Artist Charmi Shah shares the inspiration behind her colorful work. “My hope is that the viewer is filled with warmth and positivity after looking at my art,” she says.

The young songstress Shuba Vedula, better known as Shuba, shared with us how she started her singing career and how she hopes listeners will connect with her new single “Around Me”. 

Born in Hong Kong, and currently living between New York City and Manila, Dinisha Gagoomal graduated from Parsons School with a degree in Fashion Design. Her recent collection, “The Duality of Movement,” incorporates elements from performance-based methods in movement psychology to inform the silhouette of her garments.

Aahana Kumra is a fresh new face in world cinema that is going places. Right now, she’s on a whirlwind tour promoting her latest flick Lipstick Under My Burkha—centred around four Indian women searching for a little freedom in their lives—which has been banned in India for being “too lady-oriented”. But that hasn’t stopped audiences around the world from embracing the film about female desire, a topic that seems to be too much for India’s Censor Board to handle. We caught up with Aahana, who began her career as a theatre actress, to learn more about her and the film which has already won several awards at festivals across the globe.

We begin our spotlight on the South Asian women at the 2017 edition of the New York Indian Film Festival by interviewing the Festival’s leading lady, Aroon Shivdasani, who provided insight into what moviegoers can expect this year at the annual event in New York City which celebrates the cultural diversity in filmmaking.

Just as Rituparno Ghosh’s film “Chokher Bali” based on Rabindranath Tagore’s novel brought a visual elegance to the story, Indian fashion designer Joy Mitra harnessed its quiet dignity in his thoughtfully constructed collection of understated luxury.

Dipti Mehta is an award-winning Indian-American film and television actress who was born and raised in Mumbai and currently lives in New York City. Her latest project HONOUR: Confessions of a Mumbai Courtesan has taken her on the theatre stage. In this one-woman show which she wrote, Dipti performs all of the characters allowing audiences to meet the eunuch, priest, pimp, mother and daughter who call Mumbai’s red-light district home.

DJ Rekha is well known for popularizing Indian bhangra music in the New York club scene since 1997. From her studio in Williamsburg (Brooklyn), she shares insight on her career and thoughts about succeeding as an artist.

We discuss the filmmaking process with Director Sruti Harihara Subramanian whose documentary film A Far Afternoon – a painted saga by Krishen Khanna takes the viewer up-close with one of India’s most prolific and influential painters, as she memorializes the artistic process in creating his largest canvas to date, earning her India’s National Awards for Best Art/Cultural Film and Best Music in the non-Feature category.

Aroon Shivdasani is the boss lady behind some of the most significant South Asian cultural events in New York city including the upcoming New York Indian Film Festival which takes place May 7th to May 14th this year. Aroon is a busy lady but we stole a few minutes of her time to find out more about this year’s film Festival which will bring together filmmakers, actors and festival-goers from around the world to attend a diverse range of films, panels, parties and workshops.