I'm accepting radio play requests from all your talented people out there... Musicians, bands - hit me up. My show, South Side on www.desihits.com gets around 100,000 hits a month (It's not even 6 weeks old) and is the only one of it's kind - I play those from South India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mauritius, South Africa, Europe, Canada, USA, some of the hottest South Indian Movie songs, Hot news from the South and exclusive interviews with the likes of AR Rahman and many more!
Click to go straight to my website and read articles on Music, Lifestyle, Culture, Arts, Travel, Food, Issues and much more
South Side the only Southern targeted mainstream, English language show, which is run by a top music and arts journalist and A list guests - covering music, movies, culture of Sri Lanka, Goa, Karnataka, South India, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius and those from the diaspora - I also cover countries like South Africa, Australia etc - where ever the 1/2 Billion South Indians worldwide or those who speak Tamil, Telungu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tulu, Sinhalese reside.
The show is on www.desihits.com - 10-15 million hits per month - a lot of press has covered this site.
My show in itself gets 20-30,000 hits a week - it is streamed online and can be played at any time with just one click - back episodes are available too and they go under the Bollywood channel.
It is on the internet and reaches over 68 countries
Desi Hits has offices in New York, California and London
Desi Hits has the only Asian Apple itunes store and the show is a podcast on there too.
Tamil movies have been making waves in the recent years, where UK and European multiplexes and those in US have been showing figures and box office takings to be in Top 20, e.g. Dasavatharam - Number 12 in the UK in 2008, Pokkiri into Number 19 and Sivaji which got to Number 9 in 2007. The UK also shows Telugu movies in the cinemas and recently. Eros, one of the world's biggest distributors bought out Ayngaran, the biggest Tamil distributor and companies like Ad Labs and UTV have also been distributing Tamil films.
Many of the technical gurus in India hail from the South, e.g. AR Rahman, Ilayaraja, PC Sreeram, Ravi K Chandran, Rajeev Menon, Mani Ratnam. This show is to pay tribute to all of them and also showcase all those of the Southern heritage, those who have worked in the South and those from the North who have worked in the South - e.g. Southern director Ram Gopal Verma and my recent interviewee, Nisha Kothari - she debuted in Tamil with Madhavan in Jay Jay. Other examples of interviewees are Celina Jaitley, who made waves in the Telugu scene, Amrita Arora who is 1/2 Malayalee, Ateesh Randev from Sambar Salsa which has a Southern storyline and had worked in a Tamil movie called Nenjil jil jil when they shot it in the UK. Also, the crossover of actors/actresses from the South in the North - e.g. Padhmini, Jeya Prada, Vyjayanthimala Bali, Hema Malini, Sri Devi, Aishwarya Rai, Shilpa and Shamita Shetty, Sunil Shetty, Vidya Balan, Isha Koppikar, Deepika Padukone, Padma Lakshmi.
Please send any mp3s to:
theomkarconnection [at] gmail [dot] com
I'd like to meet:
There are so many fascinating people one comes across in life. In terms of famous names, here's a selection from me: Nelson Mandela ; The great director Mani Ratnam ; Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Will Smith, Kamal Haasan, Maya Angelou, Deepa Mehta, Zubin Mehta and not many women would resist the chance to meet Tyson Beckford and Taye Diggs ! ;-)
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Music:
The music on my page is a song that denotes peace with very poignant lyrics in my mother-tongue, Tamil. It is sung by AR Rahman and set to a very simple catchy almost pentatonic scaled tune, with layers of luscious guitar and piano accompaniment, in true Rahman music direction & production style. It is from the brilliant film Kanatthil Muthamittal, by my favourite Eastern director Mani Ratnam [Nayagan|Thalapathi|Roja|Bombay|Iruvar|Dil Se|Alaipayudhe|Yuva|Guru].
I like Carnatic Classical , R&B, Hip Hop, Neo Soul, Jazz , British Asian , Urban , Tamil Film Music (TFM) , Bollywood , World music , Afrobeat, Reggaeton and anything that catches my fancy & has a good beat. For me, melody is key! Listen to my show SOUTH SIDE on Desi Hits www.desihits.com
Movies:
Anything goes, as long as it's not too scary! Having an unlimited cinema card means that I get to watch most movies as they come out. I loved Volver, Dave Chapelle's Block Party, Borat, Water, Lagaan, Rang De Basanti, a HUGE fan of Mani Ratnam's Tamil movies (re-watching Pagal Nizhavu, Agni Natchathiram, Bombay and Nayagan again brought back a wave of nostalgia), Rajiv Menon's Kandukondain Kandukondain (after spending a week with Aishwarya Rai and Abbas in Dornie Village, Scotland, when they filmed the title song by AR Rahman, I have nothing but love for the movie), loved Cheran's Thavamai Thavamirundhu, steeped myself in the ups and downs of Mira Nair's Namesake and Mississippi Masala, Cried my eyes out at Jag Mundra's Provoked as I did at Hotel Rwanda, hated Da Vinci Code brutally murdered as a movie, adored 'Black' (Sanjay Leela Bhansali - my friend Ravi K Chandran did the amazing cinematography on this, as he did in Fanaa), Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Parineeta and Eklavya, the Yash Raj classic Veer Zara, Karan Johar's KANK, Page 3, Kabul Express (I'm now a fan of John Abraham), Dhoom 2 & Krrish (for the sheer quality of stunts and of course the gorgeous Hrithik Roshan) et al... I'm very much against downloading movies and piracy - it funds terrorism! Stop doing it!
Television:
Total TV buff - I literally hibernate to it in the cold Winter: Big bang theory, Eli Stone, Heroes, Aliens in America, Bionic Woman, Gossip Girl, 24, ER, Medium, Supernatural, Freddie, Three and a half men, Desperate Housewives, Lost, Sleeper Cell, Invasion, Smallville, Tru Calling, Charmed, Buffy and Angel, Bones, Eve, Half and half, All of us, American Dad, The David Chapelle show, Family Guy, Simpsons, Sex and the city, Twins, Commander in chief, Kevin Hill, Veronica Mars, Jake 2.0, Nip/Tuck, The 4400, Firefly, Scrubs, Friends, Fraiser, The Hughleys, My name is Earl, Two and a half men, Joey, Will & Grace, Seinfeld, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, That's So Raven, Malcolm in the Middle, Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends, 8 Simple Rules, American Gothic, Medium, Ugly Betty e.t.c.
Books:
Dan Brown (Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons), JK Rowling (Harry Potter), Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Mistress of Spices), Jumpa Lahari (The Namesake), Paulo Coelho ('The Alchemist' changed my life), Ekhart Tolle, Dr Brian Weiss (his past life regression therapy stuff is fascinating), The Kural (by Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar), Dilbert, Far Side e.t.c...
Heroes:
People with talent and vision! Human rights are paramount! Of course my illustrious Parents (Dr and Mrs Yogachandran) who have done so much for the communities they have lived in; my delightful angel (Aworan) who takes care of me and gives me support and strength, those who watch over me but aren't with me in person, Ahimsa (non-violent) protester Mahatma Ghandi , Nelson Mandela, our very own British Asian, Nitin Sawhney and of course musician extraordinaire and peace ambassador, AR Rahman !...
