Pump up the Bhangra

The festival of lights has a bright future in Portland

By Amrita Narayanan Bruce

Desi Dhamaka happens at Center for Cultural Exchange Oct. 6. Call (207) 761-0591.

LO-FI TO HI-FI: Noel Bonam mixes traditional sounds with modern beats.

Brass oil lamps, firecrackers, rich sweets, community gatherings, and days of awful air pollution and smog traditionally accompany Diwali celebrations in India. Diwali is the Indian festival of lights, and perhaps the only holiday in India that is celebrated universally among all the different religious and caste communities in India.

The holiday observes the proverbial triumph of good over evil and light over darkness. On the night before Diwali, houses all over India have dozens of oil lamps lit inside and outside to attract the attention of Lakshmi, the goddess of spiritual and material wealth who, it is said, visits all places of light on that evening. Altars of even just a single lamp and flowers adorn even the poorest of homes and prayer is followed by partying into the night.

In total, the one billion Indian revelers worldwide rival the Christmas or Hanukah crowd, but, here in Maine, there are only about 200 Indians (individuals and families). Diwali does not go unnoticed, however. “The Indian association plans something every year,” says Bhupinder Singh who owns a local Indian restaurant (Tandoor) and hails originally from Punjab in North India.

This year, Diwali revelers both Indian and Western have options. Portland’s newest Diwali event seeks to unite the Indian and local communities. It will be in the form of “Desi Dhamaka,” at the Center for Cultural Exchange. “Desi” refers to anyone from the Indian subcontinent, and “dhamaka,” well, that just means craziness and aptly describes the fanfare that marks Diwali in India.

Invitations have been dispatched to over 300 Indians and Indophiles on the center’s mailing list, and dedicated desis and wanna-bes will converge on Portland from outposts as far as Farmington and Augusta. The actual date of Diwali is determined annually by the lunar calendar and this year falls on October 26 in the Northern hemisphere. The Center for cultural exchange chose October 6 for reasons of general convenience.

The Diwali celebrations will begin with dinner, served between 6 and 8 p.m. Indians have a passion for food, and festivals often revolve around sumptuous feasts, so this is an appropriate beginning. Bhupinder’s Tandoor will cater the event. The menu will include hors d’oeuvres such as pakoras and aloo tikkis (batter fritters and sautéed potato pancakes, respectively) as well as vegetarian and chicken “curries.” Curry powder will not be used — most Indians dismiss the latter as an unauthentic Western shortcut. “I grind my own spice mixture,” says Bhupinder proudly. His original Punjabi recipe includes a blend of Coriander, cumin, chili powder, bay leaf, and a touch of cinnamon, with other spices added or subtracted depending on the kind of curry he is preparing.

As diners tickle their palate with spices, local singer Sucheta Bhoite will sing covers of the latest Hindi pop hits. Bhoite, who recently moved from India to northern Maine doesn’t often have an opportunity to further her career as a professional singer of Indian music. Her short performance will serve as a prelude to the pièce de resistance of the evening — an Indian film in English.

Bollywood (India’s movie central) makes many more movies each year than Hollywood and the movies are easily the largest form of mass media in India, particularly since about 50 percent of the population cannot read. So it’s only fitting that the celebrations include a flick. Hyderabad Blues is a low-budget indie Indian (how’s that for assonance?) film turned blockbuster made by debutant Indian born-American filmmaker Nagesh Kukanoor, who based the movie on his own experiences.

The movie won rave reviews at the 1998 Bombay Film Festival and audience awards at the Peachtree International Film Festival in Atlanta and the Rhode Island Film Festival. Since most Indian movies that are churned out by Bollywood are three-hour song and dance extravaganzas, Hyderabad Blues’ commercial success in India is significant. It’s short — just two hours — there are no musical sequences, and the cast is all amateur.

Hyderabad Blues is about 75 percent in English, with some Hindi and Telugu thrown in (and sub-titled) for greater authenticity. Hyderabad? Well in case you haven’t heard, this supposedly has a special affinity with the United States. Sixty-six per cent of all Indians who move to the States, claims the director, are from Andhra Pradesh (Hyderabad is the capital of Andhra Pradesh) — a startling theory that could be hotly contested by the Patels or the Singhs from North India.

The story explores the theme of reverse culture shock and the Indian Diaspora. The protagonist is the director himself, an Indian man Varun (Kukanoor) on his first trip back to India after 12 years of living in the United States. Varun’s US experiences have brought him a new found spirit of inquiry and he questions the traditions he once accepted. In particular he can’t believe his friend (Vikram Inamdar) is having an arranged marriage to a girl whom he’s only met once. The plot quickly floats southward of the immigrant question and focuses on Varun’s love for an Indian doctor Ashwini (Rajashri Nair), who hates anything remotely American.

The film raises some interesting questions about the Indian immigrant experience, in fact it was the first of a whole genre of movies on this subject. It humorously captures the iconoclasm and insecurity of the expatriate Indian and explores the stereotypes held by locals about the returning NRI’s (Non-Resident Indians), as émigrés are called in India. The movie doesn’t really take a stance on any of these issues, however, and comes off more like a slice-of-life romantic comedy than a serious commentary on the Indian immigrant experience. In some ways this makes it ideal for a thoughtful yet overall light-hearted Diwali evening. “We choose it because it strikes a nice balance,” says Bonam, “It throws some light on the situation of Indians who return to India after living in America, but it’s quite comical really.”

Those who find the song and dance sequences that characterize mainstream Indian movies missing from Hyderabad Blues will be suitably entertained afterwards. Noel Bonam, aka DJ Naveen, will get the blood flowing by spinning the hits of Indian film music, providing revelers with the opportunity to boogie in particular to Bhangra music.

Bhangra was born as folk music and dance to celebrate the harvest festival in Punjab, the northern state of India, and Pakistan. The music is abuzz with sounds of drums, vocals, and claps, and the dance is energetic and joyful. And as the Indian Diaspora wandered, so did the music — Bhangra artists in England, far from their homelands, added Western influence such as electric guitars, synthesizers, and drums to create a unique sound that captured their local audiences.

Bhangra leapt on to the UK nightclub scene in the early ’80s and was a huge fad for a while. It continues to enjoy a devoted British following both from those originally from India and non-desi Englishmen and women. Many UK magazines even carry a “Top ten Bhangra” section, and hey, on occasion, our very own Coffee By Design has been known to belt out the hits of Bhangra demigods such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and Bally Sagoo. “It’s groundbreaking music and it’s evolving all the time, but it still sticks to traditional sounds,” says Bonam. “It’s an interesting example of Western influence on Indian music.”

The evening, planned by the CFCE with active participation from the local Indian community promises to be an equally interesting fusion of two cultures.

Amrita Narayanan Bruce can be reached at amritabruce@yahoo.com.