: ladies on this show, Sunita Batam fun conversation and yesterday
• 1:23
  Speaker 7: we had the three pad dudes from the film Anil
• 1:26
  Speaker 7: Kamar send it to Silva Sonoma joined us. I had
• 1:32
  Speaker 7: a really good time yesterday's show.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: That was fun.
• 1:35
  Speaker 7: And today we'll be joined by I would say the
• 1:37
  Speaker 7: three comics. These three individuals really went out there and
• 1:41
  Speaker 7: made a name for themselves in the comedic space, whether
• 1:44
  Speaker 7: it was before or after whatever, but generally in our
• 1:48
  Speaker 7: South Asian space.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Today we'll be joined by Cal Penn.
• 1:54
  Speaker 7: And Cal's had a phenomenal career, very wide and has
• 1:58
  Speaker 7: worked in different spaces and in different and capacities in
• 2:01
  Speaker 7: his career, so looking forward to having him. We'll be
• 2:05
  Speaker 7: joined by Rizwan Manji, somebody that has really been on
• 2:10
  Speaker 7: television quite a bit in our time, been one of
• 2:13
  Speaker 7: the common brown faces that we've seen. And then we'll
• 2:16
  Speaker 7: also be joined today by Aladdin, stand up comic, one
• 2:22
  Speaker 7: of the first in our space back in the nineties
• 2:24
  Speaker 7: when this film was put together and has gone on
• 2:27
  Speaker 7: to do so many things in the business.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Big show ahead, can't wait to bring it to you.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna start it.
• 2:35
  Speaker 7: Off with one of the big songs from the film
• 2:38
  Speaker 7: Banjab BMC. The song is called Mirza and it was
• 2:43
  Speaker 7: used in the soundtrack of the film American They See
• 2:46
  Speaker 7: Let's have some fun today. Welcome to the bridge, everybody, my.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Moon, that.
• 3:14
  Speaker 8: Old ja, my mode that.
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: Oh hold n.
• 3:23
  Speaker 9: Jack and God sain Jack and God said Massinana.
• 3:34
  Speaker 10: It was the last summer my book color disguise. When
• 3:37
  Speaker 10: I heard you read your swept and job in my
• 3:39
  Speaker 10: heart never had a crab for never.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Had my still heart dive before. But now I fo.
• 3:46
  Speaker 10: Blast, true love and blast. But you can fit my
• 3:49
  Speaker 10: body and she was cast for my woman. My woman
• 3:53
  Speaker 10: is my mind, my destiny.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: She speaks to her.
• 3:55
  Speaker 10: Heavyfore nine, her body blues. This is the way as five.
• 3:59
  Speaker 10: When I'm on the battlefield, Stay in live, Stay in live,
• 4:04
  Speaker 10: marg step two one hundred and forty nine ms A spat.
• 4:08
  Speaker 10: So I pulled out my stilts are five back, pull
• 4:11
  Speaker 10: out the house.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: This from my br sat walked across the five pripleens
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: one hundred degrees.
• 4:17
  Speaker 11: My body burns.
• 4:18
  Speaker 8: My mom sell, how I been on it and I just.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Got here?
• 4:25
  Speaker 9: How they can under under cane me came may Arena,
• 4:36
  Speaker 9: came out of may Arena.
• 5:03
  Speaker 12: My god, Jennifer Nucket Time, Jennifer n the Nucket sound,
• 5:13
  Speaker 12: Enny back cornicle, don it dun gonna leg.
• 5:20
  Speaker 9: Back cord uncle, don it dun gonna let Mama Manica
• 5:49
  Speaker 9: Ya hold on sign Doctor John the manic ya hold
• 5:55
  Speaker 9: Yo sign Doctor John.
• 5:57
  Speaker 13: On the.
• 6:00
  Speaker 7: Inside miticize the song part two if you're keeping score.
• 6:12
  Speaker 7: Benjab BMC is the artist classic and one of the
• 6:17
  Speaker 7: many songs used in the American Bacy soundtrack, including one
• 6:22
  Speaker 7: of ours, of course, a Kharmacy passage to India. It's
• 6:25
  Speaker 7: a closing credit song. We'll roll that out tomorrow. Here's
• 6:28
  Speaker 7: Hassan Rahem who's there just followed. The song is called
• 6:31
  Speaker 7: baby Girl Daily every.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Night you've been on my mind, Baby Girl.
• 6:36
  Speaker 14: These much good ekker Mosca, I haven't so alone feeling
• 6:49
  Speaker 14: my bones, Dona Joe made Usta Jordadkoyuna Jorda manager ka
• 7:05
  Speaker 14: to not the cany giant push your guy a.
• 7:15
  Speaker 15: Ra poo longtery a book you.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: M l I guess it was.
• 8:01
  Speaker 11: A baby through until you make up.
• 8:09
  Speaker 15: Yeah, you.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Girls enjoy a.
• 8:30
  Speaker 16: Roshan in Cooder Saya observer man Jusamaya retarded to my
• 8:38
  Speaker 16: album cock Sophia, you're like an know that you went
• 8:42
  Speaker 16: out baby and you took me with yourselves.
• 8:47
  Speaker 8: Running ver don't inside my head, laid me.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: Don't you tell me by yourself pillb deal Metal.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Baby cu.
• 9:00
  Speaker 11: DEI bad the Baby till you make.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: It's a great track, Baby Girl, who's there?
• 9:50
  Speaker 11: Just fall?
• 9:50
  Speaker 7: Hassan Mahim played it a couple of times this week already.
• 9:56
  Speaker 7: We'll be joined today by doctor Roy, who'll be joining
• 9:59
  Speaker 7: us after this song right here, who brings us the
• 10:01
  Speaker 7: daily word.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: On the avenue, we'll be joined.
• 10:04
  Speaker 7: By Data, brings us a daily artist spotlight.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: This is Jasmine Sandless, what such Dave.
• 10:12
  Speaker 17: Shan Man, johnny Man, johnny Manjock to do her, No,
• 10:21
  Speaker 17: you're married, delumea Jana Man johnny Man, johnny Man.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: John to.
• 10:34
  Speaker 9: Do her nona're married?
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: Delu me after.
• 10:42
  Speaker 6: Ingo Hoky Gusta bols A, Honky Rubert Roy.
• 11:25
  Speaker 18: Thank you, caut skis alla baby not so much more
• 11:31
  Speaker 18: your touch l a give the Greek problems wor class
• 11:36
  Speaker 18: send me come close yourself chest we can get baby.
• 11:40
  Speaker 11: Thank you some.
• 11:42
  Speaker 16: I love baby so much?
• 11:47
  Speaker 15: Screen program what tes me?
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Come come well from the problem the job.
• 12:03
  Speaker 15: Carry problem of the corn John him and John him
• 12:11
  Speaker 15: and Jet.
• 12:16
  Speaker 6: Whn't married?
• 12:18
  Speaker 19: Did you mad?
• 12:19
  Speaker 8: Did you pat it? John m John and John him
• 12:25
  Speaker 8: and died.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: When that's aren't married?
• 12:33
  Speaker 8: Did you mad? Did you bath.
• 12:38
  Speaker 11: They can ring him.
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: The hockey got the boot, the log robber room, they
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: d him.
• 13:14
  Speaker 7: Yeah, you can find that top shelf of Indian composers
• 13:17
  Speaker 7: and put shush what shuts there right there at the top,
• 13:20
  Speaker 7: he belongs there.
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: That's Jasmine sandlist Man or two. Here's doctor Roy for you.
• 13:26
  Speaker 20: Hey, guys, this is doctor Vreuman, Today's word on the Avenue.
• 13:29
  Speaker 20: In Film and TV News, Top Gun starring Tom Cruise
• 13:32
  Speaker 20: is set for a special re release in India to
• 13:35
  Speaker 20: mark its fortieth anniversary. Alongside its sequel Top Gun Maverick.
• 13:39
  Speaker 20: Backed by Paramount Pictures, The Iconic Films will return to
• 13:43
  Speaker 20: theaters for a limited one week run starting May fifteenth.
• 13:47
  Speaker 19: In Media News, Global Icon Blgito.
• 13:49
  Speaker 20: Sounge returns to The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, marking
• 13:53
  Speaker 20: another major milestone for Punjabi music on the world stage.
• 13:56
  Speaker 20: With every appearance, he continues to break barriers, bringing the
• 13:59
  Speaker 20: sound and job to global audiences and redefine the reach
• 14:03
  Speaker 20: of Indian culture worldwide. In Avenge News, what if ancient
• 14:07
  Speaker 20: art could shape future tech? Researchers at University of Maryland,
• 14:10
  Speaker 20: Baltimore County are studying Pirate not Damn to teach robots
• 14:14
  Speaker 20: more expressive and precise hand movements. By analyzing the geometric
• 14:18
  Speaker 20: maudras the dance's intricate gesture system, they've uncovered a sophisticated
• 14:23
  Speaker 20: language of motion that could enhance robotics. And it feels
• 14:26
  Speaker 20: like surgery and physical therapy, proving Indian tradition can power
• 14:30
  Speaker 20: innovation on a global scale. That's it for today's word
• 14:34
  Speaker 20: on the Avenue.
• 14:34
  Speaker 7: Until next time, Thank you so much for that, Doc
• 14:37
  Speaker 7: de Roy. We've got Kalpen coming up right after this song.
• 14:42
  Speaker 7: This one is called by Misha Shaffi stand by for Cowardi.
• 15:00
  Speaker 11: Alberny.
• 15:00
  Speaker 12: Is I mean not?
• 15:02
  Speaker 6: There's a hon somebody say it never okay, namenware Okay.
• 15:10
  Speaker 6: There's not a sad that's like color name okay him anywhere? Okay,
• 15:26
  Speaker 6: look to people looking donkey okay, sky, how you gonna okay? Okay,
• 15:34
  Speaker 6: chap only been punish the killer night or there's a
• 15:42
  Speaker 6: all us said that's like coll it never okay enyhere hokay.
• 15:49
  Speaker 6: There's not a US sad that's like color.
• 15:53
  Speaker 8: Name Okay, nware Okay?
• 15:57
  Speaker 21: Then sure your party look on you the rang Basi
• 16:02
  Speaker 21: bill Kla Krasi look CALLI the party look Cally Rang Basi,
• 16:10
  Speaker 21: Bill kraz Loo Cally the Party, No Cobby Basil Krasi,
• 16:18
  Speaker 21: No Cobby Party, No Cobby Rasi, Blas.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: Rag bash Hamshia persona.
• 16:36
  Speaker 22: Are you very very party either dark day but very guardian?
• 16:42
  Speaker 5: Mafia? Yeah?
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Heads three gang cha big rim bangers. What can angers
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: come here? The angry give me many banger. I try
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: a cheapen life in the gamb going champion the.
• 16:58
  Speaker 11: Heads.
• 17:24
  Speaker 7: That's Misha Chuffey. The song is called Bessa Bole and Folks.
• 17:29
  Speaker 7: My next guest was born in Montclair, New Jersey. He
• 17:32
  Speaker 7: broke through his ja in American dacy to find a
• 17:35
  Speaker 7: generation as Kumar and Harold and Kumar broke hearts and
• 17:39
  Speaker 7: Mira and ires the namesake Constole scenes on House MD.
• 17:43
  Speaker 7: Then he walked away from it all from Hollywood but
• 17:45
  Speaker 7: the Peak to serve in the Obama White House. He
• 17:48
  Speaker 7: came back to give us designated Survivor Sunnyside and a
• 17:52
  Speaker 7: New York Times best selling memoir. Actor, producer of public
• 17:56
  Speaker 7: servant and author. Please welcome to the bridge, the one
• 17:59
  Speaker 7: and only Cal Penn.
• 18:01
  Speaker 23: How are you man?
• 18:02
  Speaker 5: Nice to talk to.
• 18:02
  Speaker 7: You, likewise, my man, good to be on the air
• 18:05
  Speaker 7: with you. Here today, Cal thanks so much for joining us.
• 18:08
  Speaker 7: Of course, we're celebrating the big twenty five year anniversary
• 18:11
  Speaker 7: of the film American They See. I wanted to take
• 18:15
  Speaker 7: you back to the moment you find out about the film.
• 18:19
  Speaker 7: Was it was it Bush that reached out to you
• 18:21
  Speaker 7: how to go?
• 18:23
  Speaker 23: So he didn't approach me. There's a wonderful director, Nisha Ganapdra.
• 18:27
  Speaker 22: Yeah.
• 18:28
  Speaker 23: I reached out to for one of her first movies
• 18:30
  Speaker 23: because I read that she was casting. I was too
• 18:33
  Speaker 23: young for the part. And a few months later she
• 18:36
  Speaker 23: emails me and says, hey, there's a movie called American
• 18:38
  Speaker 23: They See that is casting out New York. You should
• 18:41
  Speaker 23: audition for it. So I sent my headshot and resume
• 18:43
  Speaker 23: in they called me in for an audition. I flew
• 18:46
  Speaker 23: to New York. It must have been I'm guessing I
• 18:50
  Speaker 23: had to have been home anyway for like spring Break
• 18:53
  Speaker 23: or some sort of break winter break movie. And I
• 18:56
  Speaker 23: go in and I audition, and then you know, Peusche
• 19:00
  Speaker 23: called later and it's like, we'd love to have you
• 19:02
  Speaker 23: play this part.
• 19:03
  Speaker 22: So I was.
• 19:03
  Speaker 23: I was thrilled, but I remember that coming together.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome, that's really cool, you know, looking back
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: on it. I feel like each of the characters, with
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: great intent, represented different parts of our diaspora. There was
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: one of everyone in the film.
• 19:19
  Speaker 7: Your character specifically a Jay Bondia is like a confluence
• 19:24
  Speaker 7: of like hip hop culture and an American Indian kid,
• 19:28
  Speaker 7: you know, And I felt like this was the first
• 19:31
  Speaker 7: time we got a chance to see ourselves on screen
• 19:34
  Speaker 7: like this.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: What are your thoughts on that level?
• 19:37
  Speaker 23: Yeah, it was so interesting. It was you know, it's
• 19:39
  Speaker 23: an identity film. It's not the it's since then, there
• 19:43
  Speaker 23: have been so many films that have built on this idea.
• 19:47
  Speaker 23: But like the infancy of so many communities starts with
• 19:49
  Speaker 23: an identity film. A lot of early black films are
• 19:52
  Speaker 23: like this, a lot of early LGBT films, So it's
• 19:55
  Speaker 23: not unique in that sense before our community, like it's
• 19:58
  Speaker 23: super unique. And we didn't even know when we made
• 20:00
  Speaker 23: it if people would watch it and like it. And
• 20:04
  Speaker 23: you know, our community loves piracy, right, so I remember,
• 20:07
  Speaker 23: like people would just watch that ship bootleg. Yeah, and
• 20:11
  Speaker 23: so it didn't really make money. It was not a
• 20:14
  Speaker 23: money making film, right, But to your point, it was
• 20:16
  Speaker 23: a cultural impact was huge and everybody saw it and
• 20:20
  Speaker 23: and that meant a lot to us. I think, you know,
• 20:23
  Speaker 23: the fact that they resonated with people.
• 20:25
  Speaker 7: Yeah, that's that's really cool. You know, all week long,
• 20:29
  Speaker 7: I've been speaking to the different members of the cast,
• 20:32
  Speaker 7: and each of them are so accomplished. They went on
• 20:35
  Speaker 7: to do so many things.
• 20:38
  Speaker 24: You know.
• 20:38
  Speaker 7: The film I think was really instrumental in that in
• 20:41
  Speaker 7: terms of spreading everyone out there and putting brown faces
• 20:45
  Speaker 7: out there. And it certainly made an impact out there
• 20:48
  Speaker 7: in a time when you didn't quite see it very often.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: And you know, what are your thoughts on that?
• 20:54
  Speaker 23: So I don't in my view, I was just in
• 20:58
  Speaker 23: awe of the cast stright. I think I was only
• 21:01
  Speaker 23: a couple of years younger than the other guys, but
• 21:05
  Speaker 23: at that age, you know, I took a semester of
• 21:07
  Speaker 23: college basically to do this movie, and I was working
• 21:12
  Speaker 23: with really you know, the rest of the cast had
• 21:14
  Speaker 23: graduated college. They were all working actors with incredible backgrounds
• 21:19
  Speaker 23: and theater and music, and it was the first time
• 21:22
  Speaker 23: that I really thought like, Wow, I'm actually in a
• 21:25
  Speaker 23: cast with my peers who are like this, and I
• 21:28
  Speaker 23: looked up to them so much. I still do obviously,
• 21:31
  Speaker 23: so that I think was the biggest impact. I don't
• 21:33
  Speaker 23: think the film itself opened any doors in traditional entertainment,
• 21:39
  Speaker 23: but what it meant by working with people of that caliber,
• 21:43
  Speaker 23: with that training and for you know, in that sense,
• 21:46
  Speaker 23: was a first for me, I think for all of
• 21:48
  Speaker 23: us kind of made us feel like we belonged a
• 21:51
  Speaker 23: little more than we probably did at the time.
• 21:53
  Speaker 7: Right right, and in a very important time light. I add,
• 21:56
  Speaker 7: this is right around this movie comes out right before
• 21:58
  Speaker 7: nine to eleven. Yeah, and so it became a very important.
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Part of our story. Yeah, for sure, definitely.
• 22:05
  Speaker 7: You know, Cal of course, we've been talking at a
• 22:08
  Speaker 7: great extent about your career in front of the camera
• 22:12
  Speaker 7: or in entertainment. Let's just say, but one of the
• 22:16
  Speaker 7: cool things about your career, one of my favorite things
• 22:18
  Speaker 7: about your story has been the time you spent at
• 22:21
  Speaker 7: the White House working for working alongside President Obama.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: And you know, take us to that moment.
• 22:28
  Speaker 7: You're a South Asian kid, you've been you know, at
• 22:32
  Speaker 7: it in entertainment for such a long time, and now
• 22:35
  Speaker 7: comes this chance to go work at the White House.
• 22:39
  Speaker 7: When did you pinch yourself there and say, wow, I'm
• 22:42
  Speaker 7: I can't believe I'm here.
• 22:44
  Speaker 23: Yeah, Yeah, there's a there's a story that's much longer
• 22:48
  Speaker 23: than I know the time we have today on how
• 22:50
  Speaker 23: it all came together. But I will say this, you know,
• 22:54
  Speaker 23: the thing that really opened my eyes was I obviously
• 22:57
  Speaker 23: people knew my story because I happened to be in
• 23:00
  Speaker 23: a career that was public facing that I took a
• 23:03
  Speaker 23: little bit of you know, it took like a year
• 23:04
  Speaker 23: and a half of a break from to serve as government.
• 23:07
  Speaker 23: But to me, the real story was, there are so
• 23:09
  Speaker 23: many people. Almost everybody I've worked with was taking a
• 23:12
  Speaker 23: leave of absence, temporary leave of absence from whatever their
• 23:14
  Speaker 23: private sector current was. There were teachers and doctors and
• 23:17
  Speaker 23: lawyers and professors, and those were the people I was
• 23:19
  Speaker 23: working with, and so it was really reassuring that, you know,
• 23:23
  Speaker 23: there were so many people who just sort of thought, look,
• 23:25
  Speaker 23: I have the means and the privilege to serve like
• 23:27
  Speaker 23: a country right now, I'm going to go and do that.
• 23:30
  Speaker 23: And generally that is how things work. I know we're
• 23:33
  Speaker 23: in a really polarized, really tricky time right now, but
• 23:36
  Speaker 23: I try to look back and remember that usually it's
• 23:39
  Speaker 23: good people who rally, and it doesn't have to be
• 23:41
  Speaker 23: you know, in the federal government level. It's in your community,
• 23:44
  Speaker 23: your school board, your neighborhood association, churches and mosques and
• 23:48
  Speaker 23: temples and the groups that you can get involved in.
• 23:51
  Speaker 23: So many people do that kind of work and at
• 23:53
  Speaker 23: every level it just means a lot. And I felt
• 23:55
  Speaker 23: grateful to be part of that.
• 23:57
  Speaker 7: For the president, that's incredible. Yeah, what an opportunit unity
• 24:00
  Speaker 7: and and thank you for doing that. What an amazing
• 24:02
  Speaker 7: role you played there. Certainly, Uh, you can't be serious.
• 24:06
  Speaker 7: A brand new book that you have just put out there,
• 24:09
  Speaker 7: and it's titled that way because the Aunties told you
• 24:12
  Speaker 7: that it was a phrase that they kind of do.
• 24:14
  Speaker 7: And now it's become the thesis of your book, and
• 24:18
  Speaker 7: and and and maybe an entire thesis of what you've accomplished. Really,
• 24:23
  Speaker 7: and tell us about this, this is an interesting take
• 24:26
  Speaker 7: on on your story.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Really, thanks man.
• 24:29
  Speaker 23: Yeah, look, I mostly just wanted to write a funny
• 24:31
  Speaker 23: book that was similar to like the books that I
• 24:33
  Speaker 23: like that our memoirs are like you know, Mindy Kayaleing,
• 24:36
  Speaker 23: Pina Fezsa, stuff like where you can read it at
• 24:41
  Speaker 23: the pool, read it on vacation, laugh or I narrate
• 24:44
  Speaker 23: the audiobook myself. So I wanted it to be something
• 24:46
  Speaker 23: like all right, you're stuck in traffic every day to
• 24:48
  Speaker 23: and from work, Like, what's something that you can just
• 24:50
  Speaker 23: listen to and feel good about? So so that's why
• 24:53
  Speaker 23: I wrote the book and the subtimes you know, So, A,
• 24:56
  Speaker 23: it's just hopefully fun and funny. But B it's kind
• 24:59
  Speaker 23: of the subtext is how Hollywood and entertainment and politics
• 25:04
  Speaker 23: kind of change over time. That these are institutions that
• 25:06
  Speaker 23: are malleable, that when people like you said, of our
• 25:09
  Speaker 23: generation in our community come into them, how do they adapt?
• 25:12
  Speaker 23: How can we push the envelope for things like art
• 25:15
  Speaker 23: and public service? So it was all that combined, and
• 25:19
  Speaker 23: there are some like ridiculous stories in there too that
• 25:20
  Speaker 23: are just kind of fun and silly. So I hope
• 25:23
  Speaker 23: people like it. It was really fun. I'm a very
• 25:25
  Speaker 23: slow writer and a very slow reader, and so I've
• 25:28
  Speaker 23: had a couple of people who have read it and
• 25:29
  Speaker 23: listened to it just be like, man, I breeze through
• 25:31
  Speaker 23: that book like, oh good.
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: It took me four.
• 25:34
  Speaker 23: Years to write. So I'm just happy with it.
• 25:38
  Speaker 5: I hope you like it.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Man, Thank you.
• 25:39
  Speaker 7: That's awesome. Cal All right, well last question for you
• 25:41
  Speaker 7: before I let you get off the phone. Here we
• 25:43
  Speaker 7: you know, what's next is it another book?
• 25:47
  Speaker 24: You know?
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Where are you looking at these days?
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 25:50
  Speaker 23: So I just finished season four of the HBO show
• 25:54
  Speaker 23: Industry that just dropped on streaming, So I have that
• 25:58
  Speaker 23: out right now. I have a couple of movies comeing
• 26:00
  Speaker 23: out later this year. The next one I think is
• 26:03
  Speaker 23: called Trust Me I'm a Doctor, about Anna Nicole Smith
• 26:07
  Speaker 23: and her doctor and his sort of uh attempted I
• 26:13
  Speaker 23: think it was like an attempted murder case basically, but
• 26:15
  Speaker 23: so kind of interesting stuff within a couple of TV
• 26:17
  Speaker 23: shows and development. So a lot coming up. And I
• 26:20
  Speaker 23: got to say, since since I know our listener base,
• 26:22
  Speaker 23: I just got to thank thank you and thanks for
• 26:24
  Speaker 23: the folks who listened, for all the love and support.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Of here, Cal.
• 26:28
  Speaker 7: Thank you so much, and continued success and all the
• 26:32
  Speaker 7: great work that you're doing out there and representing our people.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you very much, Cal, Thanks for joining us.
• 26:38
  Speaker 23: Thanks good to talk to you.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 26:39
  Speaker 22: Cal.
• 26:40
  Speaker 7: Likewise, this one is morning Deljit Dosange has heard on
• 26:46
  Speaker 7: Jimmy Fallon last week stand by for Rizwan.
• 26:54
  Speaker 5: Do you.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: He can't Canna gets ain't there?
• 27:02
  Speaker 12: I can't eat un the.
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: Lock Puney off, you can't eat on the knock the puney.
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: I'm telling you to take your hat.
• 27:10
  Speaker 4: Everyone in there in your heads, get the gut there
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: ta hard everybody kids got the gut there the tlaharty mondy,
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: what's the piece like God gotta get the rags, guitar up,
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: telling and colling jumper the hair part.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Shove me eye up, and so.
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: I shove my eye up and soil be happy.
• 27:51
  Speaker 11: There got the head.
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: He had to put their tithing. You taking the candy
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: to me? Didn't you need on them? The phone helm
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: in the air, the gut, the gut there the telephan
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: he CA's it the gut there they money.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: Check me out your.
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: What you have?
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: The thrown up and put you and then put the
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: You came up the sundown, honey, I.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: Got in bad that that look back.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: You bad?
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: Got that look bad to boot Then he certainly put
• 28:50
  Speaker 4: me up repay and cowberle had can you get then
• 28:53
  Speaker 4: they buddy?
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: What about about a delged dosans?
• 29:31
  Speaker 7: The song is called Mordany great track right there. My
• 29:36
  Speaker 7: next guest was born in Toronto to Indian parents who
• 29:40
  Speaker 7: emigrated from Tanzania, and he was raised in Calgary. He
• 29:44
  Speaker 7: gave a Salem in American Day Sy then went on
• 29:47
  Speaker 7: to build one of the most consistently working careers of
• 29:50
  Speaker 7: his generation. Rajiev on NBC's Outsourced, The Unforgettable, Ray Butani
• 29:55
  Speaker 7: on Ship's Creek, Tick, Pickwick on The Magicians, and Jamil
• 29:59
  Speaker 7: and James Gunn This Peacemaker. Add to that The Wolf
• 30:02
  Speaker 7: of Wall Street, Charlie Wilson's War, The Dictator, Mister Robot.
• 30:06
  Speaker 7: The Man's range runs from broad comedy to genuinely chilling drama.
• 30:11
  Speaker 7: Let's welcome Riswan Manji to the show. How are you, Riswan?
• 30:15
  Speaker 23: I'm good?
• 30:15
  Speaker 24: How are you?
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: I am good? My goodness? These twenty five years have
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: just blown by, haven't they.
• 30:22
  Speaker 22: I know I couldn't believe it when they told me
• 30:24
  Speaker 22: it was twenty yourself, I know that I can't be
• 30:26
  Speaker 22: I can't possibly.
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: Be this bull.
• 30:31
  Speaker 7: You know, I've really been thinking a lot, and I'm
• 30:34
  Speaker 7: sure you have at certain points of your life as
• 30:37
  Speaker 7: far as what this movie meant to you and just
• 30:39
  Speaker 7: meant to the entire scene, and and what it ushered
• 30:42
  Speaker 7: in in terms of changes and and et cetera, et cetera.
• 30:46
  Speaker 7: Give us your give us your perspective on this, put
• 30:48
  Speaker 7: us in. Put this all in a capsule.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: For us.
• 30:51
  Speaker 22: Oh well, you know what, I you we get caps
• 30:55
  Speaker 22: of this movie, right like me and Deep had was
• 30:58
  Speaker 22: doing like Downtown Theater in New York and he says,
• 31:01
  Speaker 22: I have this movie, you might write for it, and
• 31:03
  Speaker 22: I just end up doing it. Then you know, it's
• 31:08
  Speaker 22: the it's a low budget indie film, and you're like,
• 31:12
  Speaker 22: you know, you have you have no idea what's going
• 31:14
  Speaker 22: to happen?
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 31:15
  Speaker 22: And I think the first time I realized the impact
• 31:18
  Speaker 22: of it was the not even the day of the opening,
• 31:21
  Speaker 22: but the Saturday, me and my family and I think
• 31:24
  Speaker 22: Aladdin and some other cast members went to Queens Kauf
• 31:27
  Speaker 22: Nastoria to watch the movie and I just could it
• 31:31
  Speaker 22: was it was pasted. I ended up sitting on the stairs,
• 31:34
  Speaker 22: and the way that the people were just like craving
• 31:38
  Speaker 22: a movie that they could see themselves in it was
• 31:42
  Speaker 22: it was shocking to me. How how how And that's
• 31:45
  Speaker 22: what at that point I were like, oh my god,
• 31:47
  Speaker 22: this is this is this is something else. This is
• 31:49
  Speaker 22: not something that I had thought what's going to happen?
• 31:52
  Speaker 22: You know? Yeah, it definitely was something that people needed
• 31:56
  Speaker 22: at that time.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 31:58
  Speaker 7: So take us back to where Selim Ali Khan lends
• 32:01
  Speaker 7: in your lap here and you know, by the way,
• 32:05
  Speaker 7: which ended up being a very important, you know character
• 32:09
  Speaker 7: because of just the timing of things in America at
• 32:11
  Speaker 7: that time.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: And you know, and and nine to eleven happens just
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: a few months after.
• 32:16
  Speaker 7: I'm sure you had no idea of any of this,
• 32:18
  Speaker 7: of course, with the gravity of the role that you play,
• 32:21
  Speaker 7: But tell us about the moment you found out about it,
• 32:24
  Speaker 7: and and just that whole time.
• 32:26
  Speaker 22: Yeah, So I, as I said, Deep was telling me
• 32:30
  Speaker 22: about it, that he was sort of producing and acting
• 32:33
  Speaker 22: in this movie. And then I got the audition. Well, actually,
• 32:37
  Speaker 22: no before that, he asked me to come for a
• 32:39
  Speaker 22: table read, and I think from the we read the
• 32:43
  Speaker 22: whole script, and the only three people that I remember
• 32:46
  Speaker 22: besides Deep who ended up in the movie were me
• 32:50
  Speaker 22: and Aladdin, who played the parts that we played in
• 32:52
  Speaker 22: the table read, and Porba, who was not playing the
• 32:55
  Speaker 22: character that she got, but she ended up playing Nina.
• 32:57
  Speaker 22: Somebody else was reading Nina. We did this table read
• 32:59
  Speaker 22: and done, you know, I thought I did a great job.
• 33:03
  Speaker 22: But then they had auditions after that, and they sort
• 33:05
  Speaker 22: of mixed and matched us with I read with Sunita
• 33:08
  Speaker 22: and some other girls and then the next day I
• 33:11
  Speaker 22: got a call saying, hey, would you like to be
• 33:12
  Speaker 22: a part of it? And I was really excited. You know,
• 33:14
  Speaker 22: we as you know, there was few in in the
• 33:17
  Speaker 22: late nineties, there was few and far part parts for
• 33:21
  Speaker 22: us Brown folk, and getting to work with other South
• 33:25
  Speaker 22: Asian cast members that was it couldn't I couldn't believe it.
• 33:28
  Speaker 22: So it was just sort of like a party, like
• 33:31
  Speaker 22: we spent uh. I think it was like six weeks
• 33:34
  Speaker 22: New Jersey and and and Manhattan, and we got along
• 33:38
  Speaker 22: really well and it was like a little party.
• 33:41
  Speaker 7: Every day about that that that set must have been
• 33:43
  Speaker 7: so cool and so much fun with all of you
• 33:45
  Speaker 7: guys there, and of course everyone going on to do
• 33:48
  Speaker 7: so many great things individually.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: Of course.
• 33:51
  Speaker 7: And you know, I was going to ask you you
• 33:54
  Speaker 7: You've had an amazing career and one that I think
• 33:57
  Speaker 7: has inspired a lot of South Asian actors and just
• 34:02
  Speaker 7: creatives out there. And you know, the roles that you've
• 34:05
  Speaker 7: played have been genuinely across pretty much the entire board
• 34:10
  Speaker 7: of Brown characters.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: If you will, you know, do you?
• 34:13
  Speaker 25: Yeah?
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: Really?
• 34:14
  Speaker 7: And and and you know, as I think about it,
• 34:15
  Speaker 7: you know, all the stuff that you've done with whether
• 34:17
  Speaker 7: it shit's creek or you know all I mean, I
• 34:19
  Speaker 7: mean so much right and when I think of, uh,
• 34:22
  Speaker 7: you know what the film was and how it's opened
• 34:25
  Speaker 7: the door for brown actors and now you've played these.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: Like range of roles.
• 34:30
  Speaker 7: You know, I guess the question is has the door
• 34:33
  Speaker 7: genuinely opened or uh riswan, have you found the roles
• 34:38
  Speaker 7: that were there for you? You know, is it really
• 34:42
  Speaker 7: genuinely open now or is it are the roles just
• 34:45
  Speaker 7: very still limited?
• 34:47
  Speaker 22: So I always like to answer initially positive, I say
• 34:51
  Speaker 22: that it's definitely better than it was, you know what
• 34:54
  Speaker 22: I mean, They're like we're talking if we're talking about
• 34:57
  Speaker 22: when I started to when it is right now, there's
• 34:59
  Speaker 22: definitely an improvement. You know, you can tell from the span.
• 35:04
  Speaker 22: Initially it was all just you know, there were it
• 35:08
  Speaker 22: was very there was a lot of very stereotypical stuff.
• 35:11
  Speaker 22: It was very much like you come in as a
• 35:13
  Speaker 22: cab driver, you need two lines or you know that
• 35:15
  Speaker 22: kind of stuff where initially started. And it's definitely changed.
• 35:19
  Speaker 22: You know, I'm I knock on what. I'm very lucky
• 35:22
  Speaker 22: that I get to get to go into rooms where
• 35:24
  Speaker 22: where I get to uh, you know, they have an
• 35:27
  Speaker 22: idea for a character, and I can put some input
• 35:29
  Speaker 22: and I can I can create something. I just finished
• 35:32
  Speaker 22: shooting something on Friday where I'm very excited for you
• 35:35
  Speaker 22: guys to see it. But it's something completely different than
• 35:37
  Speaker 22: what I've done before. So there's definitely doors that are
• 35:39
  Speaker 22: that are open. Do I think it's where it needs
• 35:42
  Speaker 22: to be. No, We're still We're still not where we
• 35:45
  Speaker 22: need to be there, you know.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: I I.
• 35:50
  Speaker 22: There are a lot of South Asian actors who are very,
• 35:55
  Speaker 22: very talented who are not at the level that their
• 35:58
  Speaker 22: Caucasian counterparts are, you know what I mean, And I
• 36:01
  Speaker 22: think that that that's unfortunate. So the positive is that
• 36:05
  Speaker 22: we've definitely moved forward, but there is a lot of
• 36:08
  Speaker 22: there's a lot of work still to be done.
• 36:10
  Speaker 7: That's an interesting observation, and I certainly appreciate your honesty
• 36:16
  Speaker 7: in the space because I think that's been an interesting
• 36:20
  Speaker 7: kind of mix of things. That I hear is that
• 36:22
  Speaker 7: the doors have been opened by this film, but there's
• 36:25
  Speaker 7: certainly a lot of challenges still remaining. And to your point,
• 36:29
  Speaker 7: you know, it's not been easy for people to accomplish
• 36:31
  Speaker 7: what you have, of course, and with your work being
• 36:34
  Speaker 7: out there and the range of work that you've done,
• 36:36
  Speaker 7: and yeah, and the impact that you've made through your career.
• 36:40
  Speaker 7: And you know, to that point, you've worked with the Scorseses,
• 36:46
  Speaker 7: You've worked with so many different folks like that, and
• 36:49
  Speaker 7: now you're you know, you play Jamail and Peacemaker now
• 36:52
  Speaker 7: and it's an interesting role. How different is it than
• 36:57
  Speaker 7: the sensibility you carried through you know, Ben Saline or
• 37:00
  Speaker 7: whatever back in the day.
• 37:02
  Speaker 22: Well, I realized so I was like, oh, you know
• 37:04
  Speaker 22: in Peacemaker, I cursed like so like my kids were
• 37:08
  Speaker 22: watching and they're like.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: What are you doing.
• 37:10
  Speaker 22: I'm like, hey, I didn't write it. I didn't write it. Awesome,
• 37:14
  Speaker 22: but but I realized after watching this American basy again
• 37:17
  Speaker 22: when we were in the theater, like, uh, several weeks
• 37:21
  Speaker 22: ago when we did the reunion, that I actually cursed
• 37:25
  Speaker 22: in India a lot.
• 37:27
  Speaker 9: Maybe it's maybe.
• 37:28
  Speaker 22: It's my lot in life, but yeah, definitely Jamille was
• 37:33
  Speaker 22: a very different character. And uh, you know, that was
• 37:36
  Speaker 22: a very interesting story because it wasn't written for a
• 37:38
  Speaker 22: South Asian person. The characters name was Jose initially, and
• 37:46
  Speaker 22: they you know, thankfully, my agent was like, hey, you
• 37:50
  Speaker 22: guys are having trouble finding the guys you want to
• 37:52
  Speaker 22: see and it was during COVID, so it was all
• 37:54
  Speaker 22: over zoom and and I just put myself on tape
• 37:58
  Speaker 22: and then the you know, like a few days later,
• 37:59
  Speaker 22: they're like, okay, well James Gunn wants to zoom with you.
• 38:03
  Speaker 22: So I get on this zoom and it's like James
• 38:06
  Speaker 22: Gunn and Peter Saffron and and you know, they're just like,
• 38:10
  Speaker 22: let's and let's just do it and and you know,
• 38:12
  Speaker 22: that's one of those things I said, well, it wasn't
• 38:14
  Speaker 22: really written for me, so I had to just do
• 38:17
  Speaker 22: my take on it right.
• 38:18
  Speaker 24: So and.
• 38:21
  Speaker 22: It was just it was one of those things where
• 38:23
  Speaker 22: zoom zoom auditions are so weird because people turn off
• 38:27
  Speaker 22: their camera and you're the only feel like you're doing
• 38:29
  Speaker 22: it to an empty space.
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: But they were really really it was a really.
• 38:33
  Speaker 22: Awesome fun time because they were interactive, they were they
• 38:36
  Speaker 22: were I think I actually I think he told me
• 38:38
  Speaker 22: in the zoom that I ended up getting the job,
• 38:40
  Speaker 22: so that rarely happened. And yeah, so it was just
• 38:44
  Speaker 22: it was one of those things I'm talked about where
• 38:45
  Speaker 22: I was like, it wasn't written for somebody like me,
• 38:49
  Speaker 22: but I got to go in and go, hey, this
• 38:51
  Speaker 22: is my take on what you and he was like, yeah,
• 38:53
  Speaker 22: I like this.
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: That's great.
• 38:55
  Speaker 7: Now, that's awesome, really is awesome as well. You're going
• 38:58
  Speaker 7: in there, You're you're putting your face, your print on
• 39:00
  Speaker 7: things and adding the stamp of our community in there.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: That's that's really awesome.
• 39:04
  Speaker 7: Matt, going from Jose to a different, completely different Jamil, Right,
• 39:08
  Speaker 7: that's that's all. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, I often
• 39:13
  Speaker 7: think about the set there and of course the the
• 39:17
  Speaker 7: remarkable folks, and we did touch on this in terms
• 39:19
  Speaker 7: of the great careers everybody has had there across the
• 39:21
  Speaker 7: board and and to that level. Right, and then when
• 39:25
  Speaker 7: you look at you know, what's happening now in the
• 39:27
  Speaker 7: scene that that the scene has evolved to. Now you
• 39:31
  Speaker 7: you turn on Netflix and you see South Asian stuff
• 39:33
  Speaker 7: all over the place. There, although it is being produced
• 39:36
  Speaker 7: all over the world, it may not be considerable, considerably
• 39:39
  Speaker 7: you know, telling the story of the South Asian experience
• 39:41
  Speaker 7: here in North America or the diaspora. For that reason,
• 39:45
  Speaker 7: have we run out of stories here? Was one is
• 39:47
  Speaker 7: that the deal are we not interesting to the rest
• 39:49
  Speaker 7: of the world, Like what's going on?
• 39:51
  Speaker 22: Well, the I'd say the opposite. There we have so
• 39:56
  Speaker 22: many stories that we I feel like it's not enough
• 39:58
  Speaker 22: we have. It's not you know what I mean, Like
• 40:00
  Speaker 22: we need there's more stories. There's there. There's the the
• 40:03
  Speaker 22: American story, there's a Muslim story, there's the stuff. You know,
• 40:06
  Speaker 22: there's so many things that we still need to tell.
• 40:09
  Speaker 22: I'm excited again. I'm excited that there's a bunch of
• 40:12
  Speaker 22: stuff coming up from all over the world that's sort
• 40:15
  Speaker 22: of uh in the pipeline that I know about. But
• 40:22
  Speaker 22: you definitely can never have enough. We we just you know,
• 40:26
  Speaker 22: we just we just seed.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: We need more.
• 40:27
  Speaker 22: And I'm trying to produce myself, so I have some stories.
• 40:31
  Speaker 22: I have a show that me and my friend are
• 40:35
  Speaker 22: pitching right now. So we're we're excited about telling different stories.
• 40:40
  Speaker 7: Uh Raswan uh forever the fan of your work and
• 40:43
  Speaker 7: here in our South Asian community. Thank you for being
• 40:46
  Speaker 7: a champion out there and for being so visible for
• 40:49
  Speaker 7: us all and thanks for you know, being a part
• 40:52
  Speaker 7: of that big film twenty five years ago and leaving
• 40:55
  Speaker 7: us with these great memories.
• 40:57
  Speaker 5: Thank you so much.
• 40:57
  Speaker 22: Thank you for taking the time to talk to all
• 41:00
  Speaker 22: of us, and you know, I really appreciated and yeah,
• 41:05
  Speaker 22: I'm really excited for what's to come. And thank you again.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: Thank you as one that's for his one monji. Everybody
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: full lun artists.
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: Got lookay by August Sooner Doyana burdy of your jugger
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: my good lordye dogra my heck Vara Devara full full
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: lun artists lookay by August Sooneraana.
• 41:56
  Speaker 11: Buddy of hi jugger my good lord. H m hmm
• 42:09
  Speaker 11: man the a ngir gool?
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: Who are doing? When the arongir gooda?
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: Who are doing?
• 42:22
  Speaker 26: Or not?
• 42:23
  Speaker 13: Barson or mad ram har har ha j John Jahan, your.
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: Uncle Jay the charney. I'm not such a argered.
• 42:44
  Speaker 8: Lookame listen, oh.
• 43:15
  Speaker 7: Sunahda jad here one of our favorite artists here on
• 43:19
  Speaker 7: this show, Ladies and gentlemen. My next guest was born
• 43:24
  Speaker 7: and raised in East Harlem, the son of Bangladeshi immigrants,
• 43:28
  Speaker 7: and one of the first South Asian American stand up
• 43:31
  Speaker 7: comedians to break through in New York City. He gave
• 43:34
  Speaker 7: us Professor Galtham Rau and American Dacy voiced Hanuman and
• 43:38
  Speaker 7: Sita Singh's The Blues, led the cult classic Uncle Mordies Dubshack,
• 43:44
  Speaker 7: and most recently wrote and directed In Search of Bengali Harlem,
• 43:48
  Speaker 7: a deeply personal documentary tracing his own families for Godden history. Comedian, actor, filmmaker, storyteller.
• 43:57
  Speaker 7: Please welcome to the bridge, Alalden aka Aladdin.
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the show. How are you, brother?
• 44:04
  Speaker 5: I'm doing good.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: How's everything We're doing well?
• 44:07
  Speaker 5: Man?
• 44:08
  Speaker 7: American Day sy twenty five years this year? You know
• 44:12
  Speaker 7: you hear that number that well, does it feel like
• 44:15
  Speaker 7: twenty five years?
• 44:16
  Speaker 5: Do you?
• 44:17
  Speaker 18: No?
• 44:18
  Speaker 19: It doesn't.
• 44:19
  Speaker 5: I mean it was quite. It was very moving to,
• 44:23
  Speaker 5: you know, be around people who you know, just remembered,
• 44:26
  Speaker 5: you know, the film and then it brought back so
• 44:28
  Speaker 5: many memories that I hadn't seen a film in twenty
• 44:30
  Speaker 5: five years. And what was fascinating is that we all
• 44:35
  Speaker 5: kind of knew each other when we were shooting the film,
• 44:38
  Speaker 5: because we were all kind of in different genres and
• 44:41
  Speaker 5: different places. And I mean I said in the talk
• 44:46
  Speaker 5: back that I knew ron A Beer. He just came
• 44:48
  Speaker 5: out of Yale University.
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: He was like the.
• 44:49
  Speaker 5: Clitsical, you know, actor, and he didn't King and I
• 44:53
  Speaker 5: on Broadway and Rizwan and Perva were grinding in the
• 44:57
  Speaker 5: theater world, you know, doing off off Broadway. You know
• 45:00
  Speaker 5: in the East village, you know, in basements, and you know,
• 45:03
  Speaker 5: we knew Cal because Cal, I think was in LA
• 45:06
  Speaker 5: at the time, going to school, and I was I
• 45:10
  Speaker 5: was really like working hard as a stand up comedian.
• 45:12
  Speaker 5: I mean, I help open doors for comedians today. Yeah,
• 45:17
  Speaker 5: you know, it's crazy because when we saw the film,
• 45:21
  Speaker 5: I had forgotten some of the things, you know, in
• 45:22
  Speaker 5: the nineties, like I was I was the first comedian
• 45:25
  Speaker 5: in the New York Times to do a self produced show,
• 45:28
  Speaker 5: and the article said, here's the one about the comics
• 45:31
  Speaker 5: with the Cause, And there were people people there that
• 45:34
  Speaker 5: were that remembered, you know, the stand up shows that
• 45:37
  Speaker 5: I did in the nineties when I was like out
• 45:38
  Speaker 5: of high school sote, which absolutely It's funny because I'm
• 45:44
  Speaker 5: in a place now where I'm writing and directing films,
• 45:47
  Speaker 5: I'm behind the camera. But to kind of see that,
• 45:50
  Speaker 5: it's almost like, you know, back to the future, your
• 45:53
  Speaker 5: time traveling in the place that you had forgotten.
• 45:55
  Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, just to give people context, A Latin
• 46:00
  Speaker 7: at that time when this film was being made and
• 46:02
  Speaker 7: when it came out, was probably one of the most
• 46:04
  Speaker 7: prominent figures in that film. But the crew when the
• 46:07
  Speaker 7: film was being assembled at that time. I mean, if
• 46:10
  Speaker 7: I don't mind saying so myself. And the time, you
• 46:12
  Speaker 7: know where you know, our South Asian representation just wasn't
• 46:17
  Speaker 7: so vast as it is now. You were really one
• 46:20
  Speaker 7: of the first few people out there putting a face
• 46:23
  Speaker 7: to our community.
• 46:24
  Speaker 5: My man. Yeah, to show you the grind. I mean,
• 46:28
  Speaker 5: I just went on Broadway a couple of days ago
• 46:31
  Speaker 5: to see Cedric the Entertainer on Broadway. He and I
• 46:35
  Speaker 5: were in the first season of BT's Comics Few that
• 46:39
  Speaker 5: d o Uly hosted That's My Way Back. So at
• 46:43
  Speaker 5: the time, like you know, in the country, there were
• 46:45
  Speaker 5: no South Asians on national TV, so I was performing
• 46:49
  Speaker 5: on national TV. So I was being recognized and I
• 46:52
  Speaker 5: was trying to make that jump to TV. And you
• 46:55
  Speaker 5: know what's interesting is that, you know, film wasn't even
• 46:59
  Speaker 5: in my sort of phone focus and because I thought
• 47:01
  Speaker 5: it was really stereotypical, and Peuse was like, I want
• 47:05
  Speaker 5: you to read for associate professor, Like what.
• 47:09
  Speaker 7: So all right, let's let's let's go back to two
• 47:10
  Speaker 7: thousand and one. Yeah, you're you're, you're, you're, you get handed,
• 47:15
  Speaker 7: you know, got them raw in your lap. You know,
• 47:18
  Speaker 7: what was your first read on him. What was your
• 47:20
  Speaker 7: what was your take on the character? And I'm getting
• 47:23
  Speaker 7: the reaction. It was a little bit of a like,
• 47:24
  Speaker 7: what kind of a moment for you? Tell us about that?
• 47:27
  Speaker 5: Well, it was. It was dope because a lot of
• 47:30
  Speaker 5: people who came to audition, you know, there's a lot
• 47:33
  Speaker 5: of people who are like working now in the industry,
• 47:35
  Speaker 5: like Sean christianin and a lot of other people. You
• 47:38
  Speaker 5: met people who were South Asian that were in the arts,
• 47:41
  Speaker 5: who were actors.
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: At the audition.
• 47:44
  Speaker 5: And so when I when I read for him, I
• 47:47
  Speaker 5: was still tripping that I was reading for an associate
• 47:49
  Speaker 5: professor because I'm not kidding, the industry was so racist.
• 47:52
  Speaker 21: I was only reading for.
• 47:54
  Speaker 5: Cap drivers and for like terrorists, and I'm going I'd
• 47:57
  Speaker 5: go into the audition like, you know, man, you do
• 48:00
  Speaker 5: know I'm from one hundred and fourth Street, New York.
• 48:02
  Speaker 5: Why am I reading this? But Pews was absolutely like, yo,
• 48:05
  Speaker 5: you can have fun with this character. You can just
• 48:08
  Speaker 5: kind of like run with it. And so it was
• 48:10
  Speaker 5: it was just really nice to be around the director
• 48:12
  Speaker 5: who said, yeah, I see you as an associate professor,
• 48:16
  Speaker 5: and our people are vast and this is who I
• 48:19
  Speaker 5: think American dacy is beautiful because you've got a Mustlim,
• 48:23
  Speaker 5: you've gotta seekh you've got Hindu, you got Punjabi all
• 48:26
  Speaker 5: together kind of you know, winking at the audience saying,
• 48:30
  Speaker 5: we know the struggle, but we're just making fun of
• 48:32
  Speaker 5: it in a very South Asian way. And the fact
• 48:34
  Speaker 5: that the main character, Chris is short for Krishna, like
• 48:38
  Speaker 5: we all related to being you know, ABCD. So I
• 48:42
  Speaker 5: felt it was timely and for me to play a
• 48:44
  Speaker 5: professor or associate professor. You know, it was just kind
• 48:47
  Speaker 5: of cool that, you know, I could put my foot
• 48:49
  Speaker 5: into a character that wasn't like me, but yet you know,
• 48:53
  Speaker 5: there was a large percentage of South Asians that related
• 48:56
  Speaker 5: to the film because they had come to the country
• 48:59
  Speaker 5: and the academic scholarships to pursue a PhD or you know,
• 49:02
  Speaker 5: the masters, and they were they were professive. So it's
• 49:06
  Speaker 5: funny in academia people were coming up to me and going,
• 49:09
  Speaker 5: that was me, that was me, and you know, I,
• 49:12
  Speaker 5: you know, I scratched my head and go, you know,
• 49:14
  Speaker 5: this was like in nineteen ninety nine or two thousand,
• 49:16
  Speaker 5: So it was just really nice to play a character
• 49:19
  Speaker 5: that wasn't you know, a type cast, right, you know,
• 49:23
  Speaker 5: terrorist or a cab driver. Well, you know, it was refreshing.
• 49:27
  Speaker 7: It was let's let's let's you know, let's put this
• 49:30
  Speaker 7: film into context. Here now here we are twenty five
• 49:32
  Speaker 7: years later, celebrating the moment you refer to when it
• 49:35
  Speaker 7: came out and to kind of give people context. This
• 49:40
  Speaker 7: film came out in an interesting moment for our community
• 49:43
  Speaker 7: because it was right before nine to eleven and then
• 49:45
  Speaker 7: right after nine to eleven.
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: This was one of the first films that.
• 49:49
  Speaker 7: People really had reference of our culture in like film
• 49:52
  Speaker 7: from the diaspora perspective, which really became interesting. It told
• 49:55
  Speaker 7: the story of our community and maybe even explained who
• 49:58
  Speaker 7: we were to a certain extent. And I think that
• 50:00
  Speaker 7: this film grew in not only just and just in value,
• 50:06
  Speaker 7: but just in terms of just the overall kind of
• 50:10
  Speaker 7: gravity that it had for us in the greater fabric
• 50:13
  Speaker 7: of the of the country. All this to say, what
• 50:18
  Speaker 7: do you when you know, you know, you look back
• 50:20
  Speaker 7: on the legacy of this film. It's certainly made a
• 50:24
  Speaker 7: mark in our culture. How do you how do you
• 50:27
  Speaker 7: kind of reflect back on this film?
• 50:29
  Speaker 5: I think, you know, I deal with this as a
• 50:32
  Speaker 5: writer and the director and making films now, and you know,
• 50:35
  Speaker 5: I've been played and you know, I've kind of done
• 50:37
  Speaker 5: every genre on the arts, from you know, animation to
• 50:41
  Speaker 5: TV to film to theater. And one of the things
• 50:44
  Speaker 5: is that you want people to see us with nuance,
• 50:48
  Speaker 5: but also that we're human. And I know it sounds simplistic,
• 50:52
  Speaker 5: and you know, because I was a comedian and I
• 50:54
  Speaker 5: was getting national attention all the roles that I was reading,
• 50:58
  Speaker 5: which just they weren't And I would tell the casting director,
• 51:02
  Speaker 5: telet director, I'm like, hey, do you know that there's
• 51:05
  Speaker 5: stories of South Asians who came to America and you
• 51:08
  Speaker 5: know it came for a better life, and you know
• 51:10
  Speaker 5: there's comedy and there's you know, stuff that really is
• 51:14
  Speaker 5: entertaining that. Yeah, I just read the lines. I felt
• 51:16
  Speaker 5: we weren't being heard, we weren't being seen. And what
• 51:20
  Speaker 5: Puche did with American Daisy is he reached I think
• 51:23
  Speaker 5: our community by saying we do exist. There's a vast
• 51:27
  Speaker 5: array of colors and people that are in our world,
• 51:32
  Speaker 5: and we're South Asians of different colors, different ethnicities, different religions,
• 51:36
  Speaker 5: different sizes and shapes, and we're human and we have
• 51:39
  Speaker 5: a sense of humor, that is really ours and I
• 51:43
  Speaker 5: think that film captured that and it's a special it's
• 51:46
  Speaker 5: a special moment when you as a performer, you're working
• 51:50
  Speaker 5: so much, just moving on to the next gig and
• 51:51
  Speaker 5: the next gig, and to reflect back on a time
• 51:54
  Speaker 5: where that wasn't even an agenda in our industry, where
• 51:58
  Speaker 5: they didn't even see us, it's huge and that we
• 52:01
  Speaker 5: can laugh. I mean, to see that, I mean, that's
• 52:03
  Speaker 5: just that's beautiful, man, because you know, that's something that's
• 52:07
  Speaker 5: not like celebrated in South Asian culture in the art right.
• 52:12
  Speaker 5: And while I love Bollywood films and they're beautiful and
• 52:16
  Speaker 5: I grew up on it, there's not enough films about us,
• 52:19
  Speaker 5: about the younger version of us. Who are we as youth?
• 52:22
  Speaker 5: Who are we as you know, our struggle and going
• 52:25
  Speaker 5: to college and identity and what is our name? Like
• 52:28
  Speaker 5: that's the own kind of like checked all the boxes
• 52:32
  Speaker 5: of the stuff that South Asians who were young dealing
• 52:35
  Speaker 5: with that in a very fit.
• 52:37
  Speaker 7: Yeah, mister Ullah, thank you so much for joining us today.
• 52:42
  Speaker 7: You have been an absolute class act to talk to today.
• 52:46
  Speaker 7: And again, congratulations on twenty five years and most importantly,
• 52:49
  Speaker 7: congratulations and all the great work you've been doing since
• 52:52
  Speaker 7: then as well.
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: And here's the more success for you, sir, thank you,
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: thanks for having us of.
• 52:57
  Speaker 7: Course, brother of course the great a k Aladdin A
• 53:02
  Speaker 7: great conversation that was. We'll be right back after this time.
• 53:06
  Speaker 24: Ku Su Mammy bah jamaat Malanga Jama, look a gimme
• 53:18
  Speaker 24: don Bernard Jama.
• 53:21
  Speaker 27: There's got you myself there, you teller Jama Bajana, you're not.
• 53:37
  Speaker 24: Ja away.
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: Sat by Billy Coo to Billy.
• 53:58
  Speaker 28: Billy, Lika melkosura, kaki kusa kun oh be cool for
• 54:09
  Speaker 28: a tired Chadarsacharna headed look it to has in.
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: The game maybealy cools.
• 54:18
  Speaker 8: Giant man.
• 54:21
  Speaker 27: Human, but there is a lot of salad or just
• 54:24
  Speaker 27: don't love a god you can get don't John Adam.
• 54:36
  Speaker 24: Today, how bout you calling.
• 54:40
  Speaker 19: Ka banana men?
• 54:43
  Speaker 3: But Jana can harm You're not harve jan man can kaaway.
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: That's a simmon Jadre. The song is called Makana.
• 55:05
  Speaker 7: Looking forward to tomorrow's episode, everybody will be joined by
• 55:08
  Speaker 7: Deep Kadare Deep with the lead actor in the movie
• 55:12
  Speaker 7: American Basi, also one of the producers, will have a
• 55:14
  Speaker 7: conversation with him and we'll be joined tomorrow by Bush
• 55:18
  Speaker 7: Bondia the writer director looking forward to that.
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: Here's Doita Das Gupta for you.
• 55:24
  Speaker 29: Thanks Sammy, Hi everyone, this is dead Guta you Rokasavni
• 55:28
  Speaker 29: radio music Curs bond and back with some fun facts
• 55:31
  Speaker 29: about your favorite artists. Today we're talking about a musical legend,
• 55:34
  Speaker 29: Shira Goshal, whose voice has become the emotional backbone of
• 55:37
  Speaker 29: Indian cinema.
• 55:38
  Speaker 19: From debuting as a teenage sensation in.
• 55:41
  Speaker 29: Diptas with BiDi Pia and Dola Retola, She's still recorded
• 55:44
  Speaker 29: over three thousand songs in twenty plus languages.
• 55:48
  Speaker 19: That's a vocal journey few can match.
• 55:49
  Speaker 29: And her words cabinet boast five National Film Awards and
• 55:52
  Speaker 29: countless FilmFair wins. She even has her own wax figure
• 55:56
  Speaker 29: at Madame Tissan's.
• 55:58
  Speaker 19: In twenty twenty five, Shira's.
• 55:59
  Speaker 29: Voice rich into film with TRACKSIX Sarah and Bus from
• 56:03
  Speaker 29: to New Melody SA Show.
• 56:04
  Speaker 19: She's still defining romance in Bollywood music.
• 56:07
  Speaker 29: So whether you discovering her so iconic classics at or
• 56:11
  Speaker 29: Na or her recent film releases, Ria Koshell continues to
• 56:14
  Speaker 29: remind us why she's the unmatched voice of the nation.
• 56:18
  Speaker 19: Well that's all for me. Now back to Sammy, thank
• 56:20
  Speaker 19: you so much.
• 56:21
  Speaker 7: We're getting ready for the big Trea Go show tour
• 56:24
  Speaker 7: this summer, looking forward to it. Here's her song called Lelo,
• 56:28
  Speaker 7: and I'll be back with some closing remarks.
• 56:30
  Speaker 30: Medie Sadi Hello, Medi Bady Hello, Medico, Hey, Sadi, Hello, Madi.
• 56:54
  Speaker 19: Journey shiny.
• 57:00
  Speaker 30: Virgildy shaka the Charny.
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: On the show.
• 57:09
  Speaker 31: Rosa Caribe the deab Sobat plans are LOOKI say, com
• 57:21
  Speaker 31: sger Nasa meaning let jam bird at the park and
• 57:27
  Speaker 31: many dollar.
• 57:31
  Speaker 26: Maybe hoping Hello, sob they mom at they had miracle,
• 57:39
  Speaker 26: Lem's sorry, don't even the real alone.
• 57:45
  Speaker 30: Maybe hustlady the Vergilby.
• 57:50
  Speaker 31: I shook the jersey and a shiny Hussardy the echo every.
• 58:02
  Speaker 7: Sure shall The song is called Lelo Great stuff and folks,
• 58:08
  Speaker 7: that's a wrap. On this episode three of Our American
• 58:11
  Speaker 7: They See twenty fifth anniversary special right here on the bridge.
• 58:15
  Speaker 7: Cal Penn, Riswan Manji a loalden Ullah three men who
• 58:20
  Speaker 7: in two thousand and one made us laugh on a
• 58:23
  Speaker 7: college campus, and over the next twenty five years took
• 58:26
  Speaker 7: that laughter and built three of the most distinct boundary
• 58:30
  Speaker 7: breaking careers in our community has ever produced. Cal who
• 58:33
  Speaker 7: went on from A J. Pondia to Kumar to the
• 58:37
  Speaker 7: Namesake to the Obama White House and back and gave
• 58:40
  Speaker 7: us New York Times best selling memoir along the way.
• 58:44
  Speaker 7: Riswan the working actors, working actor who's quietly built one
• 58:48
  Speaker 7: of the most consistent careers in all of Hollywood, from
• 58:51
  Speaker 7: Outsourced to Shit's Creek to Wolf of Wall Street to Peacemaker.
• 58:56
  Speaker 7: And then you have Aladdin, the East Harlem stand up
• 59:00
  Speaker 7: who became a filmmaker, took the camera and turned it
• 59:03
  Speaker 7: on to his own community, the Bangladeshi roots in search
• 59:07
  Speaker 7: of Bengali Harlem. Now, these are three artists that took
• 59:11
  Speaker 7: three different, completely different roads to their end game and
• 59:16
  Speaker 7: one starting line. Tomorrow's the big one. We'll close it
• 59:20
  Speaker 7: out with the week of American Dacy's twenty fifth anniversary
• 59:23
  Speaker 7: special with the men who saw all of this before
• 59:27
  Speaker 7: any of us did. We'll be joined by Deep Kadare
• 59:31
  Speaker 7: and we'll be joined by push Pandhia tomorrow. Really looking
• 59:34
  Speaker 7: forward to it, folks. I'll leave you guys here with
• 59:37
  Speaker 7: Jordan Sandhu.
• 59:38
  Speaker 25: Have a great day, everybody, and comm.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 4: Badimore and thought with the liatackling here, I can't everything.
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 4: My pony apple can't everything.