The extravaganzas boast saree-draped drag queens, dazzling visuals and revelers of all ethnicities gyrating to Bollywood and bhangra beats. It’s all a spectacular nod to the queerness and culture of South Asia in New York and it’s at Sholay’s Desilicious parties that queer South Asians make the most of a long evening. Since Sholay’s Desilicious was christened in 2002, crowds have been flocking to the monthly parties. Highlights have included

Posted: March 1st, 2005

Set the identity politics aside, please. For tonight, at least. Desilicious is all about the party, being yourself, and having fun, fun, fun. Desilicious is a monthly phenomenon featuring the frenetic gyrations and contortions of the dark and the beautiful. Orientation (sexual, political, vertical) be damned! In a city long past “firsts”, Desilicious is New York’s first social space for queer desis to party amongst their own. In doing so,

Posted: January 20th, 2005

Tribeca nightclub serves up festive and very queer twist on Bollywood Last Friday night, two nights before Halloween, Pepper, a lounge bar and club in Tribeca, saw exaggerated emotions, extravagant costumes and dramatic dance sequence—vital ingredients to any successful Bollywood film. Bollywood, the colloquial name for the Indian musical film industry, provided inspiration to “Bombay Screams,” a Halloween party organized by Sholay, a South Asian gay and lesbian event production

Posted: November 4th, 2004

A night of stand-up comedy with Shazia Mirza UK’s first Muslim female comic profiled on CBS 60 Minutes sharing her collection of true personal stories during her global comedic excursions. Friday, September 17 8pm Saturday, September 18 8pm Sunday, September 19 6pm Baruch Performing Arts Center 55 Lexington Avenue @ 25th St Special Guests: Vidur Kapur (9/17), Vanessa Hollingshead (9/18–19) Tickets: $20 / $15 with student I.D.

Posted: September 17th, 2004

Queens Museum of Art Sunday, June 13th 3pm -7pm, Flushing Meadows, Corona Park FILM / VIDEO: Works by Harune Massey, Sridhar Rangayan and Hector Canongeof Cinema Rosa. Featured videos include: Go Boys, an informed look at the industry of go-go boys and The Pink Mirror (Gulabi Aaina), a colorful and comic look into the Indian closet that pits two Indian drag queens against a westernized gay teenager in a battle

Posted: June 13th, 2004

The fabulous folks from Sholay Productions celebrate two years of Desilicious funIn the Hindi and Urdu tongues, “Sholay” connotes “flame” or “spark.” There’s certainly something ablaze within New York’s Sholay Productions, an events company behind the popular monthly gay South Asian dance party Desilicious. The extravaganzas boast Saree-draped drag queens, dazzling visuals and revelers of all ethnicities gyrating to Bollywood (India’s musical movies) and Bhangra beats. It’s all a spectacular

Posted: April 16th, 2004

“Hello, my name’s Shazia Mirza — at least that’s what it says on my pilot’s license!” The young Muslim woman who says these words is dressed in a hijab and in this post 9/11 world, where every Muslim is viewed a terrorist, she manages to elicit laughter from the audience, rather than horrified stares. Shazia, you see, is a stand up comic and like a handful of South Asian comics,

Posted: March 1st, 2004

Laff-O-Rama is a night of stand-up comedy that showcases some of the leading South Asian comedians in the United States and England today, including Shazia Mirza, Vijai Nathan and Vidur Kapur. Kate Rigg of “Kate’s Chink-o-rama” MC’s. In a post-911 world, Laff-O-Rama’s comics explore the painfully funny experiences of life during wartime, growing up gay in India, an immigrant upbringing in white suburbia and the hassles of being mistaken for

Posted: February 5th, 2004