New York City's South Asian Cultural Guide

Bollywood.NYC

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

Issue No. 017 · June 25, 2026

Editor's Note

Today, Bollywood.NYC publishes its first essay. It's about arriving in this city alone. Read it. Then come back to the events.

Today we're launching Stories & Features — a new section on Bollywood.NYC for personal essays, dispatches, and accounts of what it actually costs to build a life in this city. The inaugural piece is called "Alone in NYC." It's written by the editor of this newsletter. It's about driving to Jersey City from Toronto at 3am and seeing the New York skyline for the first time, moving here with all your belongings in a car and the ocean behind you, and learning — slowly, over years — that the silence you carry around in a city like this isn't natural. It's a tax.

You can read it now at bollywood.nyc/features. If it sounds like your story too, we want to hear from you. The contributor callout is in the Words section below.

Now, the week. Tomorrow is June 26 — five simultaneous South Asian events in this city. The full picture is in Coming Soon. Choose deliberately.

Two weeks out: Dr. Satinder Sartaaj at NJPAC, July 10. PhD in Sufi singing. Poet. Farmer before any of it. This is the Editor's Pick. Worth the Trip from anywhere in the metro.

Three weeks out: DJ Rekha's Basement Bhangra Beyond at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, July 18. Free and outdoor. The Words section below says what Basement Bhangra actually is and where it comes from.

— The Editors, Bollywood.NYC

This Week

Tomorrow, June 26: GHAR/BA 6:30pm; Brown Noise Comedy at Grove 34 Astoria 7:30pm; Main Ghazal Hoon BVB 7:30pm; When the Sun Rises Alvin Ailey 8pm; Vishal Mishra Atlantic City 8:30pm. Five events. Fri, Jul 10: Dr. Satinder Sartaaj at NJPAC, 8pm. Worth the Trip. Sat, Jul 18: DJ Rekha's Basement Bhangra Beyond, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Free.

The Edit
01
Editor's Pick Sufi

Dr. Satinder Sartaaj: Heritage Tour — NJPAC, Newark

Friday, July 10 · 8 PM · Prudential Hall, NJPAC, Newark, NJ

Dr. Satinder Sartaaj completed a PhD in Sufi singing from Panjab University, taught music there for six years, and was a farmer before any of it. He opened his first mic in Toronto and sold out the Royal Albert Hall in 2014. He starred in The Black Prince. His music is aligned with Waris Shah and Bulleh Shah in a contemporary global idiom — lyric-first, historically rooted, emotionally immediate. Friday July 10, 8pm, Prudential Hall. Thirty minutes on NJ Transit from Penn Station.

Tickets — NJPAC
02
Music Free

DJ Rekha's Basement Bhangra Beyond — Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

Saturday, July 18 · 5 PM · Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens · Free

In 1997, DJ Rekha started Basement Bhangra at SOB's nightclub in SoHo. She had been told to keep it safe and not play too much Punjabi music. She ignored that advice. The party ran for 20 years and launched careers — M.I.A.'s first US performance was at Basement Bhangra. The New York Times called her Bhangra's Ambassador. Newsweek named her one of the most influential South Asians. She has an MS in Comparative Media from MIT.

On July 18, Basement Bhangra Beyond comes to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Free. Outdoor. With Jaz Dhami, Mitika Kanwar, and Babbulicious. Presented in association with the Queens Borough President. The Words section below says what Basement Bhangra actually is. Read it first.

Details — cityparksfoundation.org
03
Tomorrow Five Events

June 26 — Choose Deliberately

Tomorrow, Friday June 26 · Five simultaneous South Asian events

GHAR/BA Pride Edition — Lower Manhattan, 6:30–8:30pm. Queer Garba meets house, techno, and disco. ĀVARTAN. Venue disclosed to ticketholders. Eventbrite →

Brown Noise Comedy — Grove 34, 31-83 34th St, Astoria, Queens, 7:30pm. Desi, South Asian, Arab, and Persian comedians. America's touring brown comedy show by Raza Jafri. Three previous NYC rounds sold out. grove34.com →

Main Ghazal Hoon — Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan USA, 305 7th Ave, 17th Floor, 7:30pm. Shivani Joshi (vocals/harmonium), Manav Khurana (tabla), Pratyush Goberdhan (sarangi). Presented by Sneh Arts Foundation. Viewcy →

When the Sun Rises — Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater, 8pm. Baila Society x Navatman. Bharatanatyam, kathak, and salsa. Original nine-musician score. Independently produced. From $38. Thundertix →

Vishal Mishra: Pagalpan Tour — Hard Rock Live, Atlantic City, 8:30pm. "Kaise Hua," "Pehla Pyaar," "Nai Lagda." Worth the Trip. Ticketmaster →

Coming Soon — Worth a Look
Wed, Jul 15 — Worth the Trip

Aziz Ansari: Hypothetical Tour — Flagstar at Westbury

Aziz Ansari at Flagstar at Westbury Music Fair, Wednesday July 15, 7:30pm. Theater-in-the-round, 2,870 seats, no bad view. 45 minutes on the LIRR from Penn Station. Tamil Muslim immigrant parents, South Carolina childhood, Madison Square Garden in 2015. The Hypothetical Tour. Tickets from $55 via Ticketmaster.

Tickets — Ticketmaster
Fri Aug 7 + Sat Aug 8

Hans Raj Hans: Live Sufi Night — HK Hall, Manhattan

Hans Raj Hans — Punjabi Sufi and folk artist, former Member of Parliament — performs two nights at HK Hall, 605 W 48th St, Manhattan. August 7 and 8, 8pm–4am. Live Sufi concert followed by Bollywood afterparty. 21+. Tickets via Eventbrite.

Tickets — Eventbrite
Sun, Aug 16 — Free

India Day Parade — Madison Avenue

The 44th Annual India Day Parade on Madison Avenue, 38th to 23rd Street, Sunday August 16, noon to 5pm. The largest Indian Independence Day celebration outside of India. Free and open to all. fiatnynjct.org for details.

Words

"That is the tax this city levies on the ones who arrive without a net. Not the debt, not the visa clock, not the egg sandwich breakfasts. The silence you learn to keep, and then forget you're keeping."

Editor — from Alone in NYC, the inaugural Bollywood.NYC Stories & Features essay, June 25, 2026

The essay is live today at bollywood.nyc/features. It's about arriving in this city at 3am from Toronto, seeing the Empire State Building for the first time from I-280, and learning over years what it costs to build a life here when you arrive alone. The silence breaks. Not all at once. But it breaks. If any part of this sounds like your story, the contributor callout below is for you.

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

Forward this issue →

Stories & Features — Now Live

We want stories — South Asian New Yorkers who built a life here without a map, alone or together with someone and came out the other side with something to say about it. It isn't about celebrating the big successes in life, but about "Being Okay In NYC." If you have an idea for this or something else about being a South Asian in NYC (like the love/hate/love relationship with your immigrant parents), write to us at contact@bollywood.nyc or send a message on Instagram at @212.Bollywood.NYC. It goes into a living archive you and your kids can look back on.

ICYMI — The City Around You

Nawazuddin Siddiqui performs Naqaab — a Hindi comedy-thriller — at Adams Playhouse, Hofstra University, Sunday July 19, 6:30pm. India Day Parade on Madison Avenue August 16, free. Charli XCX — half Gujarati, half Sri Lankan — plays Barclays Center September 14 and 15. Gaurav Kapoor at Town Hall September 13. Kanan Gill at Town Hall October 3. NYC South Asian Comedy Festival by Laughing Lassi, October 16–18. Carnegie Hall inaugural Indian music festival: May 21–23, 2027.

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.