Jayesh Patel, Superstar!

In October of 2005, I wrote a short profile of my friends Jayesh and Anar Patel, husband-and-wife and two-thirds of the founding triumvirate of the extraordinary Ahmedabad-based NGO, Manav Sadhna. Two years later, that small essay has received nearly 400 viewings and still averages nearly three hits per week.

Small wonder. Jayesh-bhai and Anar-ben are perhaps the loveliest, most optimistic, and broadly inspiring people I know. This is no small distinction, given that I am in the habit of collecting friends who answer to the general description “lovely, optimistic, and inspiring.”

Now, a group of filmmakers calling themselves the “Global Oneness Project” have created a beautiful portrait of Jayesh-bhai and his philosophy in a new video called “Living Service.”

Friends Without Borders, Global Rickshaw Style!

Click on image to view video

One of the many awesome experiences in the process of putting together the ill-fated Dil se Dil Independence Day Friendship Celebration was the chance to work with the brilliant Mumbai filmmakers Shivraj Shantakumar and Aparna Wilder, whose award winning film company Wild Kumar makes music videos and television commercials, and whose side project Global Rickshaw does shorts for the NGO community. We were looking for 90 seconds of fun to introduce Friends Without Borders to the television audience at Dil se Dil.

Click on the image above (or here) to see a low-res, high-spirit film about Friends Without Borders by Global Rickshaw, presented in three, unbelievably adorable parts.

If you missed our earlier film, created by Buddy Mukherji of Black Magic Motion Pictures, click here.

A Close Shave, a film by Rahul “Frenchy” Brown

I am pleased – OK, not all that pleased – to present A Close Shave, the latest film by celebrated international auteur, Rahul “Frenchy” Brown. This is an exclusive memestream world premiere.

The film, presented in three acts and a powerful epilogue, is a tragic-comedy of sub-epic proportions. It explores a variety of issues surrounding intravenous (and intramuscular) drug use, focusing principally on the devastating mental destruction that is an all-too-frequent side-effect of the high.

Click on the image below to download and view A Close Shave.

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A CLOSE SHAVE
A film by Rahul “Frenchy” Brown

Cast (in order of appearance)

MBJ as Appendicitis Victim, Stoner, and Furball
Rahul “Frenchy” Brown as Voice of God
John “Uncle” Sillyhead as Amused Onlooker
Archana Sankara as Telephone Caller
Yoo-Mi Lee as Nonchalant Family Member
Dr. Rajiv as Attending Physician
Dr. Randeep Wadhawan as Senior Laparoscopic Surgeon
Santos as the Butcher of Rockland Hospital

Production

Rahul “Frenchy” Brown: Director, Cinematographer, Editor, and pretty much Everything Else

Post-Production Sympathy

Mona Panchal
Sachi Maniar

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No animals other than me were harmed in the making of this film.

Friends Without Borders, Reruns

You loved the book, now see the movies.

As we embark on the Phase II of the Friends Without Borders Project, delivering letters of friendship from kids all over India to kids in Pakistan, I want to put our video and presentations at everyone’s easy disposal. I should have done this long ago.

Listed below are links to: our Public Service Announcement Television Commercial, which aired last year throughout India and Pakistan; a short history of Phase I of the project, made by Rahul Brown just before we crossed into Pakistan last year; and two slide presentations introducing our project and the World’s Largest Love Letter events.