Rap music from De La Soul to Talib Kweli. Bollywood Funk from the composer Naushad Ali and the great playback singers Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar and Mohammed Rafi, as well as Sonu Nigam. Raucous drum an bass from Paradox, grungey guitars from Nirvana, pouting pop (better not mention who) and two an a half minute punk from the Sex Pistols right though to Greenday. James Brown's funk explosion to daft punk's funk experimentation. Bloc Party's twisted soul, to Radiohead's dark spaces. Big beat Bhangra from Gurdass Mann's 'Punjeeri', to Panjabi MCs 'Jogi' and Sri Lankan hip hop/soul from Ranidu an Iraj. I'm always searching, knowing that the best is yet to come no matter how good the present and past music is and was.
La Haine (Hate) is one of my favourite films, as is Blazing Saddles for entirely different reasons. I like real guys films but stop short at all that Seagal/Van Damme/Chuck Norris stuff. Star Wars, Lord Of the Rings, Matrix as well as Goodfellas, Heat, Casino would all make the Top 20. Sexy Beast is a great movie. The black and white classics of Hindi Cinema are always worth watching on a rainy weekend in, they are beautifully shot films. before you become immersed in modern day bollywood re-visit Mother India, Sujatha and the epic Mughal E Azam. Right now I want to see the South African movie Tsotsi.
When I get the time, the Simpsons, MOTD, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Heroes, Scrubs, Little Britain, MTV Base, in fact a lot of American TV and not too much UK TV. I always put BBC News 24 on to find out what's going on in the world and love documentaries about ancient civilizations.
Because of my BBC Asian Network show I am lucky enough to receive a lot of books. Everything from novels, to biographies and giant historical tomes. I love reading but never finish them