New York City's South Asian Cultural Guide

Bollywood.NYC

We don't list everything. That's the point.

Issue No. 015 · June 11, 2026

Editor's Note

Fifty years of chanting on Fifth Avenue. July 15 in Westbury. Same city. Different rooms.

Friday June 26: When the Sun Rises opens at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater. Sahasra Sambamoorthi and Ahtoy Juliana made this. Not a grant, not a residency, not a commission from an institution that decided their work was worth the room. They rented the theater. They produced it. Bharatanatyam and kathak alongside salsa. An original nine-musician score. Three performances across a weekend.

The same impulse, two nights in a row. Read the Words section before you book anything. It says what we've been trying to say about this city for fourteen issues.

— The Editors, Bollywood.NYC

This Week

Tomorrow, June 12: Ratha Yatra kicks off — Times Square kirtan 4–8pm; Remembering Legends at BVB, 7:30pm. Saturday, June 13: Hare Krishna Festival at Washington Square Park, 12–7pm. Free. Friday, June 19: Guru Shishya Parampara at BVB — Camila Celin & Sougata Roy Choudhury, 7:30pm. July 15: Aziz Ansari at Westbury. Book now.

The Edit
01
Editor's Pick Stand-Up

Aziz Ansari: Hypothetical Tour

Wednesday, July 15 · 7:30 PM · Flagstar at Westbury Music Fair, Westbury, NY

Aziz Ansari is Tamil Muslim, born in South Carolina to Indian immigrants, raised on curry and Southern cooking in equal measure. He headlined Madison Square Garden in 2015. He created Master of None. He won a Golden Globe and an Emmy. The Hypothetical Tour is his current material — the kind of stand-up that earns its room by knowing exactly what it wants to say and how to say it to a room that already understands the premise.

Flagstar at Westbury is a theater-in-the-round — 2,870 seats, no bad view. Three weeks out. Worth the Trip from the city: about 45 minutes on the LIRR from Penn Station.

Book this ticket. Comedy with name recognition is the most straightforward thing this newsletter covers. This is one of those nights.

Tickets — Ticketmaster
02
Free This Weekend

NYC Ratha Yatra — 50th Anniversary

Saturday, June 13 · 12–7 PM · Washington Square Park · Free

The first NYC Ratha Yatra was in 1976, organized by followers of Srila Prabhupada. This weekend marks the 50th time the Hare Krishna community has processed through this city — chanting, dancing, feasting, showing up in public. Saturday at Washington Square Park is the main event: a free outdoor festival from noon to 7pm with live kirtan, dance performances, and a vegetarian feast open to everyone.

Tomorrow (Friday June 12) the celebration begins in Times Square — kirtan from 4 to 8pm at W 47th St. No ticket, no registration. Show up.

Full schedule — iskconnyc.com
03
Tribute Tomorrow

Remembering Legends: Tribute to Asha Bhosle & Ustad Sultan Khan

Tomorrow, June 12 · 7:30–9:30 PM · Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan USA, 305 7th Ave, 17th Floor

Asha Bhosle has recorded over 12,000 songs and holds a Guinness World Record. Ustad Sultan Khan was the sarangi maestro who brought that instrument back to mainstream ears through "Piya Basanti Re" with A.R. Rahman — one of the most beloved songs in Hindi film music of the last thirty years. He passed in 2011. Presented by Sneh Arts Foundation at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan USA. Tomorrow evening, the 17th floor at 305 7th Ave.

Tickets — Viewcy
Coming Soon — Worth a Look
Fri, Jun 19

Guru Shishya Parampara: Camila Celin & Sougata Roy Choudhury — BVB

A sarod concert in two halves at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan USA — Friday June 19, 7:30–10pm. Camila Celin (Colombian-American, trained in the Indian classical tradition) performs the first half; Sougata Roy Choudhury (trained under Dhyanesh Khan, son of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan) the second. Tabla: Ehren Hanson. Curated by Sunny Thakkar, presented by BVB and Sneh Arts Foundation. Tickets $40–$50 via Viewcy.

Tickets — Viewcy
Fri, Jun 26

ĀVARTAN: Pride GHAR/BA — Lower Manhattan

GHAR (Gujarati for house) + Garba = GHAR/BA. A queer Garba and house music event in a lower Manhattan dance space, venue disclosed to ticketholders. Friday June 26, 6:30–8:30pm. LGBTQ+ and allies. Dandiya warm-up, Garba combos, open Garba, queer dance anthems. Dress code enforced. Presented by Āvartan, whose name means "a complete cycle of rhythm — the thing that brings you back around."

Tickets — Eventbrite
Jun 26–28

Baila Society x Navatman: When the Sun Rises — Alvin Ailey

Three performances at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater — Friday June 26 at 8pm, Saturday June 27 at 7:30pm, Sunday June 28 at 3pm. Bharatanatyam and kathak alongside salsa, with an original nine-musician score. Independently produced. Tickets from $38. Note: June 26 is also the GHAR/BA Pride event — GHAR/BA ends at 8:30pm, When the Sun Rises starts at 8pm. Both are possible with planning.

Tickets — Thundertix
Fri, Jul 10 — Worth the Trip

Dr. Satinder Sartaaj: Heritage Tour — NJPAC, Newark

Dr. Satinder Sartaaj at NJPAC, Friday July 10, 8pm. PhD in Sufi singing. Poet. Performed the Royal Albert Hall in 2014. Starred in The Black Prince. Aligned with Waris Shah and Bulleh Shah in a contemporary global idiom. Worth the Trip — 30 minutes on NJ Transit from Penn Station.

Tickets — NJPAC

Words

"Pretty amazing thing our parents did."

Aziz Ansari — from Live at Madison Square Garden, Netflix, 2015

He said it while pointing out that his own generation probably wouldn't have survived what theirs did. The joke is about iPad batteries dying on flights to Los Angeles. The point is about Tamil Muslim immigrants arriving in South Carolina with almost nothing and building a life that eventually produced a son who sold out Madison Square Garden. This weekend 50,000 people will chant through Lower Manhattan for the 50th time. Tomorrow night someone sings Asha Bhosle in a room on the 17th floor of a midtown building. In July, Aziz Ansari plays Westbury. Pretty amazing thing our parents did.

Know someone who should be reading this? The list grows one good recommendation at a time.

Forward this issue →

ICYMI — The City Around You

The summer builds. DJ Rekha's Basement Bhangra Beyond at Flushing Meadows July 18 — free, with Jaz Dhami, Mitika Kanwar, and Babbulicious. Nawazuddin Siddiqui performs Naqaab at Adams Playhouse, Hofstra, July 19. India Day Parade on Madison Avenue August 16, free. Ammy Virk at Nassau Coliseum August 8 — his first-ever New York show. Carnegie Hall inaugural Indian music festival: May 21–23, 2027. Artist announcements coming this summer. The list is paying attention.

Be Part of It

If you have something worth saying,
we will help you say it louder.

Bollywood.NYC proudly supports South Asian comedians and women-run businesses. These are not afterthoughts — they are priorities. If you're a comic building an audience, a founder running something with purpose, or an organizer putting on something this community needs to know about, write to us at contact@bollywood.nyc. We read every one.

We're especially looking for:

  • Comedy shows and stand-up showcases
  • Women-led businesses, brands, and events
  • Cultural performances and live music
  • Panels, professional mixers, and community gatherings
  • Anything that feels intentional, not just loud

We don't feature everything. But when we do, we mean it — and so does our audience.