Asian Arts - literature, dance, theatre, movies

Literature
Indian novels more widely translated in Europe
"Indian writing has a growing presence in different language markets. Few countries offer the kind of material that India can offer. It is also a reflection of India's growing economic clout. Culture rides on the coat-tails of economic power."
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Tanuja Desai Hidier, author of the successful debut novel Born Confused said:
"I wanted to make sense of things, to shape a period of cultural confusion and cultural exhilaration - what does it mean to be Indian? To be South Asian? And to be American? Several ideas I was working with became clearer to me during the writing process: how identity is fluid, a morphing thing, and that much more of it is in your hands than you think."
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Dance & Theatre
Jatinder Verma, veteran Director of Tara Arts (London), offers his views.
"One of the ingredients of Asian Theatre’s peculiar masala is recovering a forgotten history. Other ingredients are a certain irreverence, use of  language, and content that directly relates to its producers and a dialogue with film. Finally, these marks must cohere into a recognizable masala, that flavour peculiar to Asian Theatre."
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Dance Director Shobana Jeyasingh. London, said:
"Ethnic art has been viewed as rural, non-dynamic, ahistoric - part & parcel of the way Europe had traditionally engaged with the East, creating it in the image of its own desires. It was a sort of arts that only existed in the act of being looked at. The unchallenged belief was that non-European cultures were somehow alien - to be benignly tolerated."
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Movies
Bolly vs Chinese & Korean films
"Bollywood may have lavish song & dance sequences but the acting is often hamming, the plot thin, the script puerile. No wonder western critics tend to be patronising and derisive. In contrast, western critics are enthralled by Chinese and Korean films..."
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Why do they film overseas?
"Here is a missed opportunity to develop warm relations between host and visitor. Encounters with the locals are awkward and contrived. So what does the Bolly producer gain by filming overseas? He has to fork out a substantial sum to transport and house them. All that the Bolly producers seem to get in return is a magnificent foreign backdrop - a pristine natural habitat and sparkling urban infrastructure that simply cannot be matched at home by Indian cities."
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Culture - multiculturism, integration, diversity and all that

Hindu icons misused, beliefs misrepresented
Every now and then in Europe or North America, there is an outcry from Hindu devotees that their deities, customs or beliefs have been misrepresented or belittled in the media, shop displays, etc or used degradingly in some way. Protests may be made, demanding that the offending item be withdrawn from the shops and an apology possibly demanded. Some sort of settlement may be reached and we have a lull before we hear of another such incident in the media.
In Nov 05, a 68p Christmas postage stamp showed Hindus worshipping the Baby Jesus (pictured on left). Hindus objected and the stamp was withdrawn.
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1. Multiculturism in Britain - no enthusiasm for it
Britain has shown no great enthusiasm for multicultural values. The British state has adopted a 2-faced attitude on multiculturism. On the one hand, it trumpets the supposed tolerant attitudes of the British. On the other, it constantly undermines multiculturism by upholding racist policies through state institutions - immigration, police, courts, prisons, civil service.                                       
There has never been a national campaign mounted to educate the public and allay their anxieties. In contrast, huge funds were made available for the “don’t drink & drive” campaign in the mid-90s. Political leaders have simply failed to portray a positive picture of multiculturism. They can at best manage glib clichés like:
Britain is a multicultural society, black communities are ‘vibrant’, they make ‘positive contributions’. Or Cherie Blair, the PM’s wife, may don a sari at a function of rich or high profile Asians. The superficial aspects of multiculturism are tolerated, not the substance – it is OK to celebrate within local council initiatives but it must not extend to the national public sphere.
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2. Multiculturism in Britain is in effect dead
Multicultural Britain did not come about from the much-vaunted British traditions of fair play, equality and social justice. Rather, it was created out of decades of struggles against racism by black communities - struggles against discrimination on the shop floor, against racial attack, struggles to include our histories in educational curricula.
Today, some twenty years later, the tabloid press still rants against multiculturalism but it is New Labour that is now showing all the signs of promoting core values, language and citizenship classes - a shift towards the standard European model of monoculturalism.
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