Press Release Body = \"Put down the Bollywood DVD and pick up the South Asian novel\" is the theme of a new radio PSA between independent film laureate Sarita Choudhury and Hip-Hop activist Raoul Juneja (a.k.a. Deejay Ra), recorded as a spin-off to Juneja\'s acclaimed \'Hip-Hop Literacy\' campaign.
\"I am a big daydreamer Raoul, and with a book I forget my whereabouts and travel quite far in my mind,\" wrote Choudhury in an initial endorsement letter for Juneja\'s campaign, naming authors John Berger, Michael Ondaatje, and Jhumpa Lahiri as her favorites.
Juneja, considered \"One of the entertainment industry\'s most vocal and effective campaigners\" (FilmInk), launched a Jhumpa Lahiri \'grassroots media\' tribute with the support of Choudhury last week through his Lyrical Knockout Entertainment company, setting up giveaways of Lahiri books for students timed with Mira Nair\'s \"Namesake\" movie adaptation release.
The film stars \"Harold & Kumar\" actor Kal Penn as Gogol, the son of South Asian immigrants born and raised in Boston, torn between his own American identity and the culture which surrounded his parents in India. Bollywood stars Tabu and Irfan Khan plays Penn\'s parents Ashima and Ashoke Ganguli. Choudhury, who recently starred in M. Night Shyamalan\'s \"Lady In The Water\" movie, narrates the new \"Namesake\" audiobook CD released by Random House Audio.
Former co-stars of Choudhury\'s in over 35 productions since 1991 have included Gwyneth Paltrow, Antonio Banderas, Sharon Stone, Raul Julia, Monica Bellucci Yaphet Kotto, Indira Varma, and most memorably Denzel Washington in Mira Nair\'s \"Mississippi Masala\" film, acclaimed for its portrayal of a romance between a South Asian immigrant and African-American Southern resident in context of their respective cultural histories.
Juneja\'s \'Hip-Hop Literacy\' campaign was launched early 2004 with the support of \"Get Shorty\" author Elmore Leonard. Additional radio PSAs of Juneja\'s feature \"Kill Bill\" actor Michael Madsen, \"Ali\" actor Giancarlo Esposito, and rapper actor Sticky Fingaz among others, encouraging movie and music themed books to students uninterested in reading as alternative literacy developing methods.
2025
