Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Riz Ahmed Toast at South Asians Pre-Oscar Awards


BEVERLY HILLS, California – The dirty secret of movie industry parties is that they’re rarely fun. Almost no one feels like they are in a crowd. There’s a lot of poses, peacocks, and being busy on the phone.

The opposite was true on Wednesday night at a party to celebrate the achievements of South Asians in this year’s Oscar race.

Three weeks ago, Maneesh K. Goyal, a New York restaurateur, was speaking with Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ manager Anjula Acharia and Shruti Ganguly, a film producer. “We noticed that this year there are 10 Oscar nominees of South Asian descent,” Goyal said. “My immediate response was: ‘We should have a party’.”

Ms. Chopra Jonas and Mindy Kaling, Kumail Nanjiani, and Netflix’s head of global TV, Bela Bajaria, also joined as presenters. United Talent Agency offered their Beverly Hills office.

“I wasn’t sure we were going to be in a conference room or something,” said Richa Moorjani, star of “Never Have I Ever.” OTT.

No beige carpets here: around 5 pm, guests entered an airy courtyard with a gazebo decorated with golden streamers. They were proud to be in each other’s presence. “Having that depth of talent, enough candidates to throw a party, that wasn’t the case five years ago,” Ms Bajaria said. “It’s not just the writers and directors and on-screen talent. There are representatives, assistants and managers” – like himself – “having green light authority”.

As Ms. Bajaria surveyed the 125-member crowd, actress Poorna Jagannathan stepped to the side and grabbed her arm. “Have you seen the new Indian Barbie?” Ms. Jagannathan said: limited edition dolls It was published for Women’s History Month, and Miss Jagannathan thought about who Miss Bajaria looked like (“I’m not so sure about that,” said Miss Bajaria).

Who needs plastic when real-world role models abound? Barda: Radhika Jones, editor of Vanity Fair, Falguni and Shane the Peacock dress and Goop’s communications officer, Noora Raj Brown. Repeating step-by-step: Janina Gavankar in a fuchsia crop top and pants from “The Morning Show” and comedian Lilly Singh in a tassel suit.

Under the streamers: Aziz Ansari, comedian and actor who recently released a movie Netflix special; Manish Dayal, who starred in the medical drama “The Resident”; and actor and rapper Riz Ahmed, who was nominated for two Oscars this year for the short film “The Long Goodbye” and the animated film “Flee”.

“It’s really encouraging to be surrounded by people who share your experience,” she said.

Collaborations were discussed. (“Make business plans,” said Ms. Chopra Jonas.) Trade secrets exposed. (“Kynah is a one-stop shop if you need an Indian outfit,” said Ms. Moorjani.)

Even though the party officially ended at 8pm, dozens of guests lingered for another hour even though the aloo tikki station and bar were closed.

“Many of us grew up trying to hide our racial identity and culture,” said actor Adrian Dev (“Westworld”), who wore a navy blue sherwani. “Now I’m the complete opposite.”





Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *