Gaurav Bakshi’s “#Gadhvi” brings a new flavour to London Indian Film Festival during it’s world premiere at the Barbican
The 10th Edition of the London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) showcased an extraordinary social and political satire about a man who could be Mahatma Gandhi's reincarnation, in the film strand Film, Power & Politics at the Barbican and Cineworld Wembley, in June. It is the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi this year and director Gaurav Bakshi really wanted his...
Reasons to rejoice during the Chinese New Year of the Ox celebrations
I wish all my friends celebrating Lunar New Year “Gong Xi Fa Cai” and “Kung Hei Fat Choi” with lots of happiness and strength for the year of Ox. May the new year bring all the good things in life you truly deserve. Celebrations in Hong Kong There will soon be reasons to rejoice in Hong Kong, with the government relaxing restrictions...
Kaushalya UK’s upcoming project will share stories to empower and uplift women around the world
An upcoming anthology of women titled ‘The New Woman’ - a project lead by Ritu Sharma, is a collection of 34 stories of women who have undergone transformation through adversity, spread across five continents,. The book will be launched on 27 July. Under the umbrella of Ritu's organisation Kaushalya UK, the anthology will showcase "women who have been broken by...
KASHISH 2021: Halwa breaks stereotypes empowering older women
HALWA Dirs: Gayatri Bajpai, Nirav Bhakta 15 min |2019 | USA | Hindi, English Screening on Friday, September 3, Program 4 in the Short Film Package, Halwa is a vital short film that strives to break the cliches around older Indian women. The story concerns an elderly, docile housewife, Sujata Chopra, stuck in a lonely marriage overseas with a controlling husband. On the eve of...
Lockdown Diaries: Restauranteur Chinten Pandya supports NHS workers and the needy with free Indian meals
Chinten Pandya, a civil engineer and restaurant owner of Desi Dhaba, had to close his businesses following the government's guidelines but he and his wife Mona have never been busier. They are using his Feb-launched restaurant to feed hundreds of NHS workers, the vulnerable and needy in the community. The Wembley-based Director of Apna Construction Ltd. has turned the restaurant...
Havas Guruhi: When Music Crosses Borders
'No culture can thrive if it attempts to be exclusive' Poised with confidence, a young man in the spring of 2019 beautifully sang the iconic Bengali patriotic song Akla Cholo Re, penned by Rabindranath Tagore. The venue was the Embassy of Bangladesh in Tashkent. The year before, with equal ease, he presented at a Delhi concert, among other melodies, his...
Championing Ladies Cricket – the IIW All Ladies Ambika Trophy
The UK is sweltering in a heat wave at the moment, with some of the temperatures being the highest on record for the time of year, but there is also scorching hot action in the Cricket World Cup. The eyes of the world are on those nations who eat, sleep, and breathe cricket, fighting to be the best. However,...
Teacher turns author to keep Gujarati alive for future generations
Growing up in a multicultural, multiethnic, and multilingual London has been a key factor in shaping my identity. I am British – born and bred. A true Londoner. And I am as Indian as they come. My childhood was an Indian one, from the food, the language, the weekend activities, to the way I interact with people; my experiences have...
Sheer coincidence or a repeated trend of Delhi riots during US Presidential visits
This story is a personal opinion piece by our contributing writer, inspired by the Delhi riots. It was first published in AltMedia News on the 29th February 2020. There is a stark, almost eerie, sense of déjà vu between the sequence of events leading to then US president Bill Clinton’s 2000 visit to India and the recently concluded President Trump’s...
British Asian Trust’s anti-trafficking programme in India saving hundreds of children
When ten-year-old Sadhil was brought to the Tabaar centre in Jaipur, India, his body was scarred, his face swollen and he desperately needed food and medicines. Sadhil was rescued from a bangles-making factory in Jaipur, where he suffered unsurmountable torture as a bonded child labourer. Sahdil grew up in one of India’s poorest states, Bihar, where nearly 40% of the population is...
