The Chaat Room

WE. ARE. BACK. BABY!

The Chaat Room is back for an incredible Season 2! For those who are new to our podcast: The Chaat Room is dedicated to interviewing brown professionals in the entertainment industries. We talk to people in front and behind the camera of your favorites shows and movies, as well as authors, musicians, and all of the careers that help create the arts content you consume every day. Our focus is to provide a spotlight for amazing filmmakers and creators, as well as stories of how they made their way through the industry.

This season features Oscar-nominated songwriter Savan Kotecha, late night comedy writer Nelu Handa, award winning playwright Rehana Lew Mirza, television and media executive Roma Khanna, episodic director and editor Kabir Akhtar, novelist and actor Maulik Pancholy, and the Woke Desi girls just to name a few!

We hope you all enjoy!

Ever gone to a film festival and wondered who the hell put the entire, amazing thing together? Meet Archana Jain and Monika Sharma, founders and managers of Product of Culture (POC) and one of its signature events: The South Asian Film Festival of America (or SAFFA).

Archana and Monika tell us all about the creation of POC – a collective that amplifies Brown creatives and brands – and the ins and outs of running a successful film festival. BONUS: Monika also provides tips to anyone submitting their projects to festivals! It's a must-listen, especially for first-time filmmakers and submitters.

Have you ever watched an emotional and engaging show and thought, "WOW, this hits me right in the heart"? Next time you watch an episode, listen to its music; the score of a series or film can either make for an incredible viewing experience, or break it completely. Thankfully this week's guest is a master of this very craft.

Our guest is Siddhartha Khosla who – in addition to having a kickass band, Goldspot – is a brilliant TV/film composer currently working on the hit NBC series "This Is Us." He talked to us about how his career in composition began, his parents' reaction to wanting to pursue music in general, his time in Penn Masala (fellow a cappella nerds, rejoice!) and how he creates the beautiful score to what is arguably network TV's best drama series.

This week's episode is a family reunion of sorts! Our guest is the extremely funny comedian Nish Kumar, host of the Quibi series "Hello, America." He also happens to be Nikki's cousin!

In this episode we touch on navigating a career in comedy (both in the UK & the US) and how Nish shared his passions and stand-up performances with his parents. Nish and Nikki's stories about their family will certainly warm your heart, and to date, this episode might be the most we've ever laughed!

And don't forget to check out Nish on "Hello, America." Streaming on Quibi RIGHT. NOW.

A romance novel with a Bollywood twist. Anu Malik composing songs in English. Ashanti.

"Bride & Prejudice" has all of this and more. The iconic 2004 film starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and directed by Gurinder Chadha is this month's entry for in our BONUS segment "Now Re-Playing." And our special guest is a GOOD one. Actress / Comedian Punam Patel joins our dissection of the "Pride and Prejudice" 2004 remake as we call out those cringe-tastic moments and appreciate the surprisingly good ones.

We're back with an extra special Business with Bae episode featuring prolific writer and all around top-notch human being, Alisha Rai! Alisha is an expert of the contemporary romance novel. One of most recent books, The Right Swipe, was named one of the best books of 2019 by the New York Public Library, the Washington Post and Oprah Magazine, just to name a few.

We were so excited to get a deep dive into the literary world, her writing process and her experiences as a South Asian female author talking about romance in a love and sex-positive light. Alisha makes it easy to truly appreciate the importance of the written word.

Creating your own film/TV content is just about one of the hardest, bravest things a filmmaker can do. And this week's guests on the pod are sure to sure to agree.

Sujata Day & Ritesh Rajan, join us to talk about their new film, "Definition Please," which Sujata directed, produced, wrote and stars in opposite Ritesh. They share career ups and downs and ways the South Asian arts community can better stick together, while Sujata inspires us with the badass journey of how she made her feature directorial debut.

Don't deny it. You've binge-watched Netflix's new docu-series, "Indian Matchmaking." We definitely have and this week we had the chance to speak with the show's creator and non-fiction filmmaker extraordinaire, Smriti Mundhra!

Smriti talks working in the non-fiction space, her process of creating unforgettable content like St. Louis Superman, Indian Matchmaking and more, and how she feels about the criticism her Netflix series has received.

We're beyond impressed by how she appreciates the good and bad commentary she's received on the show, and how committed she is to continue creating incredible work that represents the South Asian and BIPOC communities.

Our new Business with Bae (+ Bhaiya) installment features two great friends of the pod, Sarah Khan and Karan Sunil, both of whom have important jobs in a TV writers' room: as part of the writers' support staff.

The writers’ support staff is comprised of assistants and PAs who are usually aspiring writers themselves. These jobs are typically the quickest way to become a staff writer and jumpstart a TV writing career.

Sarah Khan is currently a writers' PA for the Apple TV animated series, "Central Park," while Karan is a writers' assistant on NBC's "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist." They are two of the hardest working people we know in entertainment, and we're so glad they're sharing their insightful stories / tips / messages for anyone trying to get into TV writing.

Weeee're back!

This week's new bonus episode of "Now Re-Playing" is all about the 1991 Mira Nair film, "Mississippi Masala."

The film follows a young Indian woman (Sarita Choudhury), whose family has immigrated from Uganda, as she falls in love with an African American man (Denzel Washington) in the small town of Greenwood, Mississippi.

"Mississippi Masala" was one of the first mainstream films that really explored an interracial relationship between two people of color, and the ideas of identity, racism/prejudice and colorism, especially within the BIPOC community.

What better film to re-watch now??