LIFEFORCE

Season 2 of the Netflix/Shondaland hit show BRIDGERTON introduces the Sharma family from India into the world of the Bridgerton siblings and Regency-era England. Join me to hear writer Geetika Lizardi talk about writing for the show and holding steady to her dreams, passions, and vision as a storyteller.

Season 2 of the Netflix/Shondaland hit show BRIDGERTON introduced the Sharma family from India into the world of the Bridgerton siblings and Regency-era England. Join me to hear writer Geetika Lizardi talk about writing for the hit show and holding steady to her dreams, passions, and vision as a storyteller.

Almanya Narula, actor, fight choreographer, and writer, speaks about her solo show, Noor Inayat Khan: The Forgotten Spy, playing the Hollywood Fringe Festival. In 1943, Noor became the first woman and Indian to be sent out as a spy & wireless operator under Churchill’s orders in Nazi France. Her story is one of bravery and betrayal. 

Storytelling: Beyond Western Narratives, the third episode in The Artists's Journey series, is now available on Spotify, Apple, Google, rukusavenueradio.com, and most podcasting platforms.

In this jam-packed 14-minute episode, I explore two common western narratives and their complicity in the colonial enterprise. I also explore three non-western story structures (more to come in part II).

International award-winning filmmaker and director, Pan Nalin, speaks about his latest film, LAST FILM SHOW, the Opening Night movie at the 2022 Indian Film Festival Los Angeles. LAST FILM SHOW is the story of 9-year-young Samay falling in love with filmmaking and how friendships and love collude to help him achieve his dreams despite all odds.

Pan Nalin’s previous films include ANGRY INDIAN GODDESSES, SAMSARA, VALLEY OF FLOWERS, FAITH CONNECTIONS, and many others.

Join me in the second episode of our Storytelling series. Today we speak about vasansas, a Sanskrit term meaning psychological seeds. In storytelling, these types seeds shape your characters' psyches and motivations, and they are also the unconscious motivations or tendencies behind all actions.

Documentary Film Director, Sue Carpenter, and Co- director Belmaya Nepali, speak about the making of their 2021 feature film, “I am Belmaya,” which is a story of Belmaya’s own journey from a conservative hill village of Nepal to self-discovery, creativity, and agency. The film has won numerous international awards, including Best Documentary at the UK Asian Film Festival and Best Documentary at the Pame International Film Festival in Nepal. Ending song "Stronger" by Simi Carpenter from the 3min film Stronger, about women in Nepal wanting to break free from family and societal chains, and to be themselves. 

Storytelling can be a radical, revolutionary act that's not only about entertainment, but transformation. Join me as we discover how to enter into this transformation process - of ourselves as artists and the world. Hosted by Shilpa Agarwal, author of the bestselling novel, Haunting Bombay. 

Author and academic Namrata Poddar talks about her debut novel, Border Less, from 7.13books (2022), and the diasporic experience of crossing borders.

Author and poet SJ Sindu, author of the hybrid nonfiction and poetry chapbook, Dominant Genes, forthcoming from @blacklawrencepress, speaks about transforming the rage of injustice into action, and how we accept/resist/harmonize with our ancestral inheritances.

“That’s part of the collection too, this wrestling with the places we come from, the people we come from, and the very complicated relationships – especially queer people and artists – have with our birth families.” - SJ Sindu