Jennifer Granholm at the White House State Dinner

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm was one of the select few, invited to the White House State Dinner for India, held last night. So what did Jennifer Granholm wear on a night where majority embraced rich color and were beautifully dressed. Politico reports that

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm wore an Indian-inspired pants-and-tunic set in a white and gold patterned fabric.

Take a look at this image grab from Politico. Our Governor does look stunning.

Richa Gangopadhyay makes her leading lady debut on Silver Screen

Michigan Indian Beauty - Richa Gangopadhyay makes her leading lady debut in the much-awaited film ‘Leader’, by critically-acclaimed/award-winning director Sekhar Kammula.

The film is finally in completion after 5 long months of rigorous shooting. The film is prestigious production house AVM’s 174th film, and introduces “Rana”, the grandson of movie mogul Dr.D Ramanaidu, son of producer D. Suresh Babu, and nephew of south superstar, Venkatesh. The film also introduces the two main female characters in the film, Richa Gangopadhyay, from the U.S., and Priya Anand, model and actress from Chennai.

Shooting for this film involved traveling all over Andhra Pradesh, from Hyderabad to Vizag, including many rural villages in between. As the title suggests, Rana plays the role of a leader in this political thriller, and certain scenes in the movie required huge public gatherings.

This film also marks the debut of Miss India Michigan/Miss India USA ’08, Richa Gangopadhyay, who was able to bag the female lead role in “Leader” after an extensive search done through auditions throughout India. Richa, 23 years old Public Health/Nutrition student, shifted to Mumbai after winning the title, attended the world-renowned Anupam Kher’s Actor Prepares Institute for 3 months, and hit the ground running with this film. She has been quite active in Mumbai and throughout India involved with many modeling assignments in the short time frame of 9 months, and is just completing post production activities this month before the film’s release in December.

The audio of ‘Leader’ is done by award-winning music composer, Mickey Meyer, from Kammula’s “Happy Days” fame.

The audio of the film is scheduled for release on November 22nd, and the theatrical release is tentatively scheduled for this Christmas 2009.

Air India One brings Manomohan Singh to Washington D.C.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh flies into Washinton D.C. aboard AIR INDIA One for the first official state visit of the Obama presidency. Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama will host a White House State Dinner on November 24th, in honor of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Mrs. Gursharan Kaur of India.

Michigan Governor, Jennifer Granholm and Louisiana Governor, Bobby Jindal are select few who have been invited to this event.

(Official Press Release from White House)

Anuja Rajendra choreographs a Gold Medal Winning Bollywood Ice-Skating Performance

Anuja Rajendra (pictured on the right), the talented Michigan Indian who choreographed Meryl Davis (Royal Oak, MI) and Charlie White's (Dearborn, MI) bollywood dance ice-skating performance at the 2009 Rostelecom Cup earlier has now another mega achievement to her credit. Ice-Skaters Meryl Davis and Charlie White's bollywood dance ice-skating performance has earned them a GOLD at NHK TROPHY IN JAPAN. Check this out:

9 year old's artwork chosen as Google India's Logo

Google India gave school kids a chance to design a doodle for Google through their Doodle 4 Google competition. Puru Pratap Singh (9) from Gurgaon, India won the Doodle for Google competition. Check out his artwork which ended up as Google India's logo on Friday.



From Hindustan Times:

“The first ‘G’ is in the shape of a peacock; ‘O’ represents the wisdom of our country; the other ‘O’ shows the discovery of water on the moon by India, ‘G’ revolves around Kashmir; ‘L’ is designed as the rifle at Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate; and ‘E’ depicts Mahatma Gandhi"

Darshana Menon - Michigan Indian Talent

Darshana Menon, a talented Michigan Indian and also the winner of 2008 Sa Re Ga Ma Pa USA competition, recently recorded couple of songs which she emailed to me. I have embedded those songs here for your listening pleasure.

This is Zara Zara from Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein



A Malyalam Song



A Telugu Song

Ghazal Maestro Jagjit Singh comes to Michigan

Ghazal Maestro Jagjit Singh will be live in concert on November 14th, 2009 at Seaholm High school, 2436 West Lincoln Road, Birmingham, MI 48009. The show starts at 8.00 pm.

Tickets are $35, $45, $55, $75 and VIP. For tickets call Mr. Deepak of Palace Entertainment at 586-506-0043. (Thanks to Rajiv Sanghvi of Swarbahar for the info).