Bending it like Sid Mallya
This interview was originally published at bollywoodjournalist.com in 2016, a few days ahead of the London Indian Film Festival. Naman Ramachandran, a personal friend had written his first film Naman Brahman and Sid Mallya was one of the lead cast. When I started interacting with the PR handling the project, it was really difficult to try to convince them for...
Back in cinemas, the 2021 London Indian Film Festival
In a challenging year for India and South Asia, the Bagri Foundation London Indian Film Festival and its sister festivals in Birmingham and Manchester, will be a love letter to the homelands, continuing to premiere the very best of new indie films from the Indian subcontinent and diaspora, from 17th June to 4th July 2021. Supported by the British Film...
What’s this Big Deal about English-Vinglish?
“Many cool,” said the guy who comes to mow our lawn in the summer and fall. It took us a while to figure out what he meant. It was an unusually breezy afternoon, and when he gestured by putting his arms across his chest, it struck us that he was trying to say that it was very cold that...
Priyanka Chopra Jonas co-produced Evil Eye to release this month on Amazon Studios
Amazon Studios' upcoming film Evil Eye is a gripping thriller with a suspenseful and chilling storyline. Produced by Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Jason Blum (Get Out), Evil Eye is set to take audiences on twists and turns to explore a dark past and tense family secret. Amazon Studios are bringing one of the most popular audio plays to life with this upcoming release. The film is based on the audio play written...
KASHISH 2024: A Sleeping Dragon is awoken
SLEEPING DRAGON12 min | 2023 | UK | EnglishDirector: Rob Falconer Director Rob Falconer returns to KASHISH with a short documentary that brings a beautiful snapshot of George Hodson, an artist, writer, and long-term HIV/AIDS survivor to vivid life. Those of you who watched Legendary Children at last year's festival will undoubtedly recognise George. The film is a piece that...
Mother bares her soul about the domestic abuse her daughter suffered
A grieving mother is chronicling the abuse her daughter’s ex-boyfriend inflicted upon her in a new book after a sustained period of physical and emotional abuse led to her taking her own life in 2016. Miss Meera Dalal had experienced physical and mental abuse for years and which ultimately led the Leicester-based NHS professional to tragically take her own life...
Lockdown Diaries: Baithak UK brings artists virtually together for music video celebrating togetherness
Despite the logistical issues posed by COVID-19, Baithak UK has managed to bring together artists virtually in order to make a music video which celebrates togetherness. "Those were the days" celebrates the power of music and memory, beautifully melding the globally popular folk song by Robert Burns "Auld Lang Syne", its Bengali adaptation by Rabindranath Tagore, and the recent translation (written exclusively...
Indian classical vocalist Rahul Deshpande to perform in the UK
His performances last year in the UK were a big hit. All the shows were full houses. Now he will visit the UK once again by popular demand. Meet Indian classical vocalist and recipient of the National Film Award, Rahul Deshpande. Forty-four-year-old Rahul, an internationally acclaimed classical vocalist and composer, has captivated audiences world over. Last year, he had...
KASHISH 2020 to screen India’s first gay film ‘Badnam Basti’, lost and found after 49 years
Register for KASHISH 2020 at http://mumbaiqueerfest.com/attend/ Director Prem Kapoor's 'Badnam Basti', India's first gay film released in 1971, only to be lost to obscurity for around five decades, and found in a Berlin archive, will be screened at KASHISH 2020. Considered as one of first Indian films to explore same-sex relationship, Badnam Basti was made in 1971 and features a...
KASHISH 2023 announces new Ismat Chughtai Award for best Indian woman filmmaker
The 14th KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, South Asia’s biggest LGBTQ+ film festival, announced institution of a new award from this year - the Ismat Chughtai Award for Best Indian Woman Filmmaker, instituted in memory of eminent Indian Urdu novelist, short story writer, liberal humanist and filmmaker Ismat Chughtai, by her grandson and filmmaker Ashish Sawhny. “I am delighted...
