Stanford’s impending third annual South Asian Awareness Week attempts to answer the question: what does it take to succeed? Presented by Sanskriti, Stanford’s South Asian Organization, themed “a South Asian Success Story,” will run from Monday Jan. 23 to Friday Jan. 27.

“This year, we wanted to make the theme as general as possible,” said sophomore Vineeta Agarwala, co-organizer of the event. “We wanted to shed light not only on how South Asians are unique culturally, but how they are unique professionally.”

The program features speakers from diverse fields ranging from the film industry to politics, and includes some high-profile guests. Dinner will also be served at every event. Senior Ankit Garg, co-chair of Sanskriti, said he feels the programming represents a wide variety of professions that interest students.

“The goal is for people who attend to get a sense for what they feel the contributions of South Asians have been to the community they live in,” Garg said. Whether it be in entertainment or medicine, or if the next face they see in Congress is a South Asian face. People will just get a sense of what this community has done for society as a whole.”

On Wednesday, Jan. 25, Anmol Mahal, president of the California Medical Association, will deliver a speech, which Garg anticipates will draw a large audience.

“Stanford has a lot of pre-meds in the South Asian community,” Garg said. “It will be an inspiration to any aspiring pre-med, South Asian or not, to hear what he has to say.”

Sophomore Ankur Gupta, a member of Sanskriti, said he agrees that Mahal’s lecture will appeal to a large demographic.

“There are quite a few South Asians in the medical field or who are interested in medicine, so I think having that speaker will attract a lot of people,” Gupta said. “I’m definitely going to that night. A man of his caliber is hard to get.”

Another high-profile event is Friday’s teaser-montage of the upcoming film “Americanizing Shelley.” It will be accompanied by a panel, including the president of Bollywood film production and distribution company UTV-North America.

Agarwala said she and other organizers tried to invite speakers who would attract a large sector of the student population.

“Our goal was two-fold,” Agarwala said. “We wanted to find people who fit the criterion well — do they represent South Asian success? Secondly, we are trying to appeal to people. We invited people who we thought would be interesting to students, both South Asian and not.”

Some members of the Stanford community, however, said they feel the programming will have a hard time extending beyond Stanford’s South Asian student community.

“If there’s an event with any cultural focus, it will automatically be targeted to members of that culture and their friends,” said freshman Michelle Odemwingie. “I would go along with someone, but it’s not anything I’d pursue personally.”

Gupta agreed that the event’s focus will likely attract a primarily South Asian audience.

“It could potentially appeal to everyone, but there’s obviously a focus on the South Asian community,” Gupta said. “The events are definitely informative for non-South Asians as well, but I don’t know how much an event like this would appeal to a non-South Asian.”

Though South Asian Awareness Week’s programs will only feature ethnically South Asian speakers, Agarwala stressed that the event should be of interest to a variety of students.

“Sanskriti as an organization is very South Asian centered in the sense that it celebrates South Asian culture,” Agarwala said. “But it’s also open to non-South Asian communities and invites them to learn about South Asian culture. Sanskriti is dedicated to openness. We hope South Asians will come away having heard people they look up to and want to emulate in some way, and that’s a hope for the general populace as well.”

Garg noted that South Asian Awareness week has been well-received in past years, and he hopes this year will help continue success.

“We encourage everybody to come out,” Garg said. “It’s a minimal commitment, dinner is provided and they just might learn something new.”

All events start at 6 p.m. and are free to the general public.