How We Do It!

The Jeff & Ishan Show explainer as 1950s American newsreel. A (mostly) AI deepfake of us, by us, showing the steps in how we create our Indian film reviews.

SOURCES Universal-International News 1950 newsreel opening and closing titles (public domain) modified to “International News” and upscaled with  @Photoshop  Photoshop and  @AdobeFirefly 

Music: “American Tune”, 1928, Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra (public domain)

Calendar pages from Internet Archive (public domain) superimposed with Adobe

Stock clock spiral Excerpt from “Foxy Grandpa”, 1902 silent short, American

Mutoscope & Biograph Co. (public domain), upscaled with Adobe Firefly Excerpt from “Kennedy on Telstar”, Universal-International News 1962 newsreel (public domain) superimposed with YouTube logo

Photo of “Mother India” film premiere in India, 1957 (public domain), animated with Adobe Firefly

Clips from promotional trailers for the films “120 Bahadur”, “Single Salma”, “Ek Chatur Naar” and “Jolly LLB 3” (Fair Use)

Film grain overlay from Adobe Stock Static sound effect downloaded from pixabay.com

All other images, video and spoken dialogue are originals shot and recorded, or created by, Jeffrey Stanley using his own images modified with Adobe Firefly

Voiceover narration written and performed by Jeffrey Stanley Edited on Adobe Premiere.

©2026 by Jeffrey Stanley. All rights reserved.

Hyder Ali and the American Revolution

Uff, the efforts I made along with my colleague, playwright Vijay Padaki, to create a university student-involved creative project around the topic over the past few years but, alas, we got zero interest from students. Maybe it was us. Maybe we did a poor job of pitching it.

I then pitched it as an America 250 article to Smithsonian Magazine and got no response.

Now this fascinating history is in a terrific New Yorker story by Ishaan Tharoor. As a writer, you win some, you lose some. I’m just glad to see more Americans made aware of India’s connection to the American Revolution.

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The Jeff & Ishan Show #15 – Kara

Just dropped! Our review of Kara, a 2026 Tamil-language heist movie starring Dhanush, and Mamitha Baiju, written by Alfred Prakash, Vignesh Raja & Gopal Ram, and directed by Vignesh Raja, streaming now on Netflix. Rated MA-14. Our original theme music by Ano Malee. Tune in for a big time!

“The entire thing was super-captivating. There were some action sequences, fights, that were a little overblown,almost RRR-ish or old fashioned martial arts movies…It’s really the performances that carry the movie, and it’s really the old people. They’re just outstanding. They’re really nuanced. I was a lot more interested in their lives than I was in the main plot of the film. It was just amazing because of their charismatic performances.

flabbergasted (adjective) – greatly surprised or astonished

I’m flabbergasted to have been nominated and elected to serve as President of the Fulbright India Interest Group (FIIG), a sanctioned alumni subgroup of the Fulbright Association. Thank you for your faith in me.

The Fulbright Association is an independent non-profit alumni organization. Since its inception in 1946, Fulbright scholarships have facilitated over 400,000 academic and professional exchanges across 165 countries, promoting cultural understanding and reducing conflict.

The Fulbright Association furthers the Fulbright Program‘s mission by connecting global Fulbrighters and their ideas, supporting career development and mentorship, and advocating for the future of the Fulbright Program. We envision a peaceful and cooperative world advanced through international educational exchange and cultural immersion.

Congratulations to Guttman’s New PTK Members

I was humbled and honored to be the keynote speaker at the PTK Honor Society Induction Ceremony for these hardworking, academically excellent new student members at Guttman Community College CUNY in New York City today.

A Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society International induction isn’t just ceremonial in recognizing the highest academic achievers at community colleges. It offers competitive scholarships, need-based scholarships, and university partner transfer scholarships, as well as opportunities for alums to continue to grow as scholars and leaders, supporting their continued academic and professional success.