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Dance Like a Goddess: Mahesh Dattani & Saba Zaidi Abdi on Theatre, Politics, and Diaspora in Australia

This episode features playwright-director Mahesh Dattani and Sydney-based creative powerhouse Saba Zaidi Abdi discussing Dattani’s new play Dance Like a Goddess, premiering in Sydney this August.

They reflect on their creative journeys: Dattani’s path to theatre through movement and “rasa,” and Abdi’s decades of work across theatre, television, and film, including collaborations with Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benegal, before turning to why theatre’s live, “perishable” nature matters.

The conversation explores how art is inherently political, addressing majoritarianism, the appropriation of religion for political gain, caste, and the suppression of dissenting voices, themes central to Dance Like a Goddess and why it is being staged in Australia.

They also discuss diaspora audiences, the pull of Bollywood entertainment, and the need for thought-provoking theatre and training through workshops on acting, craft, and scriptwriting.

Workshop and event details are shared, including an actors workshop, a Macquarie University master class/Q&A on 17 July, and performances on 1–2 August at The Playhouse at NIDA.

00:00 GMT20260710-044017_Recording_avo_640x360
00:27 Guest introductions
16:41 Finding your artistic voice
20:56 Art & politics
29:12 Dance Like a Goddess: the play
32:35 Theater, religion & culture
36:23 Workshops & training
46:53 Show dates & cast shoutouts

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Australia-India Relations, Dissent, and Digital Resistance

In this episode of Pause with Nandini, host Nandini Sen Mehra brings together an exceptional panel of journalists, commentators, and activists to unpack the complex realities shaping India today and their ripple effects on Australia-India relations and the NRI diaspora.

As geopolitical alignment strengthens between the two nations around trade and defence, internal fractures persist under the surface. From escalating economic distress and clamping down on press freedom to the rise of grassroots, humorous digital rebellions, this roundtable looks at what is genuinely happening on the ground.

Key Discussion Points
• The State of Press Freedom and Dissent in India: Senior Journalist and Editor, Chinki Sinha and Artist and Curator, RAQS Media Collective, Shuddhabrata Sengupta discuss the shrinking space for independent journalism, the systemic jailing of activists (such as Umar Khalid), and the criminalisation of ordinary civil solidarity. They also speak of the richness of cultural spaces in India, and the hope that persists in ordinary lives inspite of systemic issues.

• The Illusion of a Homogenous Diaspora: Former South Asia Bureau Chief for ABC News Meghna Bali breaks down the complexities of the Indian-Australian diaspora, highlighting how it is deeply fragmented by class, caste, religion, and generation despite being marketed as a monolithic community. She reflects on time spent in India, and the need for an honest conversation around difficult issues.

• Dissent and its Fallout: Co-founder of the Humanism Project and Founder of NRI Affairs, Deepak Joshi outlines the growing concerns among non-resident Indians (NRIs) about transnational repression and the shrinking spaces for dissent. He also speaks of rising racism, the model minority narrative, and the complexities of the India-Australia relationship.

• Geopolitics vs. Democratic Integrity: The panel analyses the friction between India's independent foreign policy (balancing the Quad and BRICS), Australia’s reluctance to press India on human rights due to heavily corporate-driven trade and defence interests, both set against a genuine relationship of warmth between the two countries.

• Humour as Resistance: A deep dive into how a statement by the Chief Justice of India sparked a massive, Gen-Z-led digital movement. The panel explores how decentralised memes, citizen reporting, and independent art spaces are reclaiming public dignity and challenging authority through the power of satire.

Watch the full episode to hear these vital perspectives on the Australia-India relationship with all its complexities and the opportunities for a strong and honest engagement.

Don't forget to Like, Comment, and Subscribe for more deep-dive discussions on NRI Affairs.

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We speak to Zia Ahmad OAM on his wonderful achievement and recognition as the first Muslim to receive the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to journalism and the second member of his family to receive the nation’s highest civilian honour.

Zia Ahmad is the editor-in-chief of the Australasian Muslim Times, AMUST, the country’s leading independent Muslim newspaper and news portal, founded with his father in 1991.

He is a valued member of The Humanism Project, a progressive South-Asian collective that advocates for social justice in Australia.

In this freewheeling interview, he traces his remarkable journey as a child from Kashmir, in India, to Sydney in Australia, the life lessons from his father as they built a new life here, and the guiding principles that have shaped his worldview, passions and humanity.

Watch, listen, subscribe.

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Dr. Aditya Sondhi is a Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India, a scholar, and an Ambedkarite. He frequently lectures on the application of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s constitutional philosophy in modern jurisprudence.

He joins us for a special Dalit History Month episode in association with Hindus for Human Rights Australia, and takes us in chamber for a free wheeling conversation. Highlights:

- Constitutional morality as envisioned by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
- The Manusmriti and the place of religious texts within courthouses.
- In India, is it fair to say ‘Caste is the Law'?
- The role of unions in the era of an Uberised workplace
- Protections for domestic worker rights within an Ambedkarite vision for an equitable society
- His personal connection to Dr. Ambedkar’s legacy, and his relevance in our deeply divided world today.

Dr. Sondhi also hosts 'The PodCaste' available on Spotify which features conversations around caste, seeking to unravel the visible and invisible presence of caste in urban settings, academia and practice.

He is the author of Poles Apart: The Military and Democracy in India and Pakistan (Penguin, 2024).

As always, like, share and subscribe.

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Mohamed Alharbi, a part of the core campaign leadership that brought Zohran Mamdani's bid for Mayor of New York to a historic win, unpacks how people centred politics triumphed. An exclusive Pause with Nandini catch up on the sidelines of Australian Progress 2026.

We speak of strategy and tactics but more about working with heart. He also reflects on what this win means for people of colour, the way the conservatives were won over and of course, Aunties for Zohran, who evidently have no chill.

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To provide 10 million girls access to education in the next 10 years - no easy feat but also not beyond the realm of possibility for an exceptional organisation, Educate Girls, which has made history as the the first Indian organisation to win the prestigious 2025 Ramon Magsaysay award.

With Gayatri Nair Lobo at the helm, Educate Girls is working at the grassroots, bringing millions of girls into education. The organisation solves for issues at the local and societal level to enable continued engagement and emancipation for girls through education.

Gayatri speaks to us about the work, the challenges, and the dream.

Watch, listen, reflect. This has been an honour.

To learn more about Educate Girls or to donate, visit:

https://educategirls.us/

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Part 2 of a conversation with four of the five founding members of The Reserved Compartment - Aleena, Gautam, Daniel and Abhijit.

The Reserved Compartment is a pioneering, community-driven initiative to amplify Dalit, Ambedkarite, gender-inclusive voices through spoken word poetry, storytelling, music, and performance.

By reclaiming the term "Reserved Compartment," which historically refers to
segregation, they are creating a platform for subaltern narratives to challenge caste, gender, and other intersecting oppressions.

Rooted in the legacy of the Bhakti movement, the Ambedkarite jalsa-shahiri tradition, and the Dalit Panthers, they aim to move beyond tokenism, ensuring the art and lived experiences of marginalized artists are honoured with dignity.

Share, like, subscribe as always.

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Four of the five founding members of The Reserved Compartment, Aleena, Gautam, Daniel and Abhijit join me to talk about their first-of-its-kind poetry initiative - The Reserved Compartment. The fifth, Shripad could not join us.

The Reserved Compartment is a pioneering, community-driven initiative to amplify Dalit, Ambedkarite, gender-inclusive voices through spoken word poetry, storytelling, music, and performance.

By reclaiming the term "Reserved Compartment," which historically refers to
segregation, they are creating a platform for subaltern narratives to challenge caste, gender, and other intersecting oppressions.

Rooted in the legacy of the Bhakti movement, the Ambedkarite jalsa-shahiri tradition, and the Dalit Panthers, they aim to move beyond tokenism, ensuring the art and lived experiences of marginalized artists are honoured with dignity.

Share, like, subscribe as always.

Thank you for listening! Watch all episodes of Pause with Nandini on https://youtube.com/c/NRIAffairs