Gurinder Chadha's "Delhi Downton" Beecham House on ITV, 23rd June - New Asian Post

Gurinder   Chadha’s “Delhi
Downton” Beecham House on
ITV, 23rd June
Director Gurinder Chadha’s drama ‘Beecham House’, set amongst
British nobles in India during the cusp of the 19th century,
is a six part series starting on Sunday 23rd June 2019.
Described as a lavish “Delhi Downton”, it depicts the fortunes
of the residents of Beecham House, an imposing mansion
surrounded by acres of exotic woods and pristine lawns.

Tom Bateman (Vanity Fair, Jekyll and Hyde) takes the role of
enigmatic, soulful John Beecham, a handsome former soldier who
has purchased the magnificent mansion, Beecham House, to begin
a new life with his family.
Wealthy and distinguished, John has witnessed profiteering and
exploitation during his time with the controlling East India
Company and has resolved to conduct his business as a trader
in a more equitable manner. Determined to escape his previous
life, John appears haunted by his past, but is inspired to
become an honourable member of the region’s trading community.

In spite of John’s good intentions his life is shrouded in
mystery and when he arrives at the house with a child named
August and two Indian nursemaids, Chanchal (Shriya Pilgaonkar)
and Maya (Trupti Khamkar), it causes speculation and    gossip
amongst the servants that he may be the boy’s father.   One of
the Indian nursemaids, the beautiful Chanchal, is       overly
protective and particularly fond of the child. Could    she be
John’s lover and the mother of August?

Lesley Nicol (Downton Abbey) is John’s robust, interfering
mother Henrietta who has travelled from England to India to
stay with her son. She is accompanied by a young family friend
Violet, played by Bessie Carter (Les Miserables) who she is

determined to help form a union with John.

The pair are accompanied by an old friend of John’s, Samuel
Parker, played by Marc Warren (Safe, Hustle) who has also left
the East India Company and has returned to India for a fresh
start. Samuel helps John to find his brother Daniel who he has
not seen for 10 years. John convinces Daniel, Leo Suter,
(Victoria) to leave the East India Company and join him at
Beecham House.

Gregory Fitoussi (Mr Selfridge, Spiral) plays General
Castillon, a French mercenary working for the Emperor at a
time when the French are challenging the East India Company
for India.

Gregory Fitoussi (Mr Selfridge, Spiral) plays General
Castillon, a French mercenary working for the Emperor at a
time when the French are challenging the East India Company
for India. Castillon is suspicious of John and his motives and
conspires to stop John being granted a trading licence. Adil

Ray (Citizen Khan, Ackley Bridge) is John’s neighbour Murad
Beg who dislikes General Castillon intensely and agrees to
help John secure a trading licence. Murad’s daughter,
Roshanara, (Medha Shankar) has an English governess Margaret
Osborne, played by Dakota Blue Richards (Endeavour) whose
beauty and intelligence catches John’s attention.

However, when beautiful Chandrika (Pallavi Sharda) arrives at
Beecham House with her entourage she is shown to luxurious
guest quarters and immediately insists on seeing August. What
secrets does Chandrika bring with her to Beecham House?
Finally Laura Dutta plays Begum Samru, a real woman who
existed in 18th century India and was the head of a
professional trained mercenary army.

Tom Bateman, Lesley Nicol, Gregory Fitoussi, Adil Ray, Marc
Warren, Pallavi Sharda, Dakota Blue Richards, Viveik Kalra,
Shriya Pilgaonkar, Leo Suter and Bessie Carter star in ITV’s
epic new drama Beecham House, from award winning production
company, Bend It TV. Beecham House was co-created, written and
directed by one of the UK’s most respected filmmakers,
Gurinder Chadha OBE. Airing in June on ITV, the stunning six-
part series is set to arrive on DVD and digital from Acorn
Media International on 22 July 2019.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas joins
the A-List at Madame Tussauds
London
Madame Tussauds London today revealed its first ever figure of
Priyanka Chopra Jonas, ending months of fan speculation and
completing the global superstar’s arrival at sites across four

continents. The Vogue cover star has been working closely with
Madame Tussauds’ team on the project since 2018, beginning
with a private sitting at Priyanka’s New York City apartment.
A star of over 50 films whose acting prowess has taken
Hollywood by storm, Priyanka is a passionate advocate for
women’s issues and equality and a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas said of her initiation to Madame
Tussauds London, “I love London, it has such an energy and
spirit to it. Working with Madame Tussauds London’s team has
been so much fun. It’s incredible to think that my fans can
now meet my figure in one of my favourite cities in the
world.”

Priyanka’s figure is styled to match the actress’ appearance
at the 2017 Golden Globes, in a gold sequin gown by Ralph
Lauren. The only update to the look is the addition of replica
diamond wedding and engagement rings in a nod to her newlywed
status.

Steve Davies, General Manager at Madame Tussauds London, said,
“Priyanka Chopra Jonas is an obvious choice as the latest
addition to our star-studded line-up. We welcome guests from
around the globe each year and we’ve seen Priyanka’s fan base
continue to grow worldwide. It’s been an honour to work with
Priyanka and we’re sure fans will be excited to meet her new
figure at Madame Tussauds London.”

For further information or           to   book   online,   visit
www.madametussauds.com/London

Ayushmann Khurrana stars in
investigative police drama
‘Article 15’
Ayushmann   Khurrana   stars   in   investigative   police   drama
‘Article 15’ which is set to get a world premiere at the tenth
edition of the London Indian Film Festival. Directed by
Anubhav Sinha and produced by Benaras Media Works and Zee
Studios, Article 15 is slated to release in cinemas on 28th
June 2019 and explores the issue of caste in the context of
Article 15 which is the Prohibition of Discrimination in the
Indian Constitution.

In a recent interview, Ayushmann Khurrana revealed how he
trained for Article 15 by observing a friend who was an IPS
officer in Delhi and also saw the local cops in Lucknow, Uttar
Pradesh to perfect his role. He also mentioned how difficult
it was for him to shoot for the film. “My director Anubhav
Sinha is an evolved soul. He recommended a lot of books to
read before the shoot because this kind of discrimination is
unique to our country. What Mulk was for Hindu-Muslims,
Article 15 is for casteism. And boy, was it a difficult shoot.
We’d shoot around 5-6am and in the evening, between
4.30-6.30pm to catch the magical light. We filmed in muck,
infested with leeches and water snakes, for three days“, the
actor said in an interview.

Directed by Anubhav Sinha, Article 15 stars Ayushmann
Khurrana, Isha Talwar, M Nassar,Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta,
Kumud Mishra and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as is slated to
release in cinemas on 28thJune 2019.

Synopsis

Set in a tehsil (administrative division) called Lalgoan,

somewhere in Uttar Pradesh (India), this is a story of an IPS
officer, Ayan Ranjan and his fight against ‘India’s caste
system’. Raised all over Europe, Ayan’s understanding of India
is mostly bookish and exotic. Little did he know that a small
tehsil would turn his life upside down.

First day in office, Ayan witnessed a horrific crime against
three Dalit minor girls from a lowercaste village Harimanpur.
From this very moment, he gets entangled between how the
traditional system would deal with it and his basic human
instincts that threaten to draw him deep inside.

While struggling to maintain his relationship with his wife
(Aditi), a conflicted Ayan can see the law and justice drift
away easily, knowing perfectly well that any effort from his
side to obstruct this perfectly oiled machine and its
psychology will be catastrophic.

With one of the three girls still being missing and the
opportunity to let this case go through inertly, Ayan would
need to choose between a path, where he can either come of age
or take an easy escape route which most of us prefer.

Shahid   Kapoor  and   Kiara
Advani in ‘Kabir Singh’, out
21st June 2019
Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani star in the T-Series and Cine1
Studios production Kabir Singh, an intense love story, which
is released on 21st June 2019. The film is the story of Kabir,
a young final year medical student who falls in love with
Preeti, his junior in college. She is a stark contrast to

everything he is and at first, but time passes, love blossoms,
passion roars, and nowhere does his fire-lessen.

Shahid’s volatile performance has been widely lauded; his on-
screen chemistry with Kiara has become a talking point; the
one-liners and songs are already a rage. “The excitement for
the film is massive,” says a leading Indian trade analyst.
Shahid believes that what makes Kabir Singh unique and special
is the sheer intensity of the film and that of the lead
character. He says, “It’s what attracted me to the film in the
first place. I believe there is a Kabir Singh inside everyone.
That’s why people can relate to him so easily.”

Kabir Singh, a T-Series and Cine1 Studios presentation, is
produced by Bhushan Kumar, Murad Khetani, Krishan Kumar and
Ashwin Varde and is slated to release in cinemas on 21st June
2019 – distributed by Cinestaan Film Company.

Mumbai-based journalist Annie
Zaidi wins Nine Dots Prize
2019
40-year-old Annie Zaidi, a freelance writer whose work
includes reportage, essays, short stories, poetry and plays,
has been announced as the winner of the US$100,000 Nine Dots
Prize 2019/2020.

Now in its second cycle, the Prize – which exists to encourage
innovative thinking that addresses contemporary issues –
challenged entrants to answer the question ‘Is there still no
place like home?’ in a 3,000-word essay. The winner of each

cycle is supported to develop their response into a full-
length book which is published by Cambridge University Press
and given the opportunity to spend a term at the Centre for
Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH),
Cambridge University.

Hundreds of responses were submitted by entrants all over the
world. They were judged anonymously by the Prize’s eleven-
strong Board of leading academics, journalists and thinkers,
to ensure the Prize was awarded on the strength and
originality of the response alone.

Zaidi’s entry, ‘Bread, Cement, Cactus’, combines memoir and
reportage to explore concepts of home and belonging rooted in
her experience of contemporary life in India, where migration
– within the country, especially from villages to cities – is
high. The proposed book will answer the central question
through examining how a citizen’s sense of ‘home’ might
collapse, or be recovered. Themes it will address include:

The politics and economics of death in India, and how the
physical performance of last rites for the dead can lead to a
sense of dislocation and the unmooring of living citizens

How industrial townships are created on the back of a series
of dislocations, and what       this   means   for   citizens’
relationships to the land

The crossing of caste and religious lines in marriage, and the
abuse of political power to violently disrupt or prevent the
mixing of bloodlines

The Partition of India as a great cultural and emotional
sundering, ultimately triggering an aggressive nationalism
that seeks a negative self-definition rather than a positive
one

The struggle to belong to a city when it changes in all
recognisable forms, even down to its name, and when it is

stripped of all the original springs of cultural affinity

Zaidi began her career as a reporter with stints at leading
newspapers and magazines including Mid-Day and Frontline. She
has published both fiction and non-fiction: Known Turf:
Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales is a collection of
essays shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award in 2010, and
Love Stories # 1 to 14 is a collection of short fiction
published in 2012. In 2015, she published an anthology called
Unbound: 2,000 Years of Indian Women’s Writing. Elle magazine
named Zaidi as one of the emerging South Asian writers “whose
writing… will enrich South Asian literature”. She currently
works as a freelance writer, working on fiction, scripts and
columns for magazines and newspapers.

Zaidi says: “What really appealed to me about the Nine Dots
Prize was the way it encourages entrants to think without
borders or restraints. My work has often crossed over genres,
traversing between memoir and journalism, and this timely but
wide-open question encouraged us to approach it with methods
that were equally far-ranging. I had been working towards a
similarly themed project for a while but didn’t have the
financial, or even mental, bandwidth to do it justice. The
Prize will allow me to dedicate time to the examination of
this question, which is of critical importance in the modern
world – and it will help fund the necessary research trips,
which, as a freelancer, is something I appreciate hugely. I’m
extremely grateful for this opportunity and am looking forward
to the challenges and excitement of the year ahead.”

The Nine Dots Prize Board is chaired by Professor Simon
Goldhill, Professor in Greek Literature and Culture and Fellow
of King’s College, Cambridge.

Professor Goldhill says: “The anonymous judging process is
crucial to the Nine Dots Prize’s mission to discover new ways
of tackling contemporary issues, whether they come from
established thinkers or new voices. The fact that our second

winner is so different from our first is testament to the
success of this method. In James Williams we found a
technologist and philosopher with something urgent to say
about how our will is being manipulated by the tools we
increasingly rely on. In Annie Zaidi we have found a powerful
and compelling voice with a unique insight into what home
means for citizens of the world today. We are very excited to
see how Annie’s work will develop over the coming year and
hope that it will help further current conversations around
the concept of belonging worldwide.”

The inaugural Nine Dots Prize posed the question ‘Are digital
technologies making politics impossible?’ and was won by
former Google employee turned Oxford philosopher, James
Williams. The resulting book, Stand Out of Our Light: Freedom
and Resistance in the Attention Economy, was published in May
2018 to critical acclaim (‘A landmark book’ – the Observer;
‘Switch off your smartphone, slouch in a comfy chair, and pay
your full, undivided, attention to this short, absorbing, and
deeply disturbing book’ – Financial Times).

Annie Zaidi’s book, based on her Nine Dots Prize-winning essay
‘Bread, Cement, Cactus’, will be published by Cambridge
University Press in May 2020 and made available in an open
access format.

Nine Dots Prize releases second podcast on diversity

Click here for further information about the Nine Dots Prize.

Akshay           Kumar’s             blockbuster

‘Kesari’ is now streaming on
Amazon Prime
Megastar Akshay Kumar’s blockbuster film ‘Kesari’, which is
based on the epic Battle of Saragarhi, in which an army of 21
Sikhs fought against 10,000 Invaders in 1897, is now streaming
on Amazon Prime Video. Celebrating the spirit of bravery and
sacrifice, the film provides an account of one of the bravest
battles ever fought in history. Kesari released on 21st March
this year and grossed over 200 crores INR worldwide box office
collections and impressed critics and fans alike. Besides an
impressive run at the Indian box office, the film also set
cash registers ringing in the international markets. Raking in
over over USD 2 million in its opening weekend, the film
established itself as one of the biggest opening for an Akshay
Kumar film in Canada and Australia.

Starring Akshay Kumar and Parineeti Chopra. Directed by Anurag
   Singh. Produced by Hiroo Yash Johar, Aruna Bhatia, Karan
Johar, Apoorva Mehta, Sunir Kheterpal and Co-Produced by Amar
 Butala. Written by Girish Kohli and Anurag Singh. Kesari is
       released by Zee Studios International worldwide.

For its realistic portrayal of one of the most significant
historical battles to be ever fought in India, coupled with a
powerhouse performance from Akshay Kumar playing Havildar
Ishar Singh, Kesari managed to generate a huge buzz even prior
to its release.

Click here for the Amazon Prime Video of Kesari

Salman Khan’s Maut Ka Kua
biker training for ‘Bharat’,
out 5th June 2019
Director Ali Abbas Zafar’s ‘Bharat’ is the story of a person
whose life is associated with the journey of India as an
independent nation. As the story of the film extends for many
decades, it is divided into different chapters of life of
India (Salman). In the first part of the film, the actor will
be seen as a Maut Ka Kua biker, which was seen as
entertainment several decades ago. To understand the specifics
of his character, Salman had visited Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh,
to check out a real “Maut Ka Kua”. Salman was also trained by
a real stuntman so that he could play his sequence well.

Director Ali Abbas Zafar shared more information on this, “The
biggest challenge for us was that there were very few “Maut Ka
Kua” artists in India. We took some time to find out about
Maut Ka Kua. To help us train Salman and make the set
correctly, the stuntman had to be called from there. Salman
Bhai is a good rider, but he has worked hard to ride a bike in
the well.”

Bharat stars Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Tabu, Disha Patani,
Sunil Grover and Jackie Shroff. Produced by Atul Agnihotri,
Alvira Agnihotri, Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar under the
banner of Reel Life Production and Salman Khan Films, and
distributed by Cinestaan. Bharat is all set to release in
cinemas 5th June 2019 and is distributed by Cinestaan.

5 Speakers x 15 Minutes each
event, curated by author
Angela Saini
Science journalist and author Angela Saini curated a 5X15
Stories speaker event at the Portland Hall, University of
Westminster, in London on Wednesday 29th May 2019. The event
was to promote her new book Superior: The Return of Race
Science (published 30th May 2019) which explores the concept
of race and examines the insidious and destructive nature of
race science. She was joined by filmmaker Amrou Al-Kadhi, who
is described as a “queer Iraqi non-binary Brit”; Subhadra Das,
a historian, history of science communicator, comedian, writer
and museum curator at UCL Culture where she works with the UCL
Pathology and Science Collections; author Nikesh Shukla who
edited the essay collection ‘The Good Immigrant’, where 21
British writers of colour discuss race and immigration in the
UK and multi-award winning structural engineer, Roma Agrawal,
the author of ‘Built’, which looks at how construction has
evolved from the mud huts of our ancestors to skyscrapers of
steel.

« ‹ 1 of 17   ›   »

Amrou Al-Kadhi
Amrou Al-Kadhi is a filmmaker and has a first feature in
development, Layla, with Film4, that is produced by Savannah
James-Bayly. Previously, Amrou has written/directed four short
films, including Anemone (BBC Films & Film London), Run(a)way
Arab, (Peccadillo Pictures & Revry), Victoria Sin, (NOWNESS,
Revry), and CLASH (BBC4 Broadcast, BFI, Revry). In 2018, Amrou
was selected as a Screen International Star of Tomorrow, and
was one of the 6 BFI/BAFTA Flare LGBTQ+ emerging filmmakers of
2017.

As a writer performer, Amrou has two TV shows in development.
A comedy-series called Nefertiti (Big Talk and Channel 4 – co-
writer Matthew Knott), and Beards (Playground and BBC – co-
writer Ellie Kendrick), and a musical-feature film about Islam
and drag with the BFI entitled Glamrou. They are a regular
writer on Hollyoaks, and writing on upcoming TV series’ Little
America for Apple, and The Watch for BBC America.

Amrou’s debut book, a memoir about queer intersectionality –
UNICORN – with 4th Estate Books (Harper Collins), will be
published on October 3rd, 2019. They have written freelance
for the following publications – The Guardian, The Gay Times,
The i-Paper, i-D Magazine, Little White Lies, Gay Star News,
Hunger Magazine, CNN, HUCK Magazine, Visual Verse, Zed Books,
Saqi Books, the BFI, Cause & Effect Magazine & The Inkling
Magazine. Amrou is an established drag performer in the UK,
whose debut drag solo show, Glamrou: From Quran to Queen, is
going up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year. Amrou
created the musical comedy live-singing drag troupe Denim.

Angela Saini
Angela Saini is a science journalist, broadcaster and author.
She presents science programmes on BBC Radio 4 and the World
Service, and her writing has appeared across the world,
including in New Scientist, the Guardian, The Times, Science,
Cell, Wired, Wallpaper, Vogue, GQ, among others.

Her book, Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New
Research That’s Rewriting the Story, was published in 2017 by
Fourth Estate, and was named the Physics World Book of the
Year and voted runner-up in the Goodreads Choice Awards. Her
first book, Geek Nation, was published by Hodder & Stoughton
in 2011, becoming a bestseller in India. Her latest book is,
Superior: The Return of Race Science. She is currently filming
a two-part documentary series for BBC Four about the history
and science of eugenics.

In 2015 she won the American Association for the Advancement
of Science’s Kavli Science Journalism gold award for a BBC
Radio 4 documentary she presented about birdsong and human
language. In 2012 she won the Association of British Science
Writers’ award for best news story, for a feature in the
Guardian about the misuse of statistics in courtrooms. And she
was named European Science Journalist of the Year by the
Euroscience Foundation in 2009. She has also been shortlisted

for both the Asian Women of Achievement Award and the Asian
Achiever Award.

She has a Masters in Engineering from Oxford University, and a
second Masters in Science and Security from the Department of
War Studies at King’s College London. Between 2012 and 2013
She was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Subhadra Das
Subhadra Das is a historian, history of science communicator,
comedian, writer and museum curator at UCL Culture where she
works with the UCL Pathology and Science Collections. She
regularly talks to diverse audiences in classes, seminars,
lectures, public talks and stand-up comedy about all aspects
of her work from collections management to working with human
remains. Her main area of research is the history of science
and medicine in the 19th and 20th Centuries, specifically the
history of scientific racism. She uses museum objects to tell
decolonial stories in engaging and affirming ways.

Nikesh Shukla
Nikesh Shukla is a writer. His debut novel, Coconut Unlimited,
was published by Quartet Books and shortlisted for the Costa
First Novel Award 2010 and longlisted for the Desmond Elliott
Prize 2011. Metro described it as ‘a riot of cringeworthy
moments made real by Shukla’s beautifully observed characters
and talent for teen banter’. In 2011 he co-wrote an essay
about the London riots for Random House with Kieran Yates,
Generation Vexed: What the Riots Don’t Tell Us About Our
Nation’s Youth. In 2013 he released a novella about food with
Galley Beggars Press, The Time Machine, donating his royalties
to Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation. The book won Best
Novella at the Sabotage Awards.

His second novel, Meatspace, was published by The Friday
Project. ‘Like Douglas Coupland’s Generation X,’ according to

the Guardian, ‘this novel captures a cultural moment.’ Nikesh
is the editor of the essay collection, The Good Immigrant,
where 21 British writers of colour discuss race and
immigration in the UK. The Good Immigrant won the reader’s
choice at the Books Are My Bag Awards and is shortlisted for
Book of the Year at the British Book Awards.
His short stories have featured in Best British Short Stories
2013, Five Dials, The Moth Magazine, Pen Pusher, The Sunday
Times, Book Slam, BBC Radio 4, First City Magazine and Teller
Magazine. He has written for the Guardian, Esquire, Buzzfeed,
Vice and BBC 2. He has, in the past, been writer in residence
for BBC Asian Network and Royal Festival Hall. In 2014 he co-
wrote Two Dosas, an award-winning short film starring Himesh
Patel. His Channel 4 Comedy Lab Kabadasses aired on E4 and
Channel 4 in 2011 and starred Shazad Latif, Jack Doolan and
Josie Long.

He currently hosts The Subaltern podcast, an anti-panel
discussion featuring conversations with writers about writing.
Guests have included Zadie Smith, Junot Diaz, Teju Cole, James
Salter, George Saunders, Jennifer Egan, Evie Wyld, Sam Bain,
Alex Preston, Colson Whitehead and more. He also co-hosts a
podcast with sci-fi writer James Smythe, Meat Up, Hulk Out.

Roma Agrawal
Roma Agrawal is a multi-award winning structural engineer. She
has designed bridges, skyscrapers and sculptures with
signature architects. She spent six years working on The
Shard, Western Europe’s tallest building, designing the
foundations and the ‘Spire’. Her work has been featured
extensively in the media, including coverage in the Guardian,
Cosmopolitan Magazine, and ‘The Tallest Tower’, a Channel 4
documentary on The Shard in which she was the only woman
featured. She was included in M&S’s ‘Leading Ladies’ campaign
in 2014, and outside of work promotes engineering and
scientific careers to young people, in particular to women and
under-represented groups. In her new book Built, Agrawal takes

a unique look at how construction has evolved from the mud
huts of our ancestors to skyscrapers of steel that reach
hundreds of metres into the sky.

Akademi South Asian                              dance
celebrates    its                                 40th
anniversary
The coming year sees game-changing South Asian dance
organisation Akademi marking its 40th anniversary with a
series of celebratory events running from May 2019 to April
2020. Akademi embraces South Asian dance in all its forms –
classical, contemporary, commercial and social –
commissioning, creating and supporting it. Its work over the
past 40 years is an expression of the UK’s increasingly
diverse society. Now a truly British artform, South Asian
dance is woven into the tapestry of our culture. Many artists
who were presented by Akademi in the early days of their
careers are now part of the cultural mainstream.

Founded by Tara Rajkumar, Akademi’s patrons and trustees have
included Pandit Ravi Shankar, Dame Alicia Markova, Anish
Kapoor and Anoushka Shankar. Over the years, it has presented
hundreds of performances including large-scale productions at
locations including the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar
Square, the Southbank Centre and more. Its recent dance
theatre piece on World War I, The Troth, received
international acclaim. For over three decades, Akademi has
pioneered education and community projects, providing
workshops for young people including those with special
educational needs along with a health and wellbeing programme

for older adults living with dementia and heart and lung
diseases.

Akademi’s year of celebratory events includes performances,
talks, workshops and competitions in some of the capital’s
landmark venues. These have been envisioned by Akademi’s
dynamic director Mira Kaushik OBE, working closely with
producer Nina Head. November 2019 sees Kaushik’s departure
after being at the helm for more than 30 transformative years,
seeing it through the many changes in the cultural and
political landscape in that time.

Kaushik says: “I have had three decades of illuminating
adventures in the world of dance in the UK. My journey from
being a cultural ambassador of South Asia to being at a place
where South Asian dance is seen as an intrinsic and valued
part of the British creative DNA is my greatest achievement. I
am thrilled to have been a conduit for the UK’s thriving
community of South Asian dancers, the majority of whom are
based in London. There is still exciting work to do which will
further professionalise the sector and I look forward to the
next generation of leadership picking up the baton during this
year’s celebratory anniversary programme.”

Akademi at 40 events schedule
Thursday 13 June 2019 at 1pm
Pagrav Dance Company AUNUSTHAN
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
The Atrium, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, 369 Fulham Rd,
London SW10 9NH
Free

Tuesday 25 June 2019 at 6.45pm
Dance Dialogues: Glittering Tales – Dancing for Rajahs,
Nawabs, and the men of the Raj
Dr Swarnamalya Ganesh in conversation with Chitra Sundaram

Asia House, 63 New Cavendish St, Marylebone, London W1G 7LP
Box        office         020        7307        5454         /
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/glittering-tales
Tickets: £10 / £8 concessions, Students go free

Friday 28 June 2019
Akademi and SAMA Arts present SWARNAKATHA: A SALON SOIREE,
dances from Sadir repertoire of 17th – 20th Century India by
Dr Swarnamalya Ganesh
Rhythm in the Landscape Festival
Storey’s Field Centre, Eddington Avenue, Cambridge CB3 1AA
Box office: www.sama.co.uk

Sunday 30 June 2019, 7:30pm
Akademi and SAMA Arts present SWARNAKATHA: A SALON SOIREE,
dances from Sadir repertoire of 17th – 20th Century India by
Dr Swarnamalya Ganesh
Women in Arts Festival
LSO, 161 Old Street, London EC1V 9NG
Box office: www.barbican.org.uk

Friday 12 July 2019 at 6.45pm
DANCE DIALOGUES: Classical Indian dance and its relevance in a
global contemporary context
Rukmini Vijayakumar in conversation with Vena Ramphal
Asia House, 63 New Cavendish St, Marylebone, London W1G 7LP
Box        office         020        7307        5454         /
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rukmini-vijayakumar
Tickets: £10 / £8 concessions / students go free

Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 July 2019 at 6.45pm
Bharatanatyam Repertoire and Choreography Intensive Workshops
by Rukmini Vijayakumar
Dance Works Studios, 16 Balderton Street, Mayfair, London W1K
6TN
Box office: admin@lshva.in

Saturday 20 July 2019 at 11am

NAVADAL 2019: National South Asian Youth Dance Festival
Part of U.Dance 2019
Clore Ballroom, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1
8XX
Free

Saturday 20 July 2019 at 5.30pm
NAVADAL Rising Stars
Part of U.Dance 2019
Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1
8XX
Box        office:         020     3879       9555       /
https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on
Tickets: £5

Monday 9 September 2019 at 7pm
Uyir and Akademi present UDAL
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 4A Castletown Rd, Hammersmith, London
W14 9HE
Box office: 020 7381 3086 / https://bhavan.net/events/

Sunday 29 September 2019
DESCENDANTS British South Asian female choreographers
Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX
Box       office:       020      3879            9555           /
https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on

Friday 18 October 2019
RUMINATION – Akademi at 40 (1979-2019)
Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Rd, Knightsbridge, London
SW7 2RL
Box office:020 7942 2000 / https://www.vam.ac.uk/whatson

Friday 25 October & Saturday 26 October 2019 from 10am to 8pm
BROWN TANGLE: British Asian Arts Festival
Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA
Box office: 020 7613 7498 / https://richmix.org.uk/whats-on/

Friday 1 November 2019
SPARKPLUGS
Watermans Arts Centre, 40 High St, Brentford TW8 0DS
Box office: 020 8232 1010 / www.watermans.org.uk

Friday 15 November 2019
APOTHEOSIS
Sir Joseph Hotung Gallery, British Museum, Great Russell St,
London WC1B 3DG
Box        office:        020       7323       8181        /
https://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on
Free

About Akademi

Akademi is a progressive South Asian dance organisation, based
in London. It aims to inspire audiences and change lives by
creating and nurturing excellence in classical, contemporary,
popular and participatory South Asian dance. Akademi’s
programmes bring South Asian dance to mainstream attention,
capturing the public’s imagination through inspiring
storytelling and unique spectacle. It creates talent pathways
for the next generation of dance artists and takes South Asian
dance to the heart of the community, creating life-affirming
experiences for those who are disadvantaged, disengaged or
isolated.

For further information visit https://akademi.co.uk/

Sheena             Bhattessa                 &         Ajay

Baharani’s “Wedding of the
Year”!
The lavish events to celebrate the wedding of Sheena Bhattessa
and Ajay Baharani, started with a registry marriage at
Kensington Palace and culminated in a spectacular reception at
Pendley Manor Hotel, Hertfordshire, on Sunday 26th May 2019.
Based around the theme of Royal Indian weddings, the events
began with the Sangeet at The Bombay Roxy featuring an evening
of Indian noir in Bombay’s glamorous jazz age, on 24th May;
followed by the the Delhi Darbar Banquet for an afternoon of
wedding celebrations on Saturday 25th May and the Royal Indian
wedding reception on Sunday 26th May 2019.

Among the five hundred guests in attendance were Mayor of
London Sadiq Khan and his wife Saadiya; Deputy Mayor of London
for Business Rajesh Agrawal and his wife Charu; Lord & Lady
Navnit Dholakia; Lord & Lady Jitesh Gadhia; Shadow Secretary
of State for International Trade, Barry Gardiner MP; Shadow
Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, Dawn Butler MP;
Keith Vaz MP, Valerie Vaz MP and Bob Blackman MP, among
others. Asian Power Couples in attendance over the three days
included Nina & Shirish Amin; Bimal & Sheena Sualy; Harmeet
Ahuja and Reena Ranger; Pranav & Shefali Bhanot; Selma &
Adrian Day; Vijay & Poonam Goel; Visesh & Nishma Gosrani;
Manoj & Dina Ladwa; Ramona Mehta & Sanjeev Patel; Vijay &
Smita Patel; Radhika Seth & Michael Bowen; Mayank & Vandana
Shah; Vishal & Heeral Shah and Mike & Shalina Tobin.

« ‹ 1 of 47   ›   »

About Ajay Baharani & Sheena Bhattessa
Ajay Baharani is a businessman based in Miami,Florida, USA. He
is President of Atlantic Investments LLC and Joe’s Jewelry
International LLC, representing family interests in the
property and jewellery industries.

Sheena Bhattessa is an award-winning British actress,
presenter and publisher. She founded Citizen Femme from a love
of travel and writing. Sheena is a true Londoner, having grown
up in the City, and knows London well. She has made her
passions, her living. Alongside Citizen Femme, Sheena consults
brands on luxury travel and works as an actress on screen and
theatre. Having spent her early 20s in New York, she has a
real love for the City. Her favourite place is Florence and
driving around Italy.

10th Bagri Foundation London
Indian Film Festival, 20 – 29
Jun 2019
The 10th anniversary of the UK and Europe’s largest South
Asian film festival, supported by the Bagri Foundation and the
BFI runs from 20th June to 8th July across 5 UK cities, and
continues to showcase a rich assortment of entertaining and
thought provoking independent cinema, including India’s new
wave of LGBTQ+ films.

Highlights
The 10th birthday celebrations open with the World Premiere of
Anubhav Sinha’s hard-hitting Article 15 the follow up to Mulk,
which won Sinha the Filmfare award for best original story in
2018. India’s hottest male star Ayushmann Khurrana (Andhadhun,
Badhaai Ho) plays a police officer from a privileged urban,
international, background, whose very first posting is to
rural north India, where three teenage girls have gone
missing. His honesty does not sit well with the existing,
deeply entrenched corrupt system where, in 2019, a 1000-year-
old practice that divides human beings on the basis of caste
continues. Beginning as a riveting police procedural that is a
True Detective like deep-dive into the Indian bayou, Article
15 soon elevates to a gutsy exposé of a deeply flawed
structure. The film’s title is a reference to an article of
the Indian constitution that prohibits discrimination on the
basis of caste, religion, race or sex. Zee Studios will
release the film in the UK and worldwide June 28.

Closing Night at the prestigious BFI Southbank
The long-awaited return of Ritesh Batra, the director of BAFTA
nominated, Cannes Grand Rail d’Or winner The Lunchbox which is
world famous, with the English premiere of Photograph,
starring legendary actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and the star of
2018 Bollywood hit Badhaai Ho, Sanya Malhotra.

Themed Strands

Bengal Tigers
Highlighting this regions unique contribution to Indian and
world cinema. There is an opportunity to catch Bengal’s
hottest new talents with films like eerie sci-fi Ghost of the
Golden Groves, or relationship drama Unsaid, to legendary
film-makers including a Q&A with one of Kolkata’s finest
master’s Buddhadeb Dasgupta alongside his magic realist film
The Flight. We also honour the recent passing of director
Mrinal Sen with a restoration of his classic Khandhar and
offer a rare screening of Jean Renoir’s The River at new venue
partner Cine Lumiere.

Young Rebel
Keeping our reputation up as the Punk Rock of Indian film
festivals our strand Young Rebel literally busts all the
stereotypes with an action-packed, fun and thought provoking
bunch of movies exploring younger lives. Multi-award winning
director Rima Das returns to LIFF with her must-see Bulbul Can
Sing. Coming-of-age comedy The Lift Boy will have you falling
off your seat, while the Roobha, and Kattumaram premieres
present young lives struggling to find their own space in the
system. In Chuskit a disabled Ladakhi girl fights for her
education.

Extra-Ordinary Lives
True to the festival’s mission to screen films about real
people’s stories, deep dive into our Extra-Ordinary Lives

strand, back for a 2nd year, with amazing documentaries and
dramas from across South Asia. An audience favourite at
Cannes, we present the Mumbai romantic drama Sir, and the
rollicking Hindi martial arts hit The Man Who Feels No Pain
that delves into Tamil pop-culture in Mumbai, which won the
Midnight Madness Audience award at TIFF. Don’t miss the tense
Kannada whodunnit Arishadvarga, or the international premiere
of unforgettably feel-good documentary My Home India (bring
tissues).

Film, Power & Politics
This strand offers a critical insight into the fast moving
political changes within South Asia. Toronto (TIFF), state of
the Indian nation documentary, Reason by Anand Patwardhan;
based on a true terrorist incident the compelling Bangladeshi
drama Saturday Afternoon; Gandhian values black comedy
#Gadhvi; and Kashmir-based Widow of Silence are a few films to
look out for.

Special Guests
As usual, we expect a host of filmmaker Q&As and special
guests with a highlight being the eagerly anticipated return
of festival favourite director Anurag Kashyap, who has grabbed
headlines with Sacred Games and Gangs of Wasseypur (our 2012
opening night film).

British maverick Gurinder Chadha OBE is in conversation to
discuss her new film, Blinded by the Light, the Sundance hit
about a British Asian Bruce Springsteen fan, which hits UK
cinemas this August, and her ITV period drama, Beecham House.

Radhika Apte, star of our 2016 opening night film Parched, the
much talked about Padman, and the global success Andhadhun, is
due for a special event, based on her stellar work with
Netflix, and hit films with Superstar Rajinikanth and Akshay
Kumar.

Other talents expected are the popular Punjabi heavyweight
Gippy Grewal who brings the generation gap social drama Ardaas
Karaan set in Canada, which hits UK screens on general release
on 19 July 2019. The Tamil stalwart actor director Mysskin who
plays the protagonist in Kattumaram, is expected.

Cary Rajinder Sawhney, Executive & Programming Director of the
festival says: “From the perspective of our 10th Birthday the
festival has dynamically opened the UK mainstream media and
audiences to Indian and South Asian independent cinema in all
its linguistic diversity and that’s something we are extremely
proud of. Punching above our weight as always, this year is
probably our strongest programme ever with exciting world
premieres, rarely seen archival masterpieces, and some
seriously cutting-edge dramas and documentaries, in 23 venues
across 5 UK cities and towns. We invite you to immerse
yourself into the cinema of a billion lives.”

Alka Bagri, trustee of the Bagri Foundation says: “We are
delighted to join LIFF in celebrating its tenth anniversary of
showcasing the best in South Asian independent cinema! 2019
significantly marks five years of our support enabling
filmmakers to show the diversity and vibrancy of the sub
continent. We look forward to sharing with you a fantastic
programme championing women filmmakers, emerging cinematic
voices and Bengal’s unique contribution to cinema.”

About The Bagri Foundation

The Bagri Foundation is a UK registered charity, inspired by
creative, unique and unexpected ideas that weave the
traditional and the contemporary of Asian culture. The
Foundation is driven by curiosity, a desire to learn and
supports a myriad of exciting artistic programmes that
challenge, engage and inspire. www.bagrifoundation.org

Gurinder Chadha to launch
‘Blinded by the light’, 9th
August 2019
Directed by Gurinder Chadha (Bend it Like Beckham, Viceroy’s
House), Entertainment One UK is to release ‘Blinded by the
Light’ on 9th August 2019. Set in 1987, during the austere
days of Thatcher’s Britain, ‘Blinded by the Light’is a joyous,
coming-of-age story about a teenager who learns to live life,
understand his family and find his own voice through the words
and music of Bruce Springsteen.’Blinded by the Light’ is
inspired by British journalist Sarfraz Manzoor’s memoir
‘Greetings From Bury Park’. Manzoor has written the script
alongside Gurinder Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges and the film
stars Viveik Kalra (Next of Kin, Beecham House), Kulvinder
Ghir (Bend it Like Beckham), Meera Ganatra (PREMature), Nell
Williams (Game of Thrones), Aaron Phagura (Doctor Who), Dean
Charles-Chapman (Game of Thrones, Breathe), Hayley Atwell
(Avengers: Endgame) and Rob Brydon (Swimming with Men).