CELEBRATING TODAY'S SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN!

As the festive season is upon us, none of us need an excuse to celebrate; it’s mandatory this time of year. But I have a reason to pop the cork and click my flute this issue. I had the rare opportunity this past summer to connect with some of the South Asian community's female movers and shakers. During a partnership initiative for the 50th Jubilee celebrations of the prestigious IIT Bombay organization in New York with ANOKHI's celebrity fashion columnist, Alia Khan, I had the opportunity to bring on board and work with the CEO of Global Goddess Beauty, Shalini Vadhera and to meet and mingle with DesiHits.com CEO, Anjula Acharia-Bath, both very ANOKHI women who we will be telling you more about next issue. In addition, I also had the pleasure of interviewing two of show business’ most prolific torch bearers of talent–Canadian producer- director-scriptwriter, Deepa Mehta, and Hip Hop’s hottest sensation, the UK’s Hard Kaur! Born in India, both women became successful in the West before conquering India and now sit at their helms as the godmothers of their respective crafts.

Deepa talks about the new installment to her volume of movies, Heaven on Earth, which saw its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September. True to her eminent style of storytelling, this is a tale about how abuse, in its varying forms, traps mankind into a vortex of isolation caused by circumstances within our environment, and how we as individuals may choose to deal with this–be bound to it or seek salvation and freedom from it. Although set within the confines of an immigrant Punjabi family, the message of the movie has a universal appeal. The plot is centred around the relationship between newlyweds, Chand played by Bollywood’s Preity Zinta, and Rocky, played by newcomer, Vanish Bhardwaj. Both do a stand-up job at creating their respective characters, which lends to the power of the movie that is shot in both colour and black and white. The movie hits theatres in Canada and India this fall.

Hard Kaur graces our cover this issue and candidly shares intimate details about her life in my Open Chest interview. She gives insight to the reason why she left India as a young girl, what she had to face on arrival in the UK and how she fought to overcome the many obstacles she had to face to climb to a throne of her own making as Hip Hop’s number one Indian female artist of all time! Her story is what movies are made of: wrought with tragedy, humour, financial hardships and the evolution of an icon. Having conquered the UK and India, she is ready to take on North America with the release of her second solo album in early 2009. If she hasn’t been on your radar until now, then get familiar because you’re about to find out how fearless this lioness really is as she gets set to roar up the global airways with her very own style of music!

See you in the new year when we unveil our 6th anniversary issue with our annual 'Sexy & Successful' list and a fully functional new website to boot!

Until Next Time, Be UNIQUE. Be ANOKHI.

Raj Girn
Founder/Publisher