Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Dishoom’s founder among guests of YouTube series Dialogues of Diaspora

Dishoom’s founder among guests of YouTube series Dialogues of Diaspora

MEMBERS of India’s diaspora are being brought together in conversation through a new YouTube series that discusses important issues affecting their lives.

Dialogues of Diaspora is a project created by Ramneet Baidwan from Los Angeles and Sanvir Singh Chana from London and it’s named after the company they run.


In the episodes, a variety of prominent Asians discuss topics – such as one’s roots, cultural appropriation versus appreciation.

Guests included the founder of the Dishoom restaurant chain, Shamil Thakrar, and musician Arooj Aftab.

Baidwan said the aim of the project was to open up conversations on issues relating to the diaspora that were different from concerns among first-generation immigrants.

“For them, life was all about survival, right? I think within that there’s so much history, so much within their story that has never been captured. We have resources our parents don’t have, it’s kind of up to us to bridge that gap,” he said.

Providing “a more representative platform” for the south Asian diaspora was important for him.

“It’s up to us, it’s kind of our responsibility to document our history and use that to then pave the way for a better, more inclusive, more representative future,” he added.

Season one consists of three episodes, the first of which was released in late-May (27).

Episode one saw restauranteur Thakrar and award-winning history teacher Shalina Patel talking about how to “Own Your Roots”, which covered both the history and the future of the diaspora.

LEAD 2 Dialogue INSET Dishoom Day Shamil Thakrar 3 BTS 17 1 credit Sach Dhanjal The Dialogues of Diaspora team set up for a shoot with Dishoom’s Shamil Thakrar

In the second episode, singers Priya Ragu and Leo Kalyan spoke about their musical inspiration and their career path.

For the final episode, influencers Simran Randhawa and Arooj Aftab discuss the struggles and difficulties of navigating the fashion industry as brown women.

“Each episode, it’s unique and different. I think we deliberately wanted to have three unique ones. So that each conversation is different,” said Baidwan.

Having first met in New York in 2018, Baidwan and Singh Chana started the Dialogues of Diaspora project in late 2019.

“We really wanted to create something together, as two good friends who have the same shared vision,” said Baidwan.

The lack of south Asian representation in the UK and US media was another reason for the creators of the project.

Despite Bollywood being the world’s largest film industry and a recent rise in the number of Asian voices in the media, representation of Asians in the industry is still low.

In 2020, Hank Azaria, who voiced Indian character Apu on the US cartoon The Simpsons, was forced to resign from the role and issue an apology following the backlash.

Recent years have started to see a slow uptick in representation, with film and TV stars like Mindy Kaling and Hasan Minhaj breaking new ground.

This “brown renaissance” as Baidwan calls it, is part of the reason why the project is so important to him and Singh Chana.

“If we can even inspire one child to look at and say, ‘Hey, this is someone I will look up to, someone I want to follow in their creative field.’ I think that served as inspiration for us,” he said.

Despite growing up in the US, Baidwan’s first experience of south Asian voices in the mainstream was the British film Bend It Like Beckham from 2002 and directed by Gurinder Chadha.

Bend it Like Beckham was the first; we made it moment for many of us,” he said.

In addition to season two of Dialogues of Diaspora on the way soon, Baidwan and Singh Chana have a lot of projects coming up with their company.

Dialogues of Diaspora season one, episodes one and two are available on the YouTube channel of the same name.

More For You

Rachel Zegler’s ‘Evita’ Performance Sparks Broadway Buzz

Rachel Zegler stuns in Jamie Lloyd’s Evita as Palladium crowds grow nightly

Instagram/officialevita

Rachel Zegler shines in Jamie Lloyd’s ‘Evita’ as West End hit eyes Broadway transfer

Quick highlights:

  • Rachel Zegler plays Eva Perón in Jamie Lloyd’s radical Evita revival at the London Palladium.
  • A viral moment features Zegler singing live from the theatre’s balcony to crowds on the street.
  • Lloyd’s stripped-down staging amps up visuals and sound but sacrifices storytelling depth.
  • Talks are on for a Broadway transfer as early as 2026 with Zegler confirmed to reprise her role.

Rachel Zegler commands the London stage as Eva Perón in Jamie Lloyd’s daring reimagining of Evita, a production that trades subtlety for spectacle and could soon be heading to Broadway.

Following the success of Sunset Boulevard, Lloyd’s signature stripped-down style meets rock concert intensity in this revived version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical. Zegler, in only her second major stage role, dazzles with commanding vocals and presence, even as critics debate the show’s dramatic clarity.

Keep ReadingShow less
K Anis Ahmed

K Anis Ahmed’s new novel Carnivore is as imaginative as it is provocative

AMG

K Anis Ahmed’s 'Carnivore' serves up satire, class war and moral rot

From the blood-soaked backstreets of Dhaka to the polished kitchens of Manhattan’s elite, K Anis Ahmed’s new novel Carnivore is as imaginative as it is provocative. A satirical thriller steeped in class tension, culinary obsession and primal survival, Carnivore follows Kash, a Bangladeshi immigrant-turned-chef who launches a high-end restaurant serving exotic meats – only to become embroiled in a sinister world of appetite and ambition.

But this is no simple tale of knives and recipes. Ahmed – a seasoned journalist, publisher, and president of PEN Bangladesh – brings a sharp eye to the grotesqueries of power and privilege. In this exclusive interview with Eastern Eye, he speaks about his passion for food, the moral murkiness of his characters, and why even the most ordinary people can spiral into extraordinary darkness.

Keep ReadingShow less
Artists respond to a world shaped
by division at Summer Exhibition

Visitors view works in the main gallery

Artists respond to a world shaped by division at Summer Exhibition

THE theme of the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition 2025 is “dialogues”, prompting the question: can art help bring together the people of India and Pakistan? Or, indeed, Israel and Iran – or Israel and Palestine?

It so happens that the coordinator of this year’s Summer Exhibition is the internationally celebrated artist and Royal Academician Farshid Moussavi, who is of Iranian origin.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kanpur 1857 play

This summer, Niall Moorjani returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with 'Kanpur: 1857'

Pleasance

Niall Moorjani brings colonial history to life with powerful new play 'Kanpur: 1857'

This summer, Niall Moorjani returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Kanpur: 1857, an explosive new play that fuses biting satire, history and heartfelt storytelling. Written, co-directed and performed by Moorjani, alongside fellow actor and collaborator Jonathan Oldfield, the show dives into the bloody uprising against British colonial rule in 1857 India, focusing on the brutal events in Kanpur.

At its centre is an Indian rebel, played by Moorjani, strapped to a cannon and forced to recount a version of events under the watchful eye of a British officer.

Keep ReadingShow less
Lubna Kerr Lunchbox

Scottish-Pakistani theatre-maker Lubna Kerr returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with 'Lunchbox'

Instagram/ lubnakerr

Beyond curries and cricket: Lubna Kerr’s 'Lunchbox' challenges stereotypes at Edinburgh Fringe

Acclaimed Scottish-Pakistani theatre-maker Lubna Kerr returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with Lunchbox – the final instalment of her deeply personal and widely praised ‘BOX’ trilogy, following Tickbox and Chatterbox.

Inspired by her own upbringing as a Pakistani immigrant girl in Glasgow, Lunchbox is a powerful one-woman show that tackles themes of identity, race, bullying and belonging through the eyes of two teenagers growing up on the same street but living vastly different lives. With humour, honesty and heart, Kerr brings multiple characters to life, including her younger self and a troubled classmate, as she explores whether we are shaped by our environment or capable of breaking the cycle.

Keep ReadingShow less