Languages are such an important part of our identities, and they resonate with us on a personal and cultural level. As we move to a more globalized society, language is a thread that links us back through space and time to where we come from. Sharanya Deepak's piece <a href="https://longreads.com/2019/03/22/cominghome/">"Coming Home, One Word At A Time"&nbsp;</a>reminded us of this when we read it. In it, she explores her personal relationship with Urdu after she starts taking classes to formally learn it, and Urdu's relationship with her hometown Delhi. We spoke to her about how she came to write the piece, her unique family mosaic and how she straddles different identities based on each language that she speaks, and how Urdu interprets the world in its unique way. After talking to Sharanya, we talk about a number of language-related trends that are happening around us - the rise of both a larger English-speaking class and the vernacular Internet in India, how languages carry much more in them than we generally think, and which Indian languages are dying out and what responsibility we have as a culture to preserve them. &nbsp; We also discuss: <ul> <li>Sajith Pai's <a href="https://medium.com/@sajithpai/say-hello-to-indias-newest-and-fastest-growing-caste-2e6bd822687b">article</a> on the rise of the Indo-Anglian caste in India.&nbsp;</li> <li>The <a href="https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/sharechat-in-talks-for-200-million-funding-to-take-on-helo-tiktok-1551634978668.html">rise</a> of vernacular tech services like ShareChat and Vokal.&nbsp;</li> <li><a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/04/saving-dying-disappearing-languages-wikitongues-culture/">WikiTongues</a> and its mission to save the world's dying languages.</li> <li><a href="https://caravanmagazine.in/literature/gn-devy-challenges-concept-knowledge">Ganesh Devy</a> and the People's Linguistic Survey of India.</li> <li>How <a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/singlish-singapore-government-campaign">Singlish</a> is being threatened by the Singaporean government.&nbsp;</li> </ul> Music Credits: Music from https://filmmusic.io: "Dhaka" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) "Vadodora Chill Mix" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) "Me In Your Life" Music By The Passion HiFi <a href="https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepassionhifi.com" target="_blank">www.thepassionhifi.com</a> Sorrow by Sappheiros | https://soundcloud.com/sappheirosmusic Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US Our logo is designed by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/aparna_ramanujam/?hl=en">@aparna_ramanujam</a>. Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support</a>

Languages are such an important part of our identities, and they resonate with us on a personal and cultural level. As we move to a more globalized society, language is a thread that links us back through space and time to where we come from. Sharanya Deepak's piece "Coming Home, One Word At A Time"&nbsp;reminded us of this when we read it. In it, she explores her personal relationship with Urdu after she starts taking classes to formally learn it, and Urdu's relationship with her hometown Delhi. We spoke to her about how she came to write the piece, her unique family mosaic and how she straddles different identities based on each language that she speaks, and how Urdu interprets the world in its unique way. After talking to Sharanya, we talk about a number of language-related trends that are happening around us - the rise of both a larger English-speaking class and the vernacular Internet in India, how languages carry much more in them than we generally think, and which Indian languages are dying out and what responsibility we have as a culture to preserve them. &nbsp; We also discuss: Sajith Pai's article on the rise of the Indo-Anglian caste in India.&nbsp; The rise of vernacular tech services like ShareChat and Vokal.&nbsp; WikiTongues and its mission to save the world's dying languages. Ganesh Devy and the People's Linguistic Survey of India. How Singlish is being threatened by the Singaporean government.&nbsp; Music Credits: Music from https://filmmusic.io: "Dhaka" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) "Vadodora Chill Mix" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) "Me In Your Life" Music By The Passion HiFi www.thepassionhifi.com Sorrow by Sappheiros | https://soundcloud.com/sappheirosmusic Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US Our logo is designed by @aparna_ramanujam. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support 

Creating Life

Exploring the Dimensions of Language

Few film franchises have transformed pop culture worldwide as much as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is 22 films in, and it shows no signs of slowing down. With the biggest film in the franchise, Avengers: Endgame, releasing this week, Nikhil and Sindhu explore the relevance of the MCU as a global phenomenon, how it has become a box-office juggernaut even in markets like China and India (where it had an unprecedented local publicity strategy on multiple fronts), and where it is headed as a global platform for diversity and representation. Joining them for the discussion are guests <a href="https://twitter.com/SiddhantAdlakha">Siddhant Adlakha</a>, freelance film critic for publications like The Village Voice, Polygon, and /Film, who did a deep dive of all the MCU films leading up to Endgame for /Film in a series called<a href="https://www.slashfilm.com/tag/road-to-endgame/"> 'Road to Endgame'</a>, and Vedang Patel, co-founder of the online merchandise company <a href="https://www.thesouledstore.com/">The Souled Store</a>, an official Marvel merchandiser.&nbsp; After talking to Siddhant and Vedang, Nikhil and Sindhu get into a spoiler-filled conversation around Endgame to discuss how carefully designed it is to ensure maximum emotional and narrative satisfaction, the constraints that the MCU faces with the stories it tells, both from a production and a box-office standpoint, and what we're all trying to get out of the MCU, and whether we're actually at the end of a particular era.&nbsp; And how cool is the logo for this episode? <a href="https://www.instagram.com/aparna_ramanujam/?hl=en">@aparna_ramanujam</a> kills it every time. Music Credits: "Me In Your Life" Music By The Passion HiFi <a href="https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepassionhifi.com" target="_blank">www.thepassionhifi.com</a> Music from https://filmmusic.io: "Chill Wave" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Sorrow by Sappheiros | https://soundcloud.com/sappheirosmusic Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US Incredibly Close by Savfk | https://www.youtube.com/savfkmusic Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support</a>

Few film franchises have transformed pop culture worldwide as much as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is 22 films in, and it shows no signs of slowing down. With the biggest film in the franchise, Avengers: Endgame, releasing this week, Nikhil and Sindhu explore the relevance of the MCU as a global phenomenon, how it has become a box-office juggernaut even in markets like China and India (where it had an unprecedented local publicity strategy on multiple fronts), and where it is headed as a global platform for diversity and representation. Joining them for the discussion are guests Siddhant Adlakha, freelance film critic for publications like The Village Voice, Polygon, and /Film, who did a deep dive of all the MCU films leading up to Endgame for /Film in a series called 'Road to Endgame', and Vedang Patel, co-founder of the online merchandise company The Souled Store, an official Marvel merchandiser.&nbsp; After talking to Siddhant and Vedang, Nikhil and Sindhu get into a spoiler-filled conversation around Endgame to discuss how carefully designed it is to ensure maximum emotional and narrative satisfaction, the constraints that the MCU faces with the stories it tells, both from a production and a box-office standpoint, and what we're all trying to get out of the MCU, and whether we're actually at the end of a particular era.&nbsp; And how cool is the logo for this episode? @aparna_ramanujam kills it every time. Music Credits: "Me In Your Life" Music By The Passion HiFi www.thepassionhifi.com Music from https://filmmusic.io: "Chill Wave" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Sorrow by Sappheiros | https://soundcloud.com/sappheirosmusic Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US Incredibly Close by Savfk | https://www.youtube.com/savfkmusic Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Become a supporter of this podcast: https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support 

The Endgame of an Era

After seeing the news about Lilly Singh getting her own NBC late night show and Mindy Kaling and Priyanka Chopra working together on a new film in the same week, we thought we would dig into how South Asian representation has evolved over the years, how much race and ethnicity should factor into a conversation about representation, whether South Asians in their home countries should care about how they are represented in Hollywood, and more! This is by no means the definitive conversation on the subject - but we think it's a good start. Things we discuss: <ul> <li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/brownhistory/?hl=en">brownhistory</a>, an Instagram account (UPDATE: the student Nikhil mentions was in the US, not the UK!)</li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph1CwhhuaEY">Lilly Singh's announcement on Jimmy Fallon</a> (Credit: NBC)</li> <li>Lilly Singh's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZULVP4f5F4">video</a> on back to school shopping (Credit: ||Superwoman||)</li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGzvEqBvkP8">The Problem With Apu</a> (Credit TruTV)</li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03QHVB_n6N8&amp;t=49s">The Party</a> (Credit: MGM)</li> <li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/video/t-magazine/100000004241300/aziz-ansari-goes-to-india.html">Aziz Ansari Goes To India</a> (Credit: The New York Times)</li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMeZ3tQEvVY">Utkarsh Ambudkar's Dev Patel story</a> (Credit: The Rick Roll Podcast)</li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiZFoIw3Spc">Priyanka Chopra's Quantico interview</a> (Credit: The Today Show)</li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGX_M5dtemg">Mindy Kaling's response on being a South Asian showrunner</a> (Credit: Paley Center)</li> </ul> Music Credits: Flying High by jantrax | https://soundcloud.com/jantr4x Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US "Me In Your Life" Music By The Passion HiFi <a href="https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepassionhifi.com" target="_blank">www.thepassionhifi.com</a> Music from https://filmmusic.io: "River Fire" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) "Jalandhar" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Our show logo and the logo for this episode was designed by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/aparna_ramanujam/?hl=en">@aparna_ramanujam</a>. Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support</a>

After seeing the news about Lilly Singh getting her own NBC late night show and Mindy Kaling and Priyanka Chopra working together on a new film in the same week, we thought we would dig into how South Asian representation has evolved over the years, how much race and ethnicity should factor into a conversation about representation, whether South Asians in their home countries should care about how they are represented in Hollywood, and more! This is by no means the definitive conversation on the subject - but we think it's a good start. Things we discuss: brownhistory, an Instagram account (UPDATE: the student Nikhil mentions was in the US, not the UK!) Lilly Singh's announcement on Jimmy Fallon (Credit: NBC) Lilly Singh's video on back to school shopping (Credit: ||Superwoman||) The Problem With Apu (Credit TruTV) The Party (Credit: MGM) Aziz Ansari Goes To India (Credit: The New York Times) Utkarsh Ambudkar's Dev Patel story (Credit: The Rick Roll Podcast) Priyanka Chopra's Quantico interview (Credit: The Today Show) Mindy Kaling's response on being a South Asian showrunner (Credit: Paley Center) Music Credits: Flying High by jantrax | https://soundcloud.com/jantr4x Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_US "Me In Your Life" Music By The Passion HiFi www.thepassionhifi.com Music from https://filmmusic.io: "River Fire" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) "Jalandhar" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Our show logo and the logo for this episode was designed by @aparna_ramanujam. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support 

Is Hollywood Down with Brown?

The Tamil film industry, commonly referred to as Kollywood, is a difficult place to break into and navigate as an artist. Nepotism is a mainstay, misinformation and competing interests regularly run amok, and projects can get stalled at every step of production. How does an actor stay sane in this crazy place? How can he chart a career when so many factors influencing it are out of his control? And how can he maintain a healthy balance between his public image and his personal life?&nbsp; These are the questions we discuss with actor Ashwin Kakumanu today. Ashwin has been working in Kollywood since 2011, when he acted in Nadunisi Naaygal (trans: Midnight Dogs, 2011). He then went on to work with established stars like Ajith (Mankatha) and Surya (7aum Arivu, trans: Seventh Sense), after which he branched out into leading projects himself in films like Megha (2014) and Zero (2016). He recently starred in one of the first Tamil webseries in the industry - Nila Nila Odi Vaa (2018) - available for viewing on the streaming platform Viu.&nbsp; Our discussion with Ashwin is a deep dive into Ashwin's journey in cinema, from starting out &nbsp;a huge Star Wars buff to short filmmaker to actor, and it's also an honest discussion of the challenges he has faced in the industry. He also discusses his move into the digital space - he's working on another webseries - and how he's building his brand outside the multiplex. It's a candid look at Kollywood from someone who has made a career in it over the last eight years. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did.&nbsp; Subscribe to Creating Life on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/in/podcast/creating-life/id1458005566?mt=2" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5X4tOHHVvA6SMYESUhoxPG" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/anchor-podcasts/creating-life" target="_blank">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy85NDIwNWM4L3BvZGNhc3QvcnNz" target="_blank">Google Podcasts</a>, or whichever platform works for you! Music Credits: save my life again by Barradeen | https://soundcloud.com/barradeen Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US "Me In Your Life"&nbsp; Music By The Passion HiFi <a href="https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepassionhifi.com" target="_blank">www.thepassionhifi.com</a> "Spanish Winter" Music By The Passion HiFi <a href="https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepassionhifi.com" target="_blank">www.thepassionhifi.com</a> Oceans by IvPem | https://soundcloud.com/ivpemofficial Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US Our logo was designed by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/aparna_ramanujam/?hl=en">@aparna_ramanujam</a>. Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support</a>

The Tamil film industry, commonly referred to as Kollywood, is a difficult place to break into and navigate as an artist. Nepotism is a mainstay, misinformation and competing interests regularly run amok, and projects can get stalled at every step of production. How does an actor stay sane in this crazy place? How can he chart a career when so many factors influencing it are out of his control? And how can he maintain a healthy balance between his public image and his personal life?&nbsp; These are the questions we discuss with actor Ashwin Kakumanu today. Ashwin has been working in Kollywood since 2011, when he acted in Nadunisi Naaygal (trans: Midnight Dogs, 2011). He then went on to work with established stars like Ajith (Mankatha) and Surya (7aum Arivu, trans: Seventh Sense), after which he branched out into leading projects himself in films like Megha (2014) and Zero (2016). He recently starred in one of the first Tamil webseries in the industry - Nila Nila Odi Vaa (2018) - available for viewing on the streaming platform Viu.&nbsp; Our discussion with Ashwin is a deep dive into Ashwin's journey in cinema, from starting out &nbsp;a huge Star Wars buff to short filmmaker to actor, and it's also an honest discussion of the challenges he has faced in the industry. He also discusses his move into the digital space - he's working on another webseries - and how he's building his brand outside the multiplex. It's a candid look at Kollywood from someone who has made a career in it over the last eight years. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we did.&nbsp; Subscribe to Creating Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or whichever platform works for you! Music Credits: save my life again by Barradeen | https://soundcloud.com/barradeen Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US "Me In Your Life"&nbsp; Music By The Passion HiFi www.thepassionhifi.com "Spanish Winter" Music By The Passion HiFi www.thepassionhifi.com Oceans by IvPem | https://soundcloud.com/ivpemofficial Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US Our logo was designed by @aparna_ramanujam. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support 

Building a Brand Outside The Multiplex feat. Ashwin Kakumanu

What role should fitness play in our lives? How do we move past clichéd tropes like crash diets and whey protein and have a more balanced relationship with our journey towards physical wellbeing?&nbsp; How do we overcome crises of motivation in our fitness journey?&nbsp; Is it possible to get addicted to activities like Soul Cycle and CrossFit, and what are the economic privileges associated with most forms of fitness-based activities today? &nbsp;Is it fair to judge people who don't work out?&nbsp; These are some of the questions that we dig into in this episode, and to help us make sense of it all, we're joined by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/prashanti_ganesh/?hl=en">Prashanti Ganesh</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/sandeep_achanta/">Sandeep Achanta</a>, co-owners of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/strengthsystemchennai/">Strength System</a>, a fitness center and gym in Chennai. Sandeep and Prashanti's fitness journey is as interesting as their expertise (in their 'past' lives, they worked as a journalist and graphic designer, respectively), and their &nbsp;philosophy is less about six-pack abs and more about being comfortable with your body, wherever that comfort comes from. They're also young entrepreneurs running a profitable business: they launched Strength System when they were only 25! We love how honest and intimate this conversation is, and we hope you think so too.&nbsp; Subscribe to Creating Life on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/in/podcast/creating-life/id1458005566?mt=2">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5X4tOHHVvA6SMYESUhoxPG">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/anchor-podcasts/creating-life">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy85NDIwNWM4L3BvZGNhc3QvcnNz">Google Podcasts</a>, or whichever platform works for you! Find out more about the show at creatinglifepodcast.com, and you can email us at creatinglifepodcast@gmail.com. Music Credits: Summer Coffee by Barradeen | https://soundcloud.com/barradeen Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US "Me In Your Life"&nbsp; Music By The Passion HiFi <a href="https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepassionhifi.com" target="_blank">www.thepassionhifi.com</a> Our logo was designed by the amazing <a href="https://www.instagram.com/aparna_ramanujam/?hl=en" target="_blank">@aparna_ramanujam</a>. Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support</a>

What role should fitness play in our lives? How do we move past clichéd tropes like crash diets and whey protein and have a more balanced relationship with our journey towards physical wellbeing?&nbsp; How do we overcome crises of motivation in our fitness journey?&nbsp; Is it possible to get addicted to activities like Soul Cycle and CrossFit, and what are the economic privileges associated with most forms of fitness-based activities today? &nbsp;Is it fair to judge people who don't work out?&nbsp; These are some of the questions that we dig into in this episode, and to help us make sense of it all, we're joined by Prashanti Ganesh and Sandeep Achanta, co-owners of Strength System, a fitness center and gym in Chennai. Sandeep and Prashanti's fitness journey is as interesting as their expertise (in their 'past' lives, they worked as a journalist and graphic designer, respectively), and their &nbsp;philosophy is less about six-pack abs and more about being comfortable with your body, wherever that comfort comes from. They're also young entrepreneurs running a profitable business: they launched Strength System when they were only 25! We love how honest and intimate this conversation is, and we hope you think so too.&nbsp; Subscribe to Creating Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or whichever platform works for you! Find out more about the show at creatinglifepodcast.com, and you can email us at creatinglifepodcast@gmail.com. Music Credits: Summer Coffee by Barradeen | https://soundcloud.com/barradeen Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en_US "Me In Your Life"&nbsp; Music By The Passion HiFi www.thepassionhifi.com Our logo was designed by the amazing @aparna_ramanujam. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support 

Sustainable Fitness with Strength System

This discussion gets into SPOILERS for SUPER DELUXE. You have been warned.&nbsp; After making us wait for 8 years after his cult first feature AARANYA KAANDAM, Thiagarajan Kumararaja returns to the big screen with SUPER DELUXE. Starring Vijay Sethupathi, Samantha Akkineni, Fahadh Faasil, Mysskin, Ramya Krishnan, few Tamil films outside of the blockbuster mainstream have been as hotly anticipated and as immediately dissected online. And just with his first film, Kumararaja is not one to dance to Kollywood's tune. Sindhu and Nikhil dig into SUPER DELUXE by first contextualizing why the film has been this awaited, then jumping into all the layers that we were able to find the first time around.&nbsp; We also mention: <ul> <li>Baradwaj Rangan's excellent <a href="https://www.filmcompanion.in/super-deluxe-movie-review-baradwaj-rangan-mysskin-vijay-sethupathi-thiagarajan-kumararaja-unique-ambitious-insanely-detailed-blessedly-amoral-drama-thats-as-epic-as-it-is-intimate/">review</a> and Raja Sen's Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/RajaSen/status/1111562397582532608">review</a> of the film, both of which are great post-viewing resources. </li> <li><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0175880/">Magnolia</a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0245712/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Amores Perros</a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449467/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Babel</a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3011894/">Wild Tales</a> - multinarrative/hyperlink films that Super Deluxe is similar to in structure. </li> <li><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1496729/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Aaranya Kaandam</a>, Kumararaja's first film (also available for viewing on Hotstar)</li> </ul> Music Credits: "Me In Your Life"&nbsp; Music By The Passion HiFi <a href="https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepassionhifi.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="http://www.thepassionhifi.com">www.thepassionhifi.com</a> Our excellent custom logo for this episode was done by the amazing <a href="https://www.instagram.com/aparna_ramanujam/?hl=en">@aparna_ramanujam</a>. Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support</a>

This discussion gets into SPOILERS for SUPER DELUXE. You have been warned.&nbsp; After making us wait for 8 years after his cult first feature AARANYA KAANDAM, Thiagarajan Kumararaja returns to the big screen with SUPER DELUXE. Starring Vijay Sethupathi, Samantha Akkineni, Fahadh Faasil, Mysskin, Ramya Krishnan, few Tamil films outside of the blockbuster mainstream have been as hotly anticipated and as immediately dissected online. And just with his first film, Kumararaja is not one to dance to Kollywood's tune. Sindhu and Nikhil dig into SUPER DELUXE by first contextualizing why the film has been this awaited, then jumping into all the layers that we were able to find the first time around.&nbsp; We also mention: Baradwaj Rangan's excellent review and Raja Sen's Twitter review of the film, both of which are great post-viewing resources. Magnolia, Amores Perros, Babel, Wild Tales - multinarrative/hyperlink films that Super Deluxe is similar to in structure. Aaranya Kaandam, Kumararaja's first film (also available for viewing on Hotstar) Music Credits: "Me In Your Life"&nbsp; Music By The Passion HiFi www.thepassionhifi.com Our excellent custom logo for this episode was done by the amazing @aparna_ramanujam. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support 

Super Deluxe (First Reaction)

While Generation Z might be the first to grow up surrounded by the Internet as we know it, the generation that was born in the 1990s came of age in the early 2000s (including Nikhil and Sindhu) along with the Internet. We started social media with Myspace and Orkut before we had Facebook, we had Yahoo Mail accounts (!!!) before we moved to Gmail, and Dailymotion and Justin.tv were just as legitimate as YouTube. The Internet seemed to have limitless potential back then, and all of it was seen through a Utopian lens.&nbsp; 10+ years after the Big Four companies - Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple - entered our lives and stayed there, the Internet looks very different. Scandals with Internet companies are happening on a near-daily basis, like <a href="https://nyti.ms/2INjtQI">Google's recent data leak of Google Plus user information</a>, <a href="https://www.recode.net/2018/11/29/18023132/amazon-brand-policy-changes-marketplace-control-one-vendor">Amazon strong-arming its sellers</a>, <a href="https://in.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-india-whatsapp-fake-news/when-a-text-can-trigger-a-lynching-whatsapp-struggles-with-incendiary-messages-in-india-idINKBN1JL0OW">WhatsApp's circulation of fake news having violent consequences</a>, and <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/literally-just-a-big-list-of-facebooks-2018-scandals">Facebook's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, 2018</a>, causing us to question our relationship with these companies, and by extension, the Internet at large.&nbsp; So where do we go from here? Nikhil and Sindhu attempt to find out. We discuss: <ul> <li>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/dec/22/facebook-sheryl-sandbrook-faces-axe">shift in public opinion around Sheryl Sandberg</a> </li> <li>How <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/myanmar-facebook-genocide.html">Myanmar misused Facebook</a> </li> <li>Ethan Zuckerman's <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/advertising-is-the-internets-original-sin/376041/">piece</a> on the Internet's ad-based model </li> <li>Tim Wu's books <a href="http://www.timwu.org/AttentionMerchants.html">'The Attention Merchants'</a> and <a href="https://globalreports.columbia.edu/books/the-curse-of-bigness/">'The Curse of Bigness'</a> </li> <li><a href="https://www.socialcooling.com/">Social Cooling</a> and its consequences </li> <li>Shoshana Zuboff's book<a href="http://www.shoshanazuboff.com/new/the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism-comments-and-reviews/"> 'The Age of Surveillance Capitalism'</a> </li> <li><a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/china-social-credit-system-explained">China's social credit system</a> </li> <li><a href="https://gizmodo.com/i-cut-the-big-five-tech-giants-from-my-life-it-was-hel-1831304194">The Gizmodo journalist who tried cutting the Big Five out of her life </a></li> <li>Stanford and Silicon Valley (<a href="https://www.theringer.com/tech/2019/2/6/18212421/stanford-students-tech-backlash-silicon-valley-next-generation">The Ringer</a>) </li> <li><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/549566/the-mastermind-by-evan-ratliff/9780399590412/">The Mastermind</a> by Evan Ratliff </li> </ul> Music Credits: Music from https://filmmusic.io: "HipHop vs. Jazz Vol 1" by Sascha Ende (https://www.sascha-ende.de) Licence: CC BY + (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) "Overheat" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) "Too Cool" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Our logo was designed by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/aparna_ramanujam/?hl=en">@aparna_ramanujam</a>. Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support</a>

While Generation Z might be the first to grow up surrounded by the Internet as we know it, the generation that was born in the 1990s came of age in the early 2000s (including Nikhil and Sindhu) along with the Internet. We started social media with Myspace and Orkut before we had Facebook, we had Yahoo Mail accounts (!!!) before we moved to Gmail, and Dailymotion and Justin.tv were just as legitimate as YouTube. The Internet seemed to have limitless potential back then, and all of it was seen through a Utopian lens.&nbsp; 10+ years after the Big Four companies - Amazon, Google, Facebook and Apple - entered our lives and stayed there, the Internet looks very different. Scandals with Internet companies are happening on a near-daily basis, like Google's recent data leak of Google Plus user information, Amazon strong-arming its sellers, WhatsApp's circulation of fake news having violent consequences, and Facebook's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, 2018, causing us to question our relationship with these companies, and by extension, the Internet at large.&nbsp; So where do we go from here? Nikhil and Sindhu attempt to find out. We discuss: The shift in public opinion around Sheryl Sandberg How Myanmar misused Facebook Ethan Zuckerman's piece on the Internet's ad-based model Tim Wu's books 'The Attention Merchants' and 'The Curse of Bigness' Social Cooling and its consequences Shoshana Zuboff's book 'The Age of Surveillance Capitalism' China's social credit system The Gizmodo journalist who tried cutting the Big Five out of her life Stanford and Silicon Valley (The Ringer) The Mastermind by Evan Ratliff Music Credits: Music from https://filmmusic.io: "HipHop vs. Jazz Vol 1" by Sascha Ende (https://www.sascha-ende.de) Licence: CC BY + (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) "Overheat" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) "Too Cool" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) Licence: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Our logo was designed by @aparna_ramanujam. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support 

Good-Bye, Internet 

When director Sarjun KM released his short film, Lakshmi, he didn't expect the attention that it received. Today, it has over 9 million views on YouTube and has garnered critical acclaim and a lot of outrage about its depiction of extramarital affairs.&nbsp; Sarjun is gearing up for the release of his second feature,&nbsp;Airaa, featuring Nayanthara in the lead. In this episode, he speaks with us about how the project came about, the struggle finding a distributor for his debut feature, working as an assistant to Mani Ratnam, and what he hopes for from&nbsp;Airaa. We discuss: <ul> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP5dOY42DKI&amp;t=615s">Lakshmi</a> </li> <li>Sarjun's acclaimed short film <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lKk_5qYdkk&amp;t=2s">Maa</a> </li> <li><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7853268/">Echcharikkai: Idhu Manidhargal Nadamaada Idam (Warning: Human Territory)</a>, Sarjun's first feature, available on Netflix India </li> <li>And, of course, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0JBOhkml14&amp;t=1s">Airaa</a></li> </ul> We hope you enjoy this interview. Please leave us a review wherever you're listening to the show, or send us feedback to creatinglifepodcast@gmail.com. Music Credits: Music from https://filmmusic.io: "HipHop vs. Jazz Vol 1" by Sascha Ende (https://www.sascha-ende.de) Licence: CC BY + (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Our logo was designed by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/aparna_ramanujam/?hl=en">@aparna_ramanujam</a>. Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support</a>

When director Sarjun KM released his short film, Lakshmi, he didn't expect the attention that it received. Today, it has over 9 million views on YouTube and has garnered critical acclaim and a lot of outrage about its depiction of extramarital affairs.&nbsp; Sarjun is gearing up for the release of his second feature,&nbsp;Airaa, featuring Nayanthara in the lead. In this episode, he speaks with us about how the project came about, the struggle finding a distributor for his debut feature, working as an assistant to Mani Ratnam, and what he hopes for from&nbsp;Airaa. We discuss: Lakshmi Sarjun's acclaimed short film Maa Echcharikkai: Idhu Manidhargal Nadamaada Idam (Warning: Human Territory), Sarjun's first feature, available on Netflix India And, of course, Airaa We hope you enjoy this interview. Please leave us a review wherever you're listening to the show, or send us feedback to creatinglifepodcast@gmail.com. Music Credits: Music from https://filmmusic.io: "HipHop vs. Jazz Vol 1" by Sascha Ende (https://www.sascha-ende.de) Licence: CC BY + (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Our logo was designed by @aparna_ramanujam. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support 

Filmmaker Sarjun KM Interview 

Are millennials the burnout generation? Why does it feel like literally everybody else in the world has a better grip on life than we do? If we don't work out, meal prep our Insta-worthy lunches, get three double promotions at work and develop our own strain of cannabis at college, does it mean we've failed?&nbsp; Well, it certainly feels like it. In this episode, we talk about what it's been like growing up with that kind of pressure. We also try to understand where that pressure came from us. Where do we go from here? What does the process of recovery look like? We discuss: <ul> <li><a href="https://www.alaindebotton.com/status/">Status Anxiety</a> (Alain de Botton, 2004)</li> <li><a href="https://feelinggood.com/">Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy</a> (David Burns, 2008)</li> <li><a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/millennials-burnout-generation-debt-work">'How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation'</a> (Anne Helen Petersen, 2019)</li> <li><a href="https://toko-pa.com/belonging-the-book-by-toko-pa/">Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home</a> (Toko-pa Turner,&nbsp;2017)</li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDpHQYel6DA">Gary Vaynerchuk</a></li> </ul> Music Credits: Love On Wings Riddim by KonradOldMoney - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music">YouTube Audio Library</a> Morning by Text Me Records / Hii.de - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music">YouTube Audio Library</a> Silk n Cashmere Riddim by KonradOldMoney - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music">YouTube Audio Library</a> Logo Credits: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/aparna_ramanujam/?hl=en">@aparna_ramanujam</a> Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support</a>

Are millennials the burnout generation? Why does it feel like literally everybody else in the world has a better grip on life than we do? If we don't work out, meal prep our Insta-worthy lunches, get three double promotions at work and develop our own strain of cannabis at college, does it mean we've failed?&nbsp; Well, it certainly feels like it. In this episode, we talk about what it's been like growing up with that kind of pressure. We also try to understand where that pressure came from us. Where do we go from here? What does the process of recovery look like? We discuss: Status Anxiety (Alain de Botton, 2004) Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy (David Burns, 2008) 'How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation' (Anne Helen Petersen, 2019) Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home (Toko-pa Turner,&nbsp;2017) Gary Vaynerchuk Music Credits: Love On Wings Riddim by KonradOldMoney - YouTube Audio Library Morning by Text Me Records / Hii.de - YouTube Audio Library Silk n Cashmere Riddim by KonradOldMoney - YouTube Audio Library Logo Credits: @aparna_ramanujam Become a supporter of this podcast: https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support 

"Help, I'm not on the Forbes '30 Under 30' List!" 

Everything you need to know whether you would want to listen to this podcast (or not, but that's really not an option). It'll only take 2 minutes of your time, we promise. Adulting, Vijay Sethupathi, microbreweries, the Internet, and interviews with creative South Asians. And that's only a taste of what's to come.&nbsp; Episode 1 debuts March 24, wherever podcasts are widely available. SMASH THE SUBSCRIBE BUTTON NOW! Music By The Passion HiFi <a href="https://exit.sc/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thepassionhifi.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="http://www.thepassionhifi.com">www.thepassionhifi.com</a> Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support</a>

Everything you need to know whether you would want to listen to this podcast (or not, but that's really not an option). It'll only take 2 minutes of your time, we promise. Adulting, Vijay Sethupathi, microbreweries, the Internet, and interviews with creative South Asians. And that's only a taste of what's to come.&nbsp; Episode 1 debuts March 24, wherever podcasts are widely available. SMASH THE SUBSCRIBE BUTTON NOW! Music By The Passion HiFi www.thepassionhifi.com Become a supporter of this podcast: https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support 

Welcome to Creating Life

A podcast about life, the creative process, and being brown in the 21st century. Nikhil Venkatesa and Sindhuri Nandhakumar discuss issues relevant to millennials around the world with a South Asian perspective, and also interview South Asian creatives, including filmmakers, writers, entrepreneurs, fashion designers, and more! New episodes out weekly. Learn more about the show at creatinglifepodcast.com and email us at creatinglifepodcast@gmail.com for feedback and episode suggestions. Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support" rel="payment">https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support</a>

A podcast about life, the creative process, and being brown in the 21st century. Nikhil Venkatesa and Sindhuri Nandhakumar discuss issues relevant to millennials around the world with a South Asian perspective, and also interview South Asian creatives, including filmmakers, writers, entrepreneurs, fashion designers, and more! New episodes out weekly. Learn more about the show at creatinglifepodcast.com and email us at creatinglifepodcast@gmail.com for feedback and episode suggestions. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://anchor.fm/creating-life/support 

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Creating Life

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