Studio 360: Mira, Memos, Mail Art

March 16, 2007

Mira Nair's "The Namesake"

Director Mira Nair’s films take place all over the Indian diaspora – from the rough city streets of “Salaam Bombay” to the American Deep South in “Mississippi Masala.” Her latest film spans the distance from Calcutta to New York: “The Namesake” is about a young Indian couple who makes a life together in the US, and the struggles of their American-born son. Mira tells Kurt why unconventional love stories have inspired so many of her films.

Mira Nair continued

For “The Namesake”’s edgy young protagonist, director Mira Nair cast Kal Penn, best known as Kumar in “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.” She also put novelist Jhumpa Lahiri and more than 20 members of Lahiri’s family in small roles – after all, the original story was based on them.

Kal Penn's "Namesake" blog

Jhumpa Lahiri

Letters provide key turning points in Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake. Growing up in New England, the author remembers how letters served as a lifeline to her family back in Calcutta. Writing letters was an important ritual – and receiving them was always an event.

Mogul Memos

David O. Selznick was a major Hollywood mogul, the producer of “Gone with the Wind” and “Spellbound.” He was also a workaholic micromanager who recited endless memos throughout the night. Selznick tried to dictate every detail – from the size of Rhett Butler’s collars to Alfred Hitchcock’s camera angles. Produced by Eric Molinsky.

Mail Art

Studio 360 asked listeners to send in mail art, and the response was jaw-dropping. Streams of amazing things poured in from all around the world – envelopes big, small, glittery, fragile, sturdy and crumpled. A piece of toast, a coconut, a lump of clay, all stamped. Kurt called some of the mail artists to talk about their work.

Blood for Art

The art market is flooded with money. And that concerns an artists’ collective in San Francisco called Quorum. When they brought their etchings, paintings, and mixed-media to a big international art fair, every piece was priced the same: a single pint of blood, collected on-site by a local blood bank. You call it morbid – they call it egalitarian. Produced by Tania Ketenjian.

Quorum San Francisco's website

Studio 360