Folklore and independence | Book Club Reviews ‘The Henna Artist’ by Alka Joshi Written by Nishtha Banavalikar About the Novel In the halls of kings, politicians, and powerful men, their wives run the armies of cooks, house servants, and attendants, with gossip and reputation as their weapons of choice. Lakshmi, having fled abuse at seventeen and now shunned by her family and village, finds herself in the vibrant city of Jaipur, immersed in these upper echelons of society. There, she slowly builds up a client base, from pleasure women to eventually the maharanis themselves, through her ..read more

Shooting the Breeze with Actress Shabana Azeez Meet Shabana, an in-demand, formally untrained, actor, musical comedian, voice-over artist, audiobook narrator and musician. Intrigued? So was I, after witnessing the genius of The Coconuts (a musical comedy duo with screen writer/director Leela Varghese) and her incredible voiceover narration of Shankari Chandran’s Song of the Sun God.  You may be familiar with Shabana’s work like In Limbo (ABC), Metrosexual (Network 9) and guest roles in ABC productions Utopia, The Letdown and Why Are You Like This? as well as The Hunting (SBS). She also ..read more

Must See South Asian Comedians: Melbourne International Comedy Festival Here at ASAC, we’re thrilled to be bringing back Brown Women Comedy, with a national tour in 2024. Australia’s first and largest comedy show featuring a line-up of incredibly talented South Asian female comedians, will be performing across Melbourne’s International Comedy Festival, Adelaide Fringe and Sydney Comedy Festival. To celebrate, we’ve curated a list of must-see shows by South Asian Comedians at Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2024, which is running until 21 April. 1. Sashi Perera Boundaries Until 2 ..read more

What Does Art Do To You? Meet Deepa Mani, a professional dance performer, teacher, theatre producer and owner of Chandralaya School of Dance, with over 30 years’ experience in both Classical Bharathanatyam & Contemporary styles. For Deepa, art, dance and movement are a life force, an energy. Here, she shares insights from the classical Indian dance form that she lives by and teaches, and poses a question to readers – ‘what does art do to you?’ Written by Romayne Perera with Deepa Mani What aspects of your personality and your approach to life will you always fiercely protect? My authenti ..read more

ASAC IMPACT REPORT 2023: YEAR IN REVIEW 3 years on… We turned 3 in August 2023! What a year it was for ASAC. We lived our mission to be a powerful network of South Asian women and allies, determined to make a difference through entrepreneurship, creativity and leadership.  Numbers mean a lot but it’s stories that are the heart and soul of ASAC. The impact our work makes is what drives us – seeing the tangible difference it makes to so many women is our fuel. Knowing that we inspire, create hope and are accelerating the pace of change in Australia is our North Star. We do love a good v ..read more

First Times Are Special: My First Ever Stand-up Comedy Set Meet Ria, an Australian-Indian actress and dancer with a BFA in Acting from New York Film Academy. She recently found herself on stage in North Melbourne making her stand-up comedy debut. Here, Ria shares some funny words of wisdom about that experience. Written by Shyaire Ganglani with Ria Patel From dancing to acting to comedy, what a ride! Did you always want to do stand-up comedy? As an actor, I’d say I’m pretty fearless and open to trying new things. If the task at hand is to bare my soul and cry, I’m here for it. I could go Sha ..read more

Meet The Winners: Australia’s Stellar South Asian Women Awards 2023 Meet our Stellar South Asian Women 2023! Nine winners were revealed from a shortlist of 40 finalists across the categories of Content Creator, Community & Advocacy, Business & Entrepreneurship, Sports & Fitness, Arts & Culture, STEM, Journalism & Literature, International (based overseas) and Global Impact (based in Australia). There was also a special mention for late entrepreneur and mental health advocate, Pyrawy Sivarajah. Winners were chosen for the positive impact they have made through their work ..read more

Written by Daizy Maan with Sukki Menon ‘I See Her’: A Groundbreaking Film with a Global Message to End Abuse, an interview with Director Sukki Menon.  It’s a tough subject matter, not least to be covered in a film, and yet I See Her has already moved the judges of the international film festival circuit, after being Officially Selected for BIFA and BAFTA qualifying film festival, The British Urban Film Festival, the Surrey Short Film Festival, and being featured in the UK on BBC Radio 5 Live, amongst others. The film was written and directed by SUKKI, who is well known to the Austral ..read more

Written by Reshma Madhi From Cannes to Kerala: The Underrated Triumph of ‘Ek Jagah Apni’ (A Place Of Our Own)  A film about trans women, and their struggle for a home of their own. Trans actresses Manisha Soni and Muskan make their acting debut as protagonists Laila and Roshni, two friends house-hunting in the city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. It’s a mundane premise, yet they are challenged at every turn for wanting to claim the right to rent a decent apartment. Produced and directed by Ektara Collective, a group of diverse filmmakers who have come together as co-writers, cast and crew ..read more

To The Death: A dark Comedy Where Two South Asian Actresses Must fight To Death Because “There Can Only Be One Brown Person”  To the Death is a dark comedy short film that is having it’s Australian premiere at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2023 on the 18th of August. As the storyline goes, Two South Asian actresses in LA must fight to the death for a role because it’s physically impossible to have more than one brown person on a show. Written by Menik Gooneratne and Yasmin Kassim, who met while acting on the set of Australian show Neighbours. Since then, both had moved to LA and ..read more