Sagar Pasala an up and coming Movie Director from our Community

Meet Sagar Pasala a talented Movie Director from Michigan. Sagar has a strong passion towards Movie making . He is currently enrolled in a Film Direction course in Motion picture institute (MPI) in Troy, MI.

Sagar has directed a impressive short movie titled "The Wish" (embedded below) which was made as part of the curriculum at MPI of Michigan.

Sagar is currently working on a short movie "LAST CHANSES". In addition Sagar is also working on couple of scripts for feature length film, one for bollywood and the other for Hollywood.

Alka Jupudi - Indian Talent from Canton, MI

Alka Jupudi a resident of Canton, Michigan is a great singer and classical dance performer. She developed her skills in formal Classical Karnatic Music under the guidance of Guru Smt. Ammula Sathyavathi. Alka’s songs were broadcast on All India Radio as well as Doordarshan, Hyderabad. She is a popular playback singer and rendered her great voice to many regional TV serials on Doordarshan, ETV and Gemini TV.

On the silver screen, Alka also had many playback performances to her credit, including songs in popular movies like “SMS”, “Pourusham”, and “ALEX”. These songs were produced under the music direction of famous directors including, Deva, Sanjeev Mogoti, and Dr. Bunty.

This is one of the songs from Alka Jupudi's album Sama which is available here. (info for this blog post provided by Alka Jupudi herself)

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

Debojit Dutta from Kokata, India on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2009 - Very Talented!!

Debojit Dutta, participant in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2009 competition is unbelievably talented. I suspect Debojit if not the winner will reach the top 2 in the competition. He sings from the heart. Very talented....

Michigan's Dashana Menon in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009

Michigan's Darshana Menon's winner of "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa USA 2008" starts her journey in the prestigious Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2009 in India.
I just watched a episode of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2009 on ZeeTv. They have some unbelievable talent this year. One of the female participant "Asma Mohammed Rafi" is a Omani National who speaks broken Hindi. She sang real well but the answers she gave to some of the questions were hilarious. One the questions which was asked "Aap ko gana kisne seekhaya.." (translation "Who taught you to sing"). Her answer - "Mere baap ne.." (Don't know how you would say that in English...is it "My old man...." or "My Pa...."). One of the judges corrected her by saying "Beti hamare Bharat mein 'Baap' nehi bolte..."Pitaaa ji" bolte hain. Here's Asma Hindi bolta hai :)

Britain's got Talent - Desi Style!!

Check this video from "Britain's Got Talent". Absolutely Brilliant! As the judge says in the end "Bloody! Brilliant" and the look on Simon's (American Idol Judge) face when the Sardarji shows up - Priceless!!
(via ABCD Lady)

Shravani Mikkilineni in Intel Science Talent Search 2008 - Finals

Shravani Mikkilineni an Indian American who attends Detroit Country Day School has made it to - Intel Science Talent Search 2008 - Finals. She is one of 40 finalists from all over United States which includes 8 Indian - Americans.

Check out this Google Maps View of Indian-American Finalists which shows the High School Locations.

Anamika Chaudhary of Assam, India singing Maiya Maiya

I have not been following SA RE GA MA PA Lil Champ's competition. But I happened to see Anamika Chaudhary (SA RE GA MA PA participant) singing Maiya Maiya. It was a unbelievable performance. She is just 12 years young. Wow! what a future she has in front of her.

Isha Jain - Young Indian American who rocks (CNN)

CNN Profiles Isha Jain in the category "Young People WHO Rock". Wow! what a talented girl. Isha who is a junior at Freedom High School, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is described by her teachers as the type of student they find once in their lifetime if they are fortunate. Here's what CNN writes:

In the fifth grade, she started a math camp. By sixth grade, Jain was breezing through college-level work and trigonometry classes. When she was in the eighth grade, she aced advanced calculus.

Her taste for science started at 9 when she created a paradigm to explain the molecular structure of candy. It sounds sweet, but also sophisticated -- teachers in the U.S. and abroad have used her methods in the classroom. Before she was old enough to buy sweets at a PG-13 movie, her candy-making findings were featured at major scientific summits.

Recently, 16-year-old Isha used both skill sets to identify what causes growth spurts. Not only did she think her findings were cool, but so did the journal "Developmental Dynamics," which published her work. The Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology went beyond just the thinking: It gave her a cool $100,000 scholarship.

Congratulations Isha!!

Aneek Dhar rocks his way to SA RE GA MA PA 2007 CHAMP!!

Finally we have a winner in ANEEK DHAR, which everyone will be happy with. Aneek Dhar won the SA RE GA MA PA 2007 challenge. I have been watching Indian IDOL and SA RE GA MA PA for last couple of years. I have not seen a singer like ANEEK. He is just beyond words. He is just outstanding. Indians all over the world will be hearing about ANEEK for years to come.

Here's Aneek singing Rock N Roll Soniye:

Prashant Tamang of Darjeeling, India wins INDIAN IDOL 3

Congratulations to Prashant Tamang and Darjeeling, India! Prashant Tamang wins Indian IDOL 3.

Indian IDOL 3 vs Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007

I have been following both Indian IDOL 3 and SA RE GA MA PA 2007 very closely. In fact I have mapped out the contestants for both Indian IDOL 3 and SA RE GA MA PA 2007.

After watching last night's performance on Indian IDOL 3, I think the quality of singers in SA RE GA MA PA 2007 is much more superior.

It was the finals last night on Indian IDOL 3. One just cannot afford to make any mistakes. Both Prashant and Amit blew it last night. Prashant's mistake was however not that obvious. He recovered quickly and carried on. However everyone's favorite Amit Paul seemed completely lost after he missed a line. The look on his face along with a stunned look on Bipasha Basu's face said it all. Even the judges (who I felt were rooting for Amit Paul) had a shocked look on their face after Amit Paul's performance.

My pick for this year's Indian IDOL 3 is Prashant Tamang. What do you think?

On SA RE GA MA PA 2007 keep a eye on Aneek Dhar. He is my pick to be the winner. He is just outstanding. When Aneek Dhar sings he sounds better than the original version. Listen to this song "APNE TO APNE HOTE HAI".

Indian IDOL 3 Finals - Darjeeling vs Shillong

Prashant Tamang of Darjeeling, India will face off Amit Paul of Shillong, India in the finals of Indian IDOL 3.

With the voting pattern of last couple of weeks the results of last night were predictable (Emon Chatterjee was voted out after last night's flawless performance. No worries Emon! you will go places and make your millions and who knows sometime in the near future Javed Saheb might even pen a song for you).
Indian IDOL 3 Contestants on Google Maps

Tearjerker at SA RE GA MA PA 2007

Aneek Dhar of Kolkata, India sang "Apne to Apne Hote Hai..." at SA RE GA MA PA 2007 (August 31st episode) which was one the best so far I have seen in both SA RE GA MA PA 2007 and Indian IDOL 3. Couple of judges became emotional (Vishal Shekhar, Himesh Reshammiya). I would be lying if I said it did not affect me.

Ankita Mishra gets voted out of Indian IDOL 3 after an outstanding performance

The Indian IDOL this year will not be a female. The last remaining female contestant Ankita Mishra got voted out after what I thought was an outstanding performance. All 3 judges had given her great feedback.

Related:
Indian IDOL 3 Contestants on Google Maps
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2007 Contestants on Google Maps

Meiyang Chang's Journey ends on Indian IDOL 3

Meiyang Chang an extremely talented singer/performer and also a dentist was voted out today (8/25/2007) from Indian IDOL 3. His performance last night was outstanding and all the judges had great feedback but the public did not agree with the judges.

Bye! Mr. Mingu Chingu. Good Luck and Best Wishes....

Deepali voted out of Indian Idol 3

Indian IDOL 3 voting is completely screwed up now!. Indian Public has now voted out an extremely talented singer/performer - Deepali.

What could be the reason? She was far better than the remaining idol contestants. It must have to do with floods (one of the most severe!!) in her home state of Bihar, or may be something else!

Here's Deepali for you. She will be missed!!

Prashant Tamang from Darjeeling, India gives an outstanding performance in Indian IDOL 3

UPDATE: Abhishek voted out this week (08/04)Prashant Tamang's performance yesterday in Indian IDOL 3 should now get him votes from all over and not just Darjeeling and Kolkata.

Prashant was just outstanding when singing "Aao yaaron, mere sang sang bolo...." from Mission Kashmir.

Parleen Gill gets voted out of Indian IDOL 3

Parleen Gill an extremely talented singer gets voted out of Indian IDOL 3. So far the public is in the mood of voting out the best. If this pattern of voting continues....wonder how long Indian IDOL will survive. Last week Charu Semwal another talented singer was voted out.

Here's Parleen Gill - Yes you are the best!!


Related: Indian Idol Contestants on Google Maps

Saregamapa the other Indian Talent Show

UPDATE: The GEEK in me had to do this!! Check out SA RE GA MA PA Contestants (includes YouTube Video) on Google Maps
Just last week I started watching Saregamapa which airs on ZeeTV on Friday and Saturday at 7.30 PM (Eastern Time here in US).

The singing ability of the participants in Saregamapa in my opinion is much better than the participants on Indian IDOL. The 2 particpants from Saregamapa who are just mind blowing are Raja Hasan from Bikaner, Rajashthan and Aneek Dhar from Kolkata.

This year there is an international flavor to Saregamapa. There are couple of participants from Pakistan and one from our backyard here in USA - Mauli from Houston, Texas who gave an outstanding performance yesterday getting a 10/10 from all the judges and even getting a hug from Salman Khan.

Here's the gorgeous Mauli for you: