Foundation: New Asian Post

Varkey   Foundation:  ‘The
Assembly, A Global Teacher
Prize Concert
For the first time, The Varkey Foundation hosted ‘The
Assembly: A Global Teacher Prize Concert’ as a joyful ‘thank
you’ to teachers on Saturday 23 March 2019. The event
celebrated the unsung work that teachers all around the world
do every day with a stellar lineup of acts including Liam
Payne, Rita Ora and Little Mix. The Top 10 Global Teacher
Prize finalists were joined on stage by actor Hugh Jackman and
American singer, songwriter, and pianist Lauren. Allred who
made her Billboard debut with “Never Enough” from the
soundtrack to the musical, ‘The Greatest Showman’.

Now in its seventh year, the Global Education & Skills Forum
(GESF 2019) is also hosting the Next Billion Prize, which
recognizes leading edtech startups making an impact on
education in low income and emerging economies, as well as the
first Philanthropy Summit, attended by over 64 grant making
foundations from around the world. The three-day event
includes a welcome reception; the new Global Teacher Prize
concert and features as the climax the award ceremony of the
US $1 million Global Teacher Prize 2019 on Sunday 24th March
2019.

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About The Varkey Foundation

The Varkey Foundation believes every child deserves a vibrant,
stimulating learning environment that awakens and supports
their full potential. We believe nothing is more important to
achieving this than the passion and quality of teachers. We
founded the Global Teacher Prize to shine a spotlight on the
incredible work teachers do all over the world and we continue
to play a leading role in influencing education debates on the
status of teachers around the world. For further information,
visit www.varkeyfoundation.org

For further information about the Global Education & Skills
Forum visit: https://educationandskillsforum.org and for
further information on the Global Teacher Prize visit:
www.globalteacherprize.org

Birmingham    to   become   a
leading centre for Pakistan &
Bangladeshi arts
Transforming Narratives, a ground-breaking three-year project
that will establish Birmingham as a leading international
centre for contemporary Pakistan and Bangladeshi arts was
launched on Thursday 21 March 2019 at an event at Birmingham
Repertory Theatre hosted by BBC Asian Network’s Nadia Ali and
attended by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Councillor Yvonne
Mosquito, Mr Ahmar Ismail, Consulate General Pakistan and Mr
Muhammed Nazmul Hoqu, Assistant High Commissioner Bangladesh.
Managed by Culture Central it is supported by Arts Council
England and delivered in association with The British Council.

Delivered by 12 diverse Birmingham-based cultural
organisations Transforming Narratives links Birmingham with
major cities in Pakistan and Bangladesh and will lead to new
artistic works, a cultural leadership programme, new
audiences, creative exchange and dialogue as well as artistic
archiving.

Partners include: Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG);
Birmingham Museums Trust (BMT); Birmingham Repertory Theatre;
Fierce Festival; Ikon Gallery; Kalaboration; Legacy West
Midlands; Midlands Arts Centre; South Asian Diaspora Arts
Archive (SADAA); Sampad; Sonia Sabri Company and Soul City
Arts / Mohammed Ali.

One of the biggest British Council projects in a UK city,
organisations from Birmingham are travelling to Pakistan and
Bangladesh to meet with artists there, to share learning and
start to develop artistic projects which will take place
during the life of the project. For the launch weekend, the
Birmingham team were joined by arts leaders from Bangladesh
who are in Birmingham to experience the city’s cultural offer.

The project launched with two collaborative events at
Birmingham Repertory Theatre signalling the start of the
artistic programme. Sigh of the Musaafir, a cutting-edge
international collaboration featuring artists from Pakistan
and Birmingham, took place on Saturday 23 March led by
Artistic Director Mukhtar Dar. Bangladesh to Birmingham took
place on Sunday 24 March at Birmingham Repertory Theatre and
was an immersive dining experience that invites guests to
experiences the sounds, sights and flavours of Bangladesh as
they enjoy an authentic three-course Bangladeshi meal,
prepared by award-winning chef Munayam Khan. G

Sophina Jagot, Transforming Narratives Project Manager said:
“It is fantastic that we are able to launch Transforming
Narratives here in Birmingham, for decades people have left

their homes to forge a new life in Birmingham, but their
stories have rarely been told. Working with partners here in
the City as well as in the cities of Bangladesh and Pakistan
we are uncovering these stories and look forward to sharing
them.

“This project is a real opportunity for us to establish
Birmingham as the leader in contemporary Pakistan and
Bangladeshi arts both in terms of the artistic programme we
will develop but through working with communities,
stakeholders and artists to develop skills and encourage
debate and knowledge sharing. I hope you will join us on this
journey.”

Suhaee Abro performs an excerpt from Sigh of the Musaafir as
part of the Transforming Narratives launch. Pic by Jas Sansi.

About Transforming Narratives
Transforming Narratives is a project to establish Birmingham

as a global centre for contemporary arts from Pakistan and
Bangladesh taking place from 2018 – 2021.The project brings
together artists and cultural organisations from across
artforms, who are located in Birmingham and cities in Pakistan
and Bangladesh. Transforming Narratives allows for new ideas
and artistic practices to be shared, leading to the creation
of new work that will give previously unheard voices an
international platform.

Transforming Narratives is managed by Culture Central, and
delivered in partnership with The British Council and 12
Birmingham-based cultural partners. Transforming Narratives is
funded by Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence
programme with support from the British Council.

Birmingham-based cultural partners include:

     Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG)
     Birmingham Museums Trust (BMT)
     Birmingham Repertory Theatre
     Fierce Festival
     Ikon Gallery
     Kalaboration
     Legacy West Midlands
     Midlands Arts Centre
     South Asian Diaspora Arts Archive (SADAA)
     Sampad
     Sonia Sabri Company
     Soul City Arts / Mohammed Ali

Find out more about Transforming       Narratives   online   at
www.transformingnarratives.com

Citizens    Foundation                                  UK
musical    fundraiser                                  for
children in Pakistan
Friends of The Citizens Foundation (UK) came together to host
a musical evening on 16th March 2019 at the Hilton Paddington,
London, to raise funds to educate and empower over a 1,000
children in Pakistan. TV presenter Hajra Lalljee opened the
evening, followed by a presentation by The Citizens Foundation
(UK) Executive Vice President, Zia Akhter Abbas, and a
performance by the renowned Ghazal singer, Ahmed Akhlaq. The
event was attended by 185 guests from the banking, law,
medical and other distinguished backgrounds and professions.

His Excellency, the Pakistan High Commissioner to UK, was also
present to give his support. “This is an initiative that is
run by the people of Pakistan with their own resources, to
provide education to communities where children would
otherwise not be able to access schooling,” the High
Commissioner said.

The Citizens Foundation’s (TCF) goal is to educate and empower
2 million children and women by 2030. “TCF does change lives
and build communities. We know families whose children have
gone through the TCF education system and are now able to live
a better life.” TV Presenter Hajra Lalljee and one of TCF’s
long-time supporter said. Aside from providing modern and life
changing education to underprivileged children, TCF is also
partnering with the Pakistani government. “Our goal is to work
with the government to improve the quality of education on a
national level,” Zia Akhter Abbas said.

TCF’s long term goal is to empower 2 million children and
women by 2030. This event was a part of TCF efforts to
galvanise support across the UK and raise the funds and

resources it needs to meet this goal.

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About The Citizens Foundation (UK)
The Citizens Foundation (UK) is the UK fundraising arm for The
Citizens Foundation (TCF), Pakistan’s leading education
charity for underprivileged children. Established in 1995, the
primary goal of TCF has been to take children off the streets
and into classrooms, providing them with a quality education
at a fraction of the cost of other private schools.

The Economist has called TCF “perhaps the largest network of
independently run schools in the world. Currently, TCF
professionally runs and manages 1,482 schools providing modern
and life changing education to 220,000 children, 50% of which
are girls. TCF schools are run by an all-female faculty of
12,000 teachers, making TCF the largest employer of women in
Pakistan.

Beyond its core programme, TCF also runs vocational training
for women, an Alumni Development Programme to enable TCF
students pursue university education and an adult literacy
programme (Aagahi). Nearly 75,000 women have gained functional
literacy skills through Aagahi.

Credits:

Event by TCF London
Sponsored by Habib Bank Limited
Musician: Akhlaq Ahmed
Catering: Spice Village
Production by: Paragon
Photography: Shahid Malik

Mrs   Kapoor’s    Daughter’s
Wedding, UK Tour: 16th Mar –
27th May 2019
Bollywood-inspired,   British   Asian   stage   spectacle   ‘Mrs
Kapoor’s Daughter’s Wedding’ is to tour the UK from 16th March
until 27th May 2019. The audience is invited into a typical
Asian household as it prepares for a wedding in the family,
with all the Bollywood trimmings. Mrs Kapoor’s Daughter’s
Wedding unites on onstage YouTube sensation Parle Patel; West
End singer Shahid Abbas Khan; and singer Drupti Vaja. A laugh
out loud, comedy-dance production, it follows the life of Mrs
Kapoor, played by Parle Patel, who is mother to five
daughters, one of whom is getting married.

The production is packed with cultural reference points and
nuances, bursting with colour, energy and live comedy sketches
that will resonate with audiences of all ages. Bollywood
dancing that showcases the craft of AK Bollywood dancers is
harmonised with live singing, a fashion show and Rhythm ‘n’
Bass dhol players to create a stage extravaganza unique to the
UK stage.

Mrs Kapoor’s Daughter’s Wedding is written, directed and
choreographed by Archana Kumar, Winner, UK Battle of
Bollywood; and Founder, AK Productions and AK Bollywood Dance.
The production is a collaboration between AK Productions and
AK Bollywood Dance that will tour a team of 35 dancers,
actors, singers, dhol (drum) players and production staff. The
dancers originate from the London-based AK Bollywood Dance
group that have featured in Bollywood productions such as the
2018 film release Namastey England as well as at major events
in and around the Capital such as Diwali on the Square, held
by the Mayor of London in London’s Trafalgar Square.

Mrs Kapoor’s Daughter’s Wedding UK Tour
16th & 17th March; 21st April 2019
Beck Theatre,
Hayes, Middlesex
https://becktheatre.org.uk
Box Office 020 8561 8371

6th April 2019
The Woodville Theatre
Gravesend, Kent
https://woodville.tickets.red61.com
Box Office: 08442 439 480

20th April 2019
Watford Colosseum
https://watfordcolosseum.co.uk
Box Office: 01923 571 102

5th & 6th May 2019
Leicester Haymarket Theatre
Leicester
https://www.haytheatre.com
Box Office: 0116 296 1236

27th May 2019
Alexandra Theatre,
Birmingham
https://www.atgtickets.com
Box Office: 0844 871 3011

Ticket Purchase via: www.mkdw.co.uk

UK   Asian   Film   Festival
programme schedule 24th Mar –
4th May 2019
The world’s longest running South Asian film festival outside
of India, UK Asian Film Festival, has announced its full
programme for 2019 with a feminist-focused schedule
celebrating 21 Years with ‘Revolution’ Theme. The festival
will run in five cities across the UK, Edinburgh, Glasgow,
Leicester, London and Manchester, from 27th March – 4th May
2019 and is supported by the BFI with National Lottery funding
and Regional Screen Scotland.

At a time of significant change, UK Asian Film Festival marks
its 21st anniversary with a curation inspired by the theme of
Revolution. Historically known as Tongues on Fire and then
London Asian Film Festival, the festival is also synonymous
with championing South Asian feminist films and supporting
pioneering, female artists and auteurs. Honouring Revolution
through the vehicle of South Asian Cinema, UK Asian Film
Festival looks at the #MeToo movement gathering momentum in
the Indian and Pakistani film industries and the
decriminalisation of homosexuality and the repeal of Section
377 in India last year. UK Asian Film Festival will celebrate
pioneering icons from South Asian cinema and present a series
of milestone films that signify society-led change.

In Conversation with Zeenat Aman
The Opening Gala Launch on Wednesday 27th March, The May Fair
Hotel, London will feature an In Conversation with Zeenat
Aman, one of the most revolutionary actresses in the history
of Indian cinema. Game-changer, beauty queen and reigning star
of the 1970s and 1980s, Aman will share her extraordinary
journey in Indian cinema. She redefined the archetypal heroine

in Indian cinema in an era when they played secondary
characters, largely obedient wives and lovers that elevated
and served to affirm the male lead onscreen. Drawn to more
unconventional roles, she was credited with making a lasting
impact on the image of leading actresses by introducing a bold
and modern look to Hindi cinema. From the disenchanted, pot-
smoking hippie in Hare Rama Hare Krishnaand the opportunist
who leaves her unemployed lover for a millionaire in Roti,
Kapda Aur Makaanto the girl who falls in love with her
mother’s one-time lover in Prem Shastra, the disfigured temple
singer yearning for love in Satyam Shivam Sundaramand a woman
married to a caustic cripple but involved in an extramarital
relationship in Dhund, Aman wasan inspiration for so many
other heroines, forging her own identity by championing
distinguished roles. Equally, her conventional films like
Chori Mera Kaam, Dostana, Lawaaris and Qurbani are considered
to be landmarks in Indian cinema.

Kaifinama
The World Premiere of the documentary film Kaifinama will be
screened on Sunday 7th April, BAFTA 195, London and on Friday
12th April, Glasgow Film Theatre followed by Q&A’s with
veteran actress, Shabana Azmi. The film looks at the life and
art of the progressive, Urdu poet, Kaifi Azmi, celebrating his
birth centenary. Azmi was both a revolutionary poet for social
change as well as one of the foremost lyricists in the Hindi
film industry. Not content to limit himself to fine writing,
he worked ceaselessly throughout his life as a catalyst for
change among the disenfranchised. This extraordinary journey
is documented through extensive interviews with Azmi and his
wife Shaukat Kaifi as well as insights from his children,
Shabana and Baba Azmi, and reminiscences by his friends and
colleagues.

Shabana Azmi will also be conducting an Actor’s Masterclass on
Saturday 6th April, Phoenix Cinema, Leicester. One of the most
versatile actresses in Indian cinema, having mastered both

commercial and arthouse genres, the internationally lauded
actress believes art should be instrumental in leading social
change. Her entry into films marked the way for the Parallel
Cinema Movement with Shyam Benegal’s Ankur in 1974. She has
won five National Awards for Best Actress and five
International Awards for Best Actress. Azmi is also highly
respected as a social activist and tireless campaigner for the
rights of women, slum dwellers and the underprivileged. A
former UN Goodwill Ambassador for Population and Development,
she was recently nominated as a Global Leadership Ambassador
for The Women in Public Service Project initiated by Hillary
Clinton.

Flame Awards: In Conversation with Ramesh Sippy
The Closing Flame Awards Gala on Sunday 7th April, BAFTA 195,
London will feature an In Conversation with Ramesh Sippy.
Veteran director and producer Sippy’s film credits include one
of Indian cinema’s most iconic films of all time, Sholay
(1975), which reinterpreted the spaghetti western genre within
the structure of Indian cinema, ranked first in the BFI’s 2002
poll of the Top Ten Indian Films of all time. Winner of
India’s civilian honour, the Padma Shri, Sippy’s other
directing credits include other timeless classics such as
Andaz (1971);Seeta Aur Geeta (1972); Shaan (1980); and Saagar
(1985) among others. This will be followed by the presentation
of the UK Asian Film Festival Awards.

Pinky Memsaab
The festival will also feature several World Premieres of
revolutionary films by female directors. The Closing Film on
Saturday 6th April, Courthouse Hotel, Shoreditch will be the
World Premiere of Pinky Memsaab (2018, Dir. Shazia Ali Khan).
Emblematic of new age Pakistani cinema for a world audience
and reflecting the industry’s nascent revival, Pinky Memsaab
is a drama that depicts different perspectives of the NRI
experience in Dubai. The lives of a gullible maid; a beautiful

socialite; an ambitious investment banker; and a happy go
lucky chauffer are entwined together in Dubai in this
bittersweet take on self-discovery. The screening will be
followed by a Q&A with director Shazia Ali Khan and cast
members. Additional screenings will take place on Thursday 4th
April, Glasgow Film Theatre; Saturday 6th April, Phoenix
Cinema, Leicester; and Saturday 4th May, HOME, Manchester.

The World Premiere of KD (2019, Dir. Madhumita) on Tuesday 2nd
April, Rich Mix London and on Thursday 4th April 2019, Phoenix
Cinema, Leicester explores a fundamental human right: the
right to live. An 80-year-old man overhears his children say
they want him dead to claim his inheritance. Scared, he runs
away from home and encounters a courageous, 8-year-old orphan
who helps him to live for himself. Madhumita is a prolific
Indian writer-director working primarily in Tamil cinema. Her
first short film won the BBC Award in the Best in the World
category. The London screening will be followed by a Q&A with
producer Shoaib Lokhandwala.

Bengali film Chegu (2018, Dir. Nabamita) has its World
Premiere on Sunday 31st March, Rich Mix, London followed by a
screening on Saturday 6th April, Phoenix Cinema, Leicester.
The film tells the story of a young boy from the lower middle
class that will fight his own battles by taking inspiration
from Marxist revolutionary, Che Guevara. Cheguaddresses
multiple social issues through the eyes of the teenager, the
ideals of Guevara forming a key part of the narrative. The
Rich Mix screening will be followed by a Q&A with director
Nabamita and the production team.

Noblemen (2019, Dir. Vandana Kataria) has its UK Premiere on
Monday 1st April, Regent Street Cinema, London followed by
screenings on Wednesday 3rd April, Phoenix Cinema, Leicester;
and Wednesday 1st May, HOME, Manchester. The film sees the
loss of a 15-year-old boy’s innocence as he prepares to star
in a production of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice when
he rebels against a gang of bullies in a posh boarding school.

The London and Leicester screenings will be followed by a Q&A
with producer Shoaib Lokhandwala.

Daughters of the Polo God
Roopa Barua’s documentary Daughters of the Polo God focuses on
young women charging forward to play the traditional male
dominated game of polo despite adversity and political turmoil
in the Indian state of Manipur. The maidens are intensely
connected to saving their sacred Manipuri pony and to playing
an international tournament every year.

The screening of nine, award-winning, Malayalam shorts
directed by powerful Indian women curated by Archana Padmini
in association with Women In Cinema Collective and Minimal
Cinema, spreads the message of feminism and gender
sensitivity. The Women In Cinema Collective has taken a firm
stand in support of a colleague who has survived a sexual
assault. The series, 9 Pencinemakal, will be screened on
Friday 5th April, Queen Mary, University of London.

Marking the decriminalisation of homosexuality in India,
Evening Shadows (2018, Dir. Sridhar Rangayan) will UK premiere
on Wednesday 3rd April, Regent Street Cinema, London followed
by a screening on Friday 5th April, Phoenix Cinema, Leicester.
The film isset in a small town in Southern India entrenched in
conservatism. When a young, gay man, Kartik, comes out to his
mother, her entire world comes crashing down. She has no one
to turn to dispel her fears and doubts. Moreover, as a woman
trapped within a patriarchal society, her biggest challenge is
to deal with her dogmatic husband, Damodar, and the community
around her. The screening will be followed by a Q&A chaired by
Daniel Luther, Queer Asia.

Ek Aasha (A Hope) (2018, Dir. Mayur Katariya), will UK
premiere on Friday 29th March, Regent Street Cinema, London.
The film tells the story of a transgender girl’s difficult
journey to try to become a teacher in India. Simple dreams are

often extremely hard to achieve for transgender people in
India due to traditional and modern prejudices, despite there
being a trans population of an estimated five million in the
country. All transgender roles in the film are played by non-
actor, transgender people from Mumbai, Delhi and Surat. The
screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Mayur
Katariya chaired by Daniel Luther, Queer Asia.

The Opening Film on Wednesday 27th March, The May Fair Hotel,
London is made by India’s youngest Oscar-nominated and two-
time National Award-winning filmmaker Ashvin Kumar. No Fathers
In Kashmir (2019) is a coming-of-age portrayal based on
hundreds of true stories about the Kashmir conflict that is
shrouded by propaganda and misinformation. It is a tender-
storm of first love and heartbreak that engages teenage and
young audiences to empathise with their counterparts in
Kashmir. Noor, a British Kashmiri teenager re-traces her roots
in search of her father. Majid, a local boy smitten by her,
takes her to a forbidden area near the Indo-Pakistan border
where they stumble upon mass graves that the Indian army wants
to keep secret. They are arrested. Being British, Noor is
released but Majid is not. Having put him in peril, how far
will Noor go to have Majid released? Further screenings will
take place on Friday 29th March, Filmhouse Edinburgh; Thursday
4th April, Phoenix Cinema, Leicester; and Tuesday 30th April,
HOME, Manchester.

40th Anniversary of Southall Black Sisters
To mark the 40th anniversary of Southall Black Sisters, one of
the UK’s leading organisations for black and minority women,
UK Asian Film Festival will be screening four films, one for
each decade of SBS history, curated by the organisation to
reflect the central, political themes that have informed the
work and campaigns of Southall Black Sisters and reflecting
the migrant experience in this country. Southall Black Sisters
has been in existence since 1979. In 1982/3, it set up a not
for profit advocacy and campaigning centre for black and

minority women facing violence and the erosion of their
fundamental human rights.

The Southall Black Sisters curation will feature a screening
of biographical drama Provoked (2006, Dir. Jag Mundhra) on
Saturday 30th April, Rich Mix London. The film is based on the
story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, an Indian woman who came to
international attention after burning her husband to death in
1989 in the UK, in response to ten years of physical,
psychological and sexual abuse and marital rape. After
initially being convicted of murder and sentenced to life in
prison, Ahluwalia’s conviction was later overturned on grounds
of inadequate counsel and replaced with voluntary manslaughter
and diminished responsibility. Her retrial came to light after
major campaigning by Southall Black Sisters. This will be
followed by a screening of Burning An Illusion (1981, Dir.
Menelik Shabazz). The film about a young, British-born black
woman’s love life, mostly shot in London’s Notting Hill and
Ladbroke Grove communities, was only the second British
feature to have been made by a black director, described by
British writer, film and social historian, Stephen Bourne ,as
“the first British film to give a black woman a voice of any
kind.”

The screenings will be followed by a Discussion entitled
Struggle Not Submission with guest speakers including Kiranjit
Ahluwalia, domestic violence survivor on whom the film
Provoked is based; Pragna Patel, Director, Southall Black
Sisters and Founder, Women Against Fundamentalism; Rahila
Gupta, writer, journalist and Southall Black Sisters
management committee member; and Menelik Shabazz, director,
Burning An Illusion.

Continuing the Southall Black Sisters curation on Saturday 6th
April, Rich Mix London will be a screening of My Beautiful
Launderette (1981, Dir. Stephen Frears); and Brick Lane (2007,
Dir. Sarah Gavron). Based on Hanif Qureshi’s screenplay, My
Beautiful Launderette depicts an Asian community that defies

pious stereotypes and a younger generation that defiantly
asserts a non-conformist sexuality in the face of prejudice.
Path-breaking for its time, it offered a timely critique of
the race, class and gender upheavals under Thatcherism whilst
also anticipating the demise of progressive secular
identities. Based on Monica Ali’s debut novel, Brick Lane
picks up on some of the themes of defiant sexuality and
secular identities in the face of rising fundamentalism. It
focuses on a newly arrived migrant woman from Bangladesh whose
nostalgia for home is compounded by an unsatisfactory
relationship with her husband. She is driven into an affair
with a young man who responds to the racism of white youth in
Tower Hamlets by embracing religious fundamentalism.

The screenings will be followed by a Panel Discussion entitled
Subversion and Dissent, featuring guest speakers including
Sukhwant Dhaliwal, Founding Member, Feminist Dissent; Geeta
Sahgal, writer, journalist and human rights activist; and
Monica Ali, writer and novelist, Brick Lane.

One of the most celebrated masterpieces of Indian cinema,
Pakeezah (1972, Dir. Kamal Amrohi), will be screened on Monday
1st April, The British Library followed by a Q&A with Tajdar
Kamal Amrohi, director, producer, writer and son of the late,
legendary Pakeezah filmmaker, Kamal Amrohi. 14 years in the
making, the cult classic film starring the director’s wife and
one of Indian cinema’s most accomplished actresses, the late
Meena Kumari (known as the Tragedy Queen), Pakeezah is a
musical delight set in the Muslim quarter of Lucknow at the
turn of the 20th century. It tells the story of Sahibjaan, who
grows up in a brothel as a courtesan and dancer. The daughter
of Nargis, she has a longing to be loved and accepted by
society. Aristocrat, Salim Ahmed Khan, falls in love with her
and convinces her to elope with him, going against his family.
Already battling cirrhosis of the liver after years of
alcoholism, Meena Kumari was ill throughout the filming
process and died only a few weeks after Pakeezah was finally

released.

Festival Director, Dr Pushpinder Chowdhry MBE says, “This
year’s festival will present pertinent stories of the ordinary
person told through films that address global challenges of
our time. Revolutions help define who we are; they can either
bring glorious freedom to our inner thinking and outer aspects
of our lives or restrain us by what we think is acceptable.
Only then can we break the boundaries to realise our full
potential and to navigate our way in the world.”

Creative Director Samir Bhamra adds, “This festival has always
been revolutionary. When Tongues on Fire started 21 years ago,
it was the only festival in the world platforming female
talent across all media. As a tribute to our pioneering start,
the BFI has awarded funds from the National Lottery to also
enable the UK Asian Film Festival to establish a Young
Curators Lab to nurture a new generation of cinema audiences
to appreciate and distinguish independent, South Asian films
from all over the world. In short, we are handing control of a
key gala screening to young people!”

Young Curators aged between the ages of 18 and 25 have been
given the opportunity to learn curatorial skills for diverse
films addressing vital societal challenges and celebrations.
Young Curators have viewed a selection of new features
including No Fathers In Kashmir, Chegu and Noblemen. The
winner of the Young Curator Lab will be screened as a Youth
Gala. Additionally, the festival has launched a Young Critics
Vote for the Short Film Competition, inviting young, film
enthusiasts and creatives to become part of the Shorts Corner
judging panel. The Short Film Competition Screening will take
place on Saturday 30th March, Regent Street Cinema.

Full festival programme details via: www.ukaff.com

Festival Dates
     London: 27th March – 7th April 2019

Edinburgh: 29th March – 31st March 2019
     Glasgow: 21st March – 4th April 2019
     Leicester: 3rd April – 6th April 2019
     Manchester: 30th April – 4th May 2019

Inaugural Salaam Pakistan
Film Festival, 24th Mar –
30th Mar 2019
A brand-new touring film festival showcasing the very best of
Pakistan’s new Independent film making opens at Birmingham’s
Midlands Arts Centre on Sunday 24th March 2019. The screenings
are part of the inaugural Salaam Pakistan Film Festival, a
small but mighty film programme, which will also be touring to
Manchester, Bradford, Halifax, Rochdale and Leeds throughout
March.

Salaam Pakistan Film Festival celebrates the best of
Pakistan’s new Independent film making providing audiences
with a rare chance to see award-winning films, a UK Premiere,
Oscar winning documentaries and special Q&A’s. The Festival is
supported by various organisations including the British Film
Institute and Rangoonwala Foundation and covers a range of
themes including the 1947 partition, class and social
struggle, female rights and the fight for social justice.

Opening the Festival will be the UK Premiere of the compelling
UK-Pakistani film Lakeer, hailed as the first Pahari film.
Lakeer is directed by pioneering film maker Shiv Dutt, who
sadly passed away in 2018, and tells the story of a Kashmiri

couple divided by Partition in 1947. The screening will be
followed by a special Q&A with the film’s UK-based writer Ali
Adaalat.

Further highlights of the festival are the rare screenings of
A Girl in the River and Saving Face, two powerful and hopeful
Oscar winning documentaries by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Sharmeen
was honoured with the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, the second highest
civilian honour of the country, by the Government of Pakistan
in 2012 and is the only woman to win two Oscars by the age of
37.

The festival is excited to announce Pakistani filmmaker Iram
Parveen Bilal will be flying into the city direct from Los
Angeles to attend the screening of her thought-provoking film
Josh, a compelling film about class and social struggle which
closes the Festival. Iram, a Physics Olympian turned
filmmaker, initiated the Pakistani Oscar committee and is the
founder of Pakistan’s first professional screenwriting lab
(QALAMBAAZ). Iram will be taking Q&A’s from the audience after
the screening.

Tickets for all screenings at Midlands Arts Centre can be
booked via the Box Office on 0121-446 3232 or online at
www.macbirmingham.co.uk (all films are screened with English
subtitles).

Zoya Akhtar & Reema Kagti’s
‘Made in Heaven’ is on Amazon

Prime
Created by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti and produced by Ritesh
Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, the upcoming series ‘Made in
Heaven’ launched across 200 countries on March 8, 2019. It is
Amazon Prime Video’s latest collaboration with Excel Media &
Entertainment following the success of Mirzapur and
International Emmy nominated, Inside Edge. Starring Arjun
Mathur, Sobhita Dhulipala, Jim Sarbh, Kalki Koechlin, Shashank
Arora and Shivani Raghuvanshi, Made In Heaven is directed by
Zoya Akhtar, Nitya Mehra, Alankrita Shrivastava and Prashant
Nair.

The show is narrated through the eyes of Tara and Karan, two
Delhi-based wedding planners. Their stories unfold over the
course of an opulent wedding season. As tradition jostles with
modern aspirations against the backdrop of big fat Indian
weddings, many secrets and myriad lies are revealed.

Aparna Purohit, Head – Creative Development, Amazon Prime
Video India, stated, “Prime Original Series Made in Heaven is
our second series this year that brings a new lens to
cinematic story-telling. We started the year with Four More
Shots Please!, a story about urban Indian women, produced and
directed by women. Made in Heaven reiterates our commitment of
bringing varied, fresh voices and storytellers to our viewers.
The series has been crafted by a dream team of some of the
most respected female creators, directors and writers in the
country. With Made in Heaven, we bring a deeply nuanced social
commentary on upper class, liberal, Indian society and their
uncomfortable relationship with the values they preach.”

Ritesh Sidhwani, Excel Media & Entertainment, said, “We have
had two mega-hits in collaboration with Amazon Prime Video.
Inside Edge nominated at last year’s International Emmy Awards
was a phenomenal success and Mirzapur connected with customers
not only in India but also globally. We believe our next show

Made in Heaven will take our successful collaboration a step
further. Made in Heaven holds a mirror to society, bringing to
light the tussle between tradition and modernity in India. The
series will certainly make viewers reflect on the state of
Indian society – a culture in transition.”

Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, Creators, Tiger Baby, said,
“Creating Made in Heaven has been a labor of love. Our
objective with this project was to tell a story that was
inherently entertaining but strong and deeply rooted in our
society. Grand Indian weddings acted as just the right
backdrop to examine the liberal fabric of educated, modern
Indians and their dichotomous value systems that co-exist
peacefully at times and at others come into conflict. The 9-
episode series is the culmination of the creative vision of
four directors – Nitya Mehra, Prashant Nair, Alankrita
Srivastava and me (Zoya Akhtar), brought to life by Amazon
Prime Video, who have been fabulous collaborators to work
with.”

Farhan Akhtar, Co-producer, Excel Media and Entertainment,
said, “I am excited to see how customers respond to this
awesome drama series created by Zoya and Reema. After the
success we saw with Inside Edge and Mirzapur, we are sure this
collaboration with Amazon Prime Video will showcase another
bold story that consumers will really enjoy. With each episode
we examine a topic of social relevance and Made in Heaven
promises to be an entertaining, introspective and thought
provoking show.”

Synopsis
Prime Original Series Made In Heaven chronicles the lives of
Tara and Karan, two wedding planners in Delhi. These two
headstrong individuals often mask their supreme vulnerability
– sometimes even from each other, as their wedding planning
agency “Made In Heaven” forces them to open up and reveal

themselves. The show portrays today’s India as a potent blend
where tradition jostles with modern aspiration, set against
the theme of the ‘Big Fat Indian Wedding’. Indians believe
marriages are made in heaven and it is against these sacred
unions that Tara and Karan’s personal journeys are juxtaposed.
With world class production values and a magnificent scale,
the show provides the viewer with a grand cinematic experience
of intricacies and the drama around upscale Indian weddings.

Karan is a gay man living in a country where homosexuality is
illegal. Out in the world but still in the closet for his
typical middle class folks. Karan moves under the radar and
doesn’t engage with the politics of being homosexual in India.
He suppresses a deep pain from his teenage years and seems
unable to deal with intimacy and therefore a meaningful
relationship. Tara is a girl from the wrong side of the
tracks. Through etiquette classes, borrowed clothes and a
damaging “scandal”, she clawed her way up into the capital’s
high society by marrying Adil Khanna. She now strives for
perfection and security in a marriage that is less than ideal.

With each episode Karan and Tara enter the lives of a
different bride and groom. Each wedding they service not only
introduces them to the twisted dynamics and complexities of
Indian families but also provides a mirror to their true
selves. It exposes the bubble they live in and the rules they
conform to. The supposedly liberal fabric of this educated
modern society unravels as the duo navigate their way through
forced arranged marriages, dowry transactions, virginity tests
and astrological matches. It is through these experiences that
Tara and Karan will change, grow and ultimately transform.

Pranutan Bahl & Zaheer Iqbal
star in Salman Khan Films’
‘Notebook’
Salman   Khan   Films   presents   their   next   upcoming   film
‘Notebook’, releasing on 29th March 2019, introducing
newcomers Pranutan Bahl and Zaheer Iqbal in leading roles. The
trailer shows an ex-army officer Kabir (Zaheer Iqbal) coming
back to Kashmir to be a schoolteacher. The school is situated
in the middle of the remote Wuller Lake, lacking basic
amenities like running water and electricity and attended by
just a handful of students. This wasn’t quite what Kabir
imagined when he signed up to teach. At the school, one day,
Kabir finds a notebook, left behind by the previous year’s
teacher Firdaus (Pranutan Bahl) and that changes his entire
life. Happy, spirited and heart-warming, Notebook is about two
people finding love in the most unexpected way.

Directed by Nitin Kakkar, Notebook is set to release in
cinemas on 29th March 2019.

Rifco    Theatre    Company
announces the lineup of its
2019 Associates
Rifco Theatre Company have announced that Shazia Ashraf,
Mohammed Azhar, Karim Khan, Christine Lalla and Romo Sikdar-
Rahman will be the 2019 Associates for their bespoke artist

development programme for British Asian artists. The
successful candidates will receive a £500 bursary alongside
mentoring support, writer-in-residence days and masterclasses
with industry leaders to develop their play over the next
year, culminating in a Showcase event later in the year. Rifco
Theatre Company then aims to select one or two writers for a
second year of support to develop their script to the next
stage.

Rifco Associates was launched in 2015 to address the lack of
opportunity for British Asian artists in the theatre sector.
Since then 20 artists have been supported through the
programme from a range of artistic practice including writers,
lyricists, composers, designers, aerial artists and spoken
word. The programme is now led by Rifco’s new Associate
Director, Ameet Chana.

As a new writing company, Rifco Theatre Company decided, for
2019, to focus on encouraging fresh, new playwriting voices. A
call-out for new scripts and treatments from both mid-career
and emerging writers led to their largest ever number of
applications.

About the 2019 Rifco Associates
Shazia Ashraf, is a Yorkshire based writer and director whose
recent work includes 99% Halal (Kala Sangam) and Sweets &
Chocolates (Kali & RADA). Her play, Reservoir Rami, is a
comedy drama described as a Four Lions for the stage.

Mohammed Azhar, a pharmacist by trade, has written a number of
comedy dramas including a recent BBC Radio 4 production. His
piece, Lost In Bachchan, follows a father and son who re-
discover their relationship through the music of legendary
Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan.

Playwright and screenwriter Karim Khan, whose recent credits
include ‘Beyond Shame’ (Derby Theatre, 2018) and ‘Orange
Juice’ (The Pleasance, Burton Taylor Studio, 2017), will be

working with Rifco to develop a play exploring the exploring
the fear and excitement of falling in love again after
suffering the loss of a partner, a subject that remains a
major taboo in South Asian cultures.

Christine Lalla, a graduate of the London Film School, will be
turning her talents to the stage and developing a play about a
top professional tennis player that explores human
relationships and homosexuality. Christine says: “I came away
from our (first) meeting even more excited about my own
project…and I’ve already benefited from having fresh eyes on
my story…”.

Romo Sikdar-Rahman’s debut play, The Front, is set in a
family-owned Bengali Restaurant, and charts the journey of
younger family members seeking out a more honest lifestyle.
Romo says: “I’m really looking forward to learning and working
with great people who’ll give me a chance to improve my own
craft. It’s an incredible platform for any young writer”.

Artistic Director, Pravesh Kumar says: “Our new cohort of
Rifco Associates are an exciting bunch. I believe it is
imperative that we give genuine opportunities to new voices
who are telling unique and authentic British stories.
Crucially they will open the doors even further to new
audiences in British theatres.”

Associate Director, Ameet Chana, commented, “New writing is
part of Rifco’s ethos and it gives me great pleasure to lead a
programme where our Associates will be supported to develop
their ideas through mentors, writer-in-residence days and
masterclasses led by recognised theatre practitioners”

Rifco Theatre Company
Artistic Director, Pravesh Kumar founded Rifco Theatre Company
in 1999. The company is an Arts Council funded National
Portfolio Organisation, and since 2011, has been Resident
Company at Watford Palace Theatre. Rifco develops and produces

new plays and musicals, touring nationally to some of the UK’s
most prestigious regional theatres. They present theatre of
scale and spectacle that is authentic, topical, thought-
provoking, rich and entertaining which celebrates and reflects
contemporary British Asian experiences, culture and society.

Their success lies in understanding their audience. A vital
part of creating new work is through listening and working
alongside British Asian communities. Kumar’s work is
‘homegrown’ and he believes in gently challenging perceptions
and warmly reflecting the communities he knows.

Rifco is committed to diversifying the kind of work seen in
our British theatres. We do this by commissioning British
Asian playwrights and working with as many diverse actors,
designers, directors that we can find. The company defines its
work through five programme strands:

     Rifco Theatre Company – new plays and musicals for the
     middle scale
     Rifco Studio – new plays for the smaller scale
     Rifco Associates – talent development programme
     Rifco Digital – new creative content for distribution
     online
     British Asian Festival – biennial,         multi-artform
     celebration of British Asian talent

For further information visit www.rifcotheatre.com

Zoya Akhtar’s ‘Gully Boy’ at

the Berlin International Film
Festival
‘Gully Boy’ is Ranveer Singh’s second film with director Zoya
Akhtar after ‘Dil Dhadakne Do’. He plays the lead in this
underdog story, set in the slums of Dharavi, while Alia Bhatt
portrays his unconventional love interest. The film also stars
Siddhant Chaturvedi and Kalki Koechlin in pivotal roles.’Gully
Boy’ is also achieving international acclaim after its
premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Directed by Zoya Akhtar, produced by Excel Entertainment and
Tiger Baby, Gully Boy is slated to release on the 14th of
February 2019.

The Whole Kahani launches
‘May We Borrow Your Country’
anthology
The Whole Kahani, a collective of British novelists, poets and
screenwriters of South Asian origin, launched its second
anthology ‘May We Borrow Your Country’ on Saturday 26th
January 2019 at Waterstones in London. Attended by over 100
guests, the event saw the Whole Kahani, comprising Reshma
Ruia, Kavita A. Jindal, Mona Dash, Radhika Kapur, CG Menon,
Shibani Lal, Deblina Chakrabarty and Nadia Kabir Barb, read
excerpts from their respective novels. Preti Taneja, author of
We That Are Young, winner of the 2018 Desmond Elliot Prize,
who wrote the foreword for ‘May We Borrow Your Country’ spoke

about the need for greater diversity in the publishing
industry.

              May We Borrow Your Country
              by The Whole Kahani
              Publisher: Linen Press (26 January 2019)
              Cover art and design:Noruttam Dobey
              Cover design: Zebedee Design, Edinburgh
              Paperback: 222 pages
              Language: English
              ISBN-10: 1999604660
ASIN: B07L6RQZBJ
Guide Price: Paperback – £10.99, Kindle Edition – £5.99
Click here to buy Paperback Edition | Kindle Edition

May We Borrow Your Country is a collection of stories and
poems that looks at dislocation and displacement with
sympathy, tolerance and humour. They are peopled by
courageous, poignant, eccentric individuals who cross borders,
accommodate to new cultures and try to establish an identity
in a new place. In the process, they encounter different
versions of themselves, like reflections in a room of trick
mirrors.

The stories and poems are written by women. They are evocative
and multi-layered in their portrayal of relationships, family,
ambition, careers and friendship. They offer a fresh,
contemporary look at metamorphosis and many catch that
fleeting moment of transition between the familiar and the
new.

« ‹ 1 of 10   ›   »

The Authors
The Whole Kahani (The Complete Story) is a collective of
British novelists, poets and screenwriters of South Asian
origin: Reshma Ruia, Kavita A. Jindal (co-founders),
Mona Dash, Radhika Kapur, CG Menon, Shibani Lal, Deblina
Chakrabarty and Nadia Kabir Barb. Between them, they have an
array of awards and their first anthology Love Across a Broken
Map was published in 2016 to critical acclaim.

For further information visit www.thewholekahani.com

Author Jayant Kaikini wins
DSC   Prize   South  Asian
Literature 2018
‘No Presents Please’ originally written in Kannada by noted
author Jayant Kaikini and translated into English by eminent
translator Tejaswini Niranjana has been announced as the
winner of the prestigious DSC Prize for South Asian Literature
2018 at the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet in Kolkata,
India. The DSC Prize has always encouraged writing in regional
languages and translations, and this is the first time that a
translated work has won the prize. This magnificent book gives
us a protagonist that is vivid yet full of contradictions,
spirited yet lonely, embattled yet big-hearted – the city of
Mumbai. Empathy and survival are the constant, codependent
themes that unify every strand of this extraordinary book,
creating a shimmering mosaic of a conflicted city that is as
kind as it is, at times, cruel.

The US $25,000 DSC Prize was awarded to Jayant Kaikini and

Tejaswini Niranjana along with a unique trophy by eminent
writer Ruskin Bond. As per the prize process, the prize money
would be equally shared between the author and the translator.
The six shortlisted authors and books in contention for the
DSC Prize this year were Jayant Kaikini: No Presents Please
(Translated by Tejaswini Niranjana, Harper Perennial,
HarperCollins India), Kamila Shamsie: Home Fire (Riverhead
Books, USA and Bloomsbury, UK), Manu Joseph: Miss Laila Armed
And Dangerous (Fourth Estate, HarperCollins, India), Mohsin
Hamid: Exit West (Riverhead Books, USA and Hamish Hamilton,
Penguin Random House, India), Neel Mukherjee: A State Of
Freedom (Chatto & Windus, Vintage, UK and Hamish Hamilton,
Penguin Random House, India) and Sujit Saraf: Harilal & Sons
(Speaking Tiger, India)

Jury Chair Rudrangshu Mukherjee, speaking on behalf of the
jury said, “The jury decided to award the DSC Prize for South
Asian Literature 2018 to ‘No Presents Please’ by Jayant
Kaikini which has been translated by Tejaswini Niranjana and
published by Harper Perennial. The jury was deeply impressed
by the quiet voice of the author through which he presented
vignettes of life in Mumbai and made the city the protagonist
of a coherent narrative. The Mumbai that came across through
the pen of Kaikini was the city of ordinary people who inhabit
the bustling metropolis. It is a view from the margins and all
the more poignant because of it. This is the first time that
this award is being given to a translated work and the jury
would like to recognize the outstanding contribution of
Tejaswini Niranjana, the translator.”

Administered by the South Asian Literature Prize & Events
Trust, the prestigious DSC Prize for South Asian Literature
has helped to raise the profile of South Asian writing around
the world by rewarding authors who write about the region. The
DSC Prize for South Asian Literature which was instituted in
2010, is an established international literary prize that
awards the best work in South Asian fiction writing each year.
The past winners have been from various countries and their
work has reflected the importance of South Asian culture and
literature.

Congratulating the winner, Surina Narula, MBE and co-founder
of the DSC Prize said, “My heartfelt congratulations to author
Jayant Kaikini and translator Tejaswini Niranjana for winning
the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2018 for their
brilliant book ‘No Presents Please’. It was a pleasure reading
the shortlist. The challenges faced by the authors to weave
their protests against the wave of anti globalization into
their writings of seemingly harmless pieces of literature

could be seen through their work, migration being a major
theme this year. The DSC Prize has completed eight years and
reading South Asian literature written in English including
translations has enabled larger global audiences to understand
the issues globalization has brought about. The jury as usual
has to do the difficult task of selecting the better amongst
the best. My congratulations to the jury for their excellent
choice of the winner.”

The DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2018 was judged by a
diverse and distinguished five member jury panel comprising
eminent figures drawn from the international literary
fraternity who have worked in or around South Asian literature
and issues. This year’s international jury panel included
Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Jury Chair, Professor of History and the
Chancellor of Ashoka University and an internationally
acclaimed historian of the revolt of 1857 in India, Nandana
Sen, a writer, actor and child-rights activist and author of
six books, who has worked as a book editor, a poetry
translator, a screenwriter, and a script doctor, Claire
Armitstead, who has also been a theatre critic, arts editor
and literary editor, Tissa Jayatilaka, who was the Executive
Director of the United States-Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission
and is the author of several publications and has translated
and edited many journals, and Firdous Azim, Professor of
English at BRAC University, Bangladesh, whose research has
focused on women’s writings in the early twentieth century
Bengal.

About the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature
The US $25,000 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature which was
instituted by Surina Narula and Manhad Narula in 2010, is one
of the most prestigious international literary awards
specifically focused on South Asian writing. It is a unique
and coveted prize and is open to authors of any ethnicity or
nationality as long as the writing is about South Asia and its
people. It also encourages writing in regional languages and

translations and the prize money is equally shared between the
author and the translator in case a translated entry wins.

Now in its 8th year, the DSC Prize has been successful in
bringing South Asian writing to a larger global audience by
rewarding and showcasing the achievements of the authors
writing about this region. Past winners of the DSC Prize have
been H M Naqvi of Pakistan, Shehan Karunatilaka of Sri Lanka,
Jeet Thayil and Cyrus Mistry from India, American author of
Indian origin Jhumpa Lahiri, Anuradha Roy from India, and Anuk
Arudpragasam of Sri Lanka who won the prize last year. In line
with its South Asian essence, the DSC Prize award ceremony is
held in various South Asian countries by rotation. The winner
of the DSC Prize 2016 was announced at the Galle Literary
Festival, Sri Lanka, the winner of the DSC Prize 2017 was
announced at the Dhaka Literary Festival, Bangladesh, and this
year the winner was announced at the Tata Steel Kolkata
Literary Meet, India.

For further information visit www.dscprize.com

About the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet
The Kolkata Literary Meet was launched in 2012 in the belief
that a culturally rich city like Kolkata needed its very own
festival for celebrating literature and the allied arts such
as dance, music, recitation, cinema, and theatrical
performances. Kalam, which is the popular name of the literary
meet has been overwhelmingly well-received from the very first
year and has grown to become an integral part of the city’s
annual cultural calendar. The lit meet has drawn some of the
most premier authors and speakers from across India and the
world, and has hosted eminent writers such as Vikram Seth,
Paul Beatty, Imran Khan, Alessandro Baricco, Valerio Massimo
Manfredi, Thomas Keneally, Amitav Ghosh, Gloria Steinem,
Jhumpa Lahiri, Tash Aw, Javed Akhtar, Peter Godwin, Adrian
Levy, and Mark Tully, among several others.

Kalam’s focus is to present writers from all over the globe,
writers of as many different genres as possible, alongside
speakers representing India. With topics as varied as history,
sport, geopolitics and cinema, there’s something for everyone.
The event programming caters to the reader so that they can
enjoy a sumptuous literary feast and can rediscover the
wonderful world of books and writing, all over again. Since
2015 the lit meet has been known as the Tata Steel Kolkata
Literary Meet