London-born Panjabi picked up the outstanding supporting actress award for her role in The Good Wife as the US honoured stars of the small screen at a lavish Los Angeles ceremony.

Archie made her film debut in the smash hit Film Four/Miramax comedy EAST IS EAST in 1999. The film received a standing ovation in Cannes and was the year’s biggest home-grown hit. “British magic returns to cinema” said The Times. In this 70s set comedy drama Archie played the scene-stealing Meenah, a soccer mad teenage tomboy. The Vancouver Sun described Archie’s hilarious Bollywood broomstick dance as a “comedy classic.” East is East won The Evening Standard Best Film Award and the prestigious Alexander Korda Bafta Award for Best British Film in 2000.

Archie went onto work on the Oscar winning film The CONSTANT GARDENER. Based on the popular John Le Carre novel, the film was directed by Oscar nominated Fernando Meirelles. Archie played Ghita Pearson. When her close friend (Rachel Weisz) is found murdered, Ghita helps her husband (Ralph Fiennes) to discover the sinister truth behind the murder. The film was nominated for ten Baftas and went onto win an Oscar.

Next Archie was cast as the lead in the critically acclaimed award winning film YASMIN, written by Oscar nominated writer of The Full Monty, Simon Beaufoy. It tells the story of a young British Muslim woman whose life is torn apart in the aftermath of September 11. Archie received excellent reviews and the film was reshown on Channel Four six months later. The Daily Mail said her “funny, sad and touching performance will not only rocket her to instant stardom, but will have given all who witnessed it food for thought for many years to come.”

Later in 2005 Ridley Scott cast her as Gemma, Russell Crowe’s scene stealing mischievous and savvy executive assistant in the 20th Century Fox romantic comedy A GOOD YEAR, an adaptation of Peter Mayle’s popular novel featuring Marion Cotillard. On working with her, Ridley Scott described Archie as “smart and sensitive enough as an actress to make anything fly, comedy or drama, an unusual talent.”

In 2007 Michael Winterbottom cast Archie alongside Angelina Jolie in A MIGHTY HEART. The film is based on Mariane Pearl’s bestselling memoir about the murdered Wall Street Journal writer Daniel Pearl. Archie played the role of Asra Nomani, an Indian-American journalist and very close friend of Daniel Pearl. When Daniel fails to return from his interview both Asra and Marianne embark of an intense search effort. The film received a standing ovation in Cannes and continues to receive superb reviews, often picking out Archie’s stand out performance. There is already talk of Oscars. Archie won The Chopard Trophy in Cannes 2007 for her performance in A MIGHTY HEART. Previous winners of this award include Gael Garcia and Marion Cotillard.

In 2005 Archie went onto to work on A VERY SOCIAL SECRETARY, a Channel 4 satire on David Blunkett’s affair with the American publisher of The Spectator, which led to the former Home Secretary’s resignation. It was nominated for a Bafta and an Emmy. Archie played Blunkett’s (Bernard Hill) loyal but principled political aide, the only one who was sympathetic to the blind man. The Telegraph said “Archie is superb as Ashley.”

Music – Life

Touring – Soon

Samosa – Indian

England – Indian

Photoshoots – Fun

Fifa World Cup – Underdogs

Michael Jackson – RIP

University – BORING

Bandmates – Family

Alcohol – Moderation

Fans – Awesome

Hi Prashan, please introduce each of yourselves and what your role is in the band?

So we have Daniel, our lead singer and “professional” bassist, Joel, one of our guitarists, Derek, our drummer and myself, the second guitarist. We don’t really have a lead guitarist pretty much coz everyone solo’s here and there, haha.

For people who have never heard your music, how would you describe it?

We’d like to say some awesome things describing what we think we sound like or maybe even compare ourselves to some awesome band but honestly we really don’t sound like much else out there! You just gotta hear us for yourselves, to put us in a genre maybe pop punk?

What kind of bands would you compare yourself to/ say are your influences?

Well our influences come from bands like Taking Back Sunday, our drummer loves UnderOath, a little bit of Fall Out Boy here and there…but then we are also into some RnB and hip hop so we try fit it all in there!

Being Sri Lankan, do you find the majority of your fans are South Asian?

Haha yeah when we first started off and maybe up until pretty recent this was the case. This may have come down to the fact that we constantly had support from family and friends when we began. However we have started branching out a lot more and we have been welcomed into a broader and more diverse fan base, which we gotta say is pretty cool!

How do your parents feel about you being in a band? Did you have to work hard at convincing them you were serious about it to get their approval?

I think it has been overly stereotyped that Asian parents hate their kids “straying” from their heritage or culture. Our parents have supported us SO well in all our decisions, so we really thank God for them. We didn’t have to work hard to convince them at all  and it’s safe to say our parents are now fairly proud of us!

There are not many bands with all South Asian members out there, do you find this makes it easier or more difficult to make it into the industry?

When we started off, as we said before, our fan base was mostly South Asian. This made it really easy to get up on stage and connect with our friends and family because we knew what they wanted and how to give it to them. When we get on stage, about to play to a more diverse crowd, we sometimes get the feeling that people are thinking how we “shouldn’t” be playing rock or how we may “embarrass ourselves”. Sure, it’s made difficult by the fact that there aren’t many brown guys doing rock but then again who said who can play rock? For us music is a great language that speaks to all people and once we start playing, people come up to us after and tell us how much they enjoyed it.
Sorry to get political, what are your thought on the conflicts that occurred in Sri Lanka?

Haha no worries. We believe God’s got a plan for Sri Lanka, what’s done has been done for a reason and even though we are all Tamils we need to forgive people for any wrong that’s been done because there’s no point fighting when people are homeless or have no food. Our heart is for the people.

Do you do tours all over Australia often?

Yeah! If by all over Australia you mean Sydney and Canberra! Haha. At the moment we have been really gigging hard all over Sydney and we road tripped it down to Canberra for an awesome gig. We’d like to hit up a tour around Aus soon but it’s not right up there in our priority list yet. Certainly going to do it though.

When you are on the road how do you deal with being away from friends and family?

We have only experienced it once before, but there’s no getting away from them. We got a call when we got to our destination, we had to call when we finished, and we had to call to tell them where we would be staying. It’s good in a way because it keeps us on track and accountable so we don’t muck around TOO much. Both friends and family are always there helping us along the way.

What would be the ideal band/artist you would want to collaborate with?

At the moment, probably Switchfoot? We all grew up on them and they are up there with our favorites. It’s great to see how far they have come and how they live their lives through their music. Staying local however, our lead singer LOVES a band called New Empire. It would be his dream to collaborate with them.

Any song covers you would like to do?
We do a couple at the moment, stuff like ‘Down’ by Jay Sean, ‘All the Small Things’ by Blink 182 and we have done an acoustic ‘Break Your Heart’ cover by Taio Cruz.
Who are you backing in the World Cup?

We all know Brazil is in it to win it! That’s all that matters…

What is next for Road to Canaan?

Well hopefully a full album, maybe an album release, a music video, a tour? Endless possibilities!

Any plans to go and tour other countries?
We have to finish Aus first we think 
And finally, explain in 5 words why people should listen to your music?
Support great local music…please!?

Thanks Very much guys!

For updates and further information on Road To Canaan, check out their Myspace page – www.myspace.com/roadtocanaan

Author:Tanuja Ravendran.

Canada’s favorite season, spring is here and Shiamak Davar, the Guru of Modern Contemporary Dance in India, has a special dance bonanza lined up for you! Students from Shiamak Davar’s Institute are geared up to present the Spring Funk^TM show on 14^th March 2010 at Markham Theatre. The two back-to-back shows (3.00pm and 7.00pm) are sure to leave you craving formore.

Over 500 students are ready to set the stage on fire with their dazzling performances on latest Bollywood blockbuster tracks. The show will present dance styles like Shiamak’s Bollywood Jazz^TM, Rock n Roll, Hip-Hop and many more. The show will also have a special performance by Shiamak’s Victory Arts Foundation (VAF), the non-profit arm of Shiamak’s company dedicated towards empowering people with special needs through dance.

“Spring Funk^TM is an extension of my motto – Have Feet. Will Dance^TM . With these shows I aim to give all my students, no matter what age, size or background, a professional platform to display their dancing talent. Canada has tremendous potential. People are culturally inclined and so enthusiastic to learn dance styles from India, especially Bollywood”, says dance magnate, Shiamak Davar.

The Spring Funk^TM workshop is a unique program, training amateur dancers to perform like confident professionals. Shiamak trains, energizes and reaches out to people from all walks of life. Aged 4 to 85 years, Shiamak’s students attend dance classes in the age groups of 4-6 years for Kids, 7-12 years for Preteens and 13 years and above for adults and perform in front of huge audiences in a professionally run-event complete with majestic set design, props, lights, sound and costume.

BOOK YOUR SEAT NOW!!!!

For ticket reservation, please contact: www.markhamtheatre.ca / 905.305.7469

Verdict: 3 out of 5 stars

Like many of you, I had been anticipating the release of Avatar since it was announced. First of all because it is the most expensive movie ever made, secondly the movie was created using new 3D technology that blurs the rift between reality and imagination, and lastly the movie was produced and directed by James Cameron. For those of you that are not movie buffs, James Cameron is a well known director in Hollywood known mostly for his movies that take special effects to the limit. He is mostly famous for his previous blockbusters such as, Titanic, Terminator 1 and 2, and Aliens.

First things first, Avatar was created to be a showcase of the special effects technology that was created by James Cameron for Avatar. If you are planning to go watch this movie (which you most likely are) expect to be blown away by the realism of the alien-world known as Pandora, but don’t expect to be drawn away by the story.

The story of Avatar can be rounded down to a “Pocahantes” with aliens instead of natives. The movie’s plot rolls around the similar age old story of xenophobia and misunderstanding resulting in war. The film features a paraplegic ex-marine who is sent to Pandora to fill in for his dead brother in a mission that leads to him and puts him in a position where he must either follow orders or protect the aliens he has come to call his own.

Other than the fact that this movie is basically “Dances with Wolves” in space, it is a special effects spectacle like no other science fiction movie ever made. When you put on the 3D glasses on (if you are watching it in 3D, which you should be) you will become enveloped in a world filled with wonderful creatures, shiny and lethal machines, and extremely realistic aliens. Another plus in Avatar is that the cast of the film is composed of sci-fi veterans and big names, such as Sigourney Weaver from the Aliens series, Sam Worthington from Terminator Salvation, and Zoe Saldana from Star Trek. This cast was the first of its kind to act out complete scenes dressed up as their CGI characters using their own movements and their own likeness, by James Cameron’s face imaging technology and “Virtual cameras”. So all the aliens you see in the movie are actually modeled onto the actors themselves, you are not watching some puppets being voiced by actors but the actors themselves dressing up in a sort of “digital” costume.

Now if you look past the special effects and the slightly stale story line, Avatar is far from being a masterpiece, instead it is a first in a new wave of movies that will soon take over movie theaters and eventually our hearts. Movies like this will become a standard with in the coming years and we can expect to eventually reach a point where we will literally be watching holograms coming out of the screens.

My final Verdict: Avatar is no masterpiece, but it is something that has set a new standard and will be remembered for its special effects and not for the story.

Author: Daanish Maan

I heard Chetan Bhagat’s name the first time in 2008 when an Indian movie ‘Hello’ released. It was based on one of Chetan’s bestselling novels, ‘One Night @ the Call Center’. ‘Hello’ was a classic example of the movie-based-on-promising-story-gone-wrong. The movie sank without creating any ripples although Chetan had co-scripted it.

Chetan Bhagat is one of the widely read young, Indian authors. Two of his novels have inspired major Indian movies while the rights of his third book, ‘3 Mistakes’ have been acquired by Farhan Akhter’s Excel Entertainment. The most anticipated release of the season, ‘3 Idiots’, starring Aamir Khan is loosely based on Chetan’s debut novel, ‘Five Point Someone’.

Unfortunately, I have never read any of Chetan’s books so I can’t comment on that but what motivated me to write down my views was the movie ‘3 Idiots’. The movie is about three students from different social backgrounds studying at the Indian Institute of Technology – Delhi. The movie talks about living life on one’s own terms and chasing one’s dreams. However, chasing one’s dreams is not a piece cake if you are living someone else’s dreams.

In subcontinent a common mindset is that children are told since beginning the career they would choose. No one pays heed to the child’s aptitude or his/her own choice of profession. Similarly the absence of career counseling in the educational institutes makes things worse. Talking of careers, there are especially two professions considered lucrative, stylish and appealing in every sense of the word. First is the medical profession and second is the engineering.

According to the latest statistics released by the government, female literacy rate in Pakistan stands on 42% – out of that only 15-25% seeks higher education. Majority of those seeking higher education compete for a place in medical schools. Those who are left out later on change career plans. Has anyone ever wondered why all the young ladies like to end up in the medical profession? The answer to this question is quite simple. In most cases the girl is fulfilling her parent’s expectations. She’s been told and trained since childhood as to what she would become and this leaves almost no room for making her own choices. I can totally relate to that. When I was a kid and someone would ask me what I would like to become when I grow up, I would instantly say, ‘doctor’. I knew nothing about this profession. Doctors were scarce in our family so there was no question of idealizing anyone either. Actually my father wanted me to pursue medicine. He would often tell me, while helping me solve the math problems, that I had to work hard because he wanted me to be a doctor. For years, I remained under that pressure. In ninth standard I realized, I wasn’t cut for medical profession. The sight of blood would invariably make me queasy. I was having hard time studying Physics and Chemistry. So one day, I mustered up courage and with pounding heart told my father that I lacked an aptitude for studying medicine. The expression that spread across his face was something I would never forget. His head hung down in disappointment and he only asked me that much, ‘then what?’ As if there weren’t other professions left in the world to pursue? How I convinced him is a long story but his disappointed tone still resonates in my ears.

Is it fine for parents to realize their dreams through their kids? Having gone through it personally I’d do my child a favor and would never force him/her to become a tennis player or a movie director because I wanted to become those at one time.

In the South Asian society there is another aspect of forcing girls into medical profession. Being a doctor means not only a secure financial future but it also guarantees good match in the marriage market. The match making aunties look for girls, who have a medicine degree, are tall and fair because that’s what the demand is. They can compromise on the last two credentials as long as the girl is a doctor and is making good money. Needless to say this attitude is sickening to the core and reflects a strange collective behavior of the society.

Like girls, the boys also live with the dilemma of forced career. Although it’s not a written rule but is followed religiously that if the father is a doctor, an engineer or a civil servant the son will have to follow his footsteps irrespective of his own choice. In ‘3 Idiots’ this issue has been raised quite effectively. Besides, the movie also questions the rat race of getting good scores by cramming text books and less focus on the practical or out of the box approach to the teaching and studying methods. Those people who have been part of the Indian or Pakistani education system would relate to that movie.

It was so refreshing to watch ‘3 Idiots.’ It raised so many thought provoking questions without getting preachy. It is one of those rare Indian movies where entertainment meets substance and you end up feeling enlightened and rejuvenated because you feel as if your own thoughts found voice on the big screen. All the actors have acted well but ‘3 Idiots’ is Aamir Khan’s movie all the way. Only a perfectionist like him could pull off a role of 20-something college student. He did lose oodles of weight for that role.

After this movie, the director Rajkumar Hirani has become one of my favorites in the business. Through his first two movies, ‘Munna Bhai MBBS’ and ‘Lage Raho Munna Bhai’ he spread Gandhi’s message of universal peace and love and also introduced the world to the ‘magical hug’ – a sincere hug that was bound to eliminate all tensions. And the mantra of ‘3 Idiots’ is, ‘All is well’. Burry your worry! That may not solve the problem but will give you enough strength to cope with it. Hats off to Chetan Bhagat, to Hirani, to Aamir and to everyone connected with the project for making a genuine movie with the powerful message.

Author: Ayesha Umer

Yes, let’s just get over with the whole “omg! The movie was nothing like the book, like it was just horrible!” Come on people. The fact that directors will never be able to fit a 500-page book in 2 hours has been established ever since novels started to take the shape of movies. Now that this fact’s clear, let’s begin.

A lot better than Twilight, the movie was specifically targeted towards fans, and as much as I hate to admit it, someone who has never read the novels will never grow to like it. The improvement in budget and the switch to a much better director, Weitz than Hardwicke was immediately noticeable. Gone were the hilarious action scenes from Twilight and were replaced by a much better quality work. The graphics however, looked a little cartoonish and I was disappointed by Weitz’s interpretation of a wolf. I was expecting wolves to look a little more beastly and huge (like the werewolf from Potter) rather than an overfed dog. Edward’s sparkling skin which had received much laughter from the fans in twilight appeared much better in New Moon and this time it actually resembled diamonds. The set was just absolutely marvelous staying true to the beauty of Forks as described in the book.

The actors really impressed me this time around. Of course, Taylor Lautner stole the light. Not only was his character Jacob Black supposed to be the focus of New Moon, his improved acting skills and his perseverance to keep his role through intensive workout was really what made him standout. I am happy to announce that Robert Pattison and Kristen Stewart finally ditched their overacting. They both played out their roles very naturally, especially Stewart who perfectly expressed Bella’s deep depression without going overboard and crazy. The new cast was beyond perfection. The wolf pack was exactly like I imagined: all muscle and wit. I have to say that my favorite scene involved Bella’s confrontation with the wolf pack. They captured that scene perfectly. The Voulturi cast exceeded my expectations with Dakota Fanning casted as Jane. All the members of Vouluri matched their role pretty well.

There were disappointments in the movie as well, number one being the lack of the wolf pack’s involvement. New Moon was really supposed to be about the wolves and I was really disappointed to see that the pack wasn’t shown much. Someone who has never read the book and only seen the movie will not know who is who in the pack. The book really gets deep down in their personalities and we get to know the pack really well, however, the movie deprives us of that. Hopefully they will enforce that in the movies to come and we will get to see more of the pack. The Cullens again were not given a large part in the movie considering how important they are. I would like to see their personalities develop more in the movie. The funniest thing in the entire movie was Edward and Bella’s first kissing scene. In the book they kiss all the time, its just hard for Edward to keep going considering his longing for Bella’s blood and his fear of hurting her, however, in the movie they make it appear as a very big deal and the scenes get a little too intense and unnatural. The thing that made me really happy was they, a) finally show us Bella and Alice’s relationship and b) finally mention Japers’ ability which they left out in Twilight.

The movie did an excellent job of converting the most boring book in the entire saga to a not so boring movie. Considering the fact that Edward is gone for most of the book, the movie incorporated this well by making him appear in Bella’s dream since he is the main character.

The movie was loved by those of us who actually knew what was going on and hated by those who couldn’t grasp the concept. For some it was just pure eye candy with so many good looking men involved. Now who in their right mind would not want to go watch that?

 Author: Wafa Zahid