Desi Dialogues

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This weekend, you are invited to the largest three-day South Asian arts festival Masala! Mehndi! Masti!

The largest show of its kind outside of India, Masala, Mehndi showcases South Asian culture and has been doing so for the past seven years, primarily at the Harbourfront. This year, the festival will be held at Exhibition Place until Sunday.

The festival aims to blend today's world with India's ancient traditions, to offer visitors a mix of old and new. Organizers say their vision is not only to make South Asians proud of their heritage but to make them partners in Canadian culture.

The festival offers an opportunity to established and emerging artists in traditional and contemporary music, dance, film, theatre, literature and poetry to showcase their craft.

Over the years the event has become popular, with 100,000 people attending this festival.

Organizers say that with South Asian culture becoming "the hippest thing shaking the planet", there has been a huge awareness of the culture worldwide. And with India becoming a superpower, and South Asians making a mark in many fields, this event showcases South Asian influence in Canada.

For instance, this year visitors will see the controversial but brilliant actress Nandita Das. Several of her films will be screened at the festival including Maati Maay, Podokkhep, Deveeri, Earth and Bawnadar.

The actress will also host a master class on her movies and her role as a social activist. For those who are not aware of her, Das is internationally acclaimed for acting in films such as Deepa Mehta's Fire and Water and is the recipient of several awards including Best Actress for Bawandar at the Santa Monica Film festival in 2001 and again for Amar Bhuvan in 2002 at the Cairo Film Festival.

But apart from celebrities, the event is supposed to be about fun.

So this year, organizers will aim to host the world's largest dance class at the Bandshell Stage at Exhibition Place on Sunday at 5 p.m. hosted by Shiamak Davar, a choreographer from India.

The Shiamak Davar school in Toronto has been a big hit with teenagers wanting to learn all the steps that are displayed in Bollywood movies. A free session of how to thrust your pelvis, wind your body, wiggle your belly and groove to Bollywood music will be shown.

Two independent judges will be on hand as the organizers attempt to get a spot in the Guinness Book of Records for the world's largest dance class.

The festival has a large lineup of South Asian artists from India and who will be performing various genres of Indian and pop music. For instance, the group Asian Massive has engineered a sound synonymous with the sublime blurring of boundaries between classical Indian, electronica and rock.

Then there is Mission on Mars, a "mixing canvas" of live instruments and ethnic dance-styles, including Indian raga, South Indian and Middle Eastern percussion, North Indian sitar melodies, mongolian throat singing and moon-walking beats.

And for those who love South Asian food, there will be plenty of goodies to choose from. As well, there will be free henna, applied on the palms, for ladies. All in all, it seems to be a great time to spend the summer this weekend for all desis and non-desis alike.