The Jeff & Ishan Show #12 – 120 Bahadur

Fresh out of the oven, our review of 120 Bahadur, a 2025 Hindi-language wartime biopic starring Farhan Akhtar, Sparsh Walia and Raashii Khanna, written by Sumeet Arora and Rajiv J. Menon, and directed by Razneesh “Rhazy” Ghai, streaming now on Amazon Prime Video. Rated PG-13. Our original theme music by Ano Malee.

“It’s about the Battle of Rezang La which took place on a mountain pass in the Himalayas in the early 1960s when the Chinese army betrayed India. It follows the story of 120 brave soldiers who sacrificed their lives to keep thousands of Chinese soldiers out of their country. . . Most Americans don’t have a clue about this. You might think of it as having a similar place in U.S. popular memory to the Battle of the Alamo.”

Film Fest Call for Entries!

🎬 Call for Submissions — Consortium of Film and Content Creators Festival Award | London Chapter

The Institute of Engineering & Management, Kolkata, University of Engineering & Management, Bengal Heritage Foundation, Forum for Film Studies & Allied Arts, Kolkata; and SMART Society, USA, invite filmmakers and content creators worldwide to submit their entries for the Consortium of Film and Content Creators Festival Award — London Chapter.

📍 Venue of award ceremony : Historic House of Lords, London
📅 Date: 18 April 2026
🕕 Time: 6 PM onwards (followed by dinner)

This international platform celebrates outstanding films and creative content that inspire, inform, and make an impact. If you have a powerful story to tell, this is your chance to showcase it on a global stage.

🔗 Submit here: https://cfccf.smartsociety.org/register

🎥 Let your film be seen. Let your story be heard.

NYU Fulbright Reception

Such a wonderful and reenergizing time at the New York University Fulbright Reception today meeting international Fulbright students from around the world and US faculty like me, sharing stories about our experiences and the ongoing impact they’re having on our personal and professional growth. Thank you, NYU Changemaker Center and NYU Office of Global Awards for the experience and the new friendships (and the delicious meal).

The Jeff & Ishan Show #11 – Single Salma

We ring in 2026 with Single Salma, a 2025 Hindi-language romantic-comedy starring Huma Qureshi, Shreyas Talpade and Sunny Singh, directed by Nachiket Samant, written by Mudassar Aziz, Amina Khan and Ravi Kumar, streaming now on Netflix. Rated PG. Our original theme music by Ano Malee.

It started strong as a rom-com. I was fully on board with Salma and loving the movie for the first hour. Then it went off the rails…It was very fast-paced, very energetic. It was almost too happy and too much like, you know, sunshine.

News From the Noquisiyi Mound

My peeps are back in the national news! Ownership of the largest unexcavated mound in the Southeastern US, the Noquisiyi Mound, is going home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee. The culturally significant site in North Carolina is being returned after the local city council voted unanimously to transfer ownership.

Franklin, North Carolina was once part of a Cherokee mother town long before the US existed and remains a site of spiritual importance to the Cherokee people.

Read all about it here and here.