Actress Shivani Ghai first shot to prominence in Gurinder Chadha’s successful film Bride and Prejudice. As well as an accomplished theatre performer, she is starring in the BBC2 drama House of Saddam, starting this week.

AIM Magazine asked her about the new role as well as previous parts, including a big role in an Italian soap.

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The former broadcaster and head of the Commission for Racial Equality - Trevor Phillips - unveiled a new report last week titled ‘Superdiversity: TV’s Newest Reality’, which aimed to push diversity in broadcasting further up the agenda.

In the report he made a series of proposals that he hoped the industry would pursue to improve their records.

His chief recommendations were:

- That all major media players, including the top 20 independent production companies, should agree to a voluntary code of monitoring the diversity of senior decision-makers in the industry – with results to be published annually.
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Bend it Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha’s latest film - Angus, thongs, and Perfect Snogging - opens across cinemas tomorrow.

The teenage flick is adapted from Louise Rennison’s first two books about an Eastbourne-based teenager Georgia Nicolson.
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Radio 5 Live presenter Anita Anand has been signed up to co-present The Daily Politics show on BBC Two from September.

It airs every lunchtime during the Parliamentary term on BBC Two and is hosted by Andrew Neil.

The programme specialises in tough interviews and discussions on the top political stories of the day.
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Slough based theatre company Rifco Arts will unveil its newest comedy-drama, It Aint All Bollywood, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 3-25 August.

The play features the story of Kiran, who escapes into the colourful world of Bollywood to hide from the harshness of her own surroundings and her neurotic overbearing mother. The Bollywood songs and melodramatic moments take her into a dream world where she can escape from the issues at home.

The ring of the door bell and rekindling of an old friendship start to bring Kiran out of the films and back to reality.
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A new film loosely based around the terrorist bombings in London on July 7th will be released in the cinemas on 22nd August.

Directed by American-Indian filmmaker Jagmohan Mundhra, Shoot on Sight stars Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Greta Scacchi, Ralph Ineson and Laila Rouass.
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The Daily Mail reports that the BBC Asian Network is being accused of ignoring Muslims. The complaints centre around two areas: Muslim primarily featuring Bhangra and Boillywood, and lack of Muslim representation in the presenting talent.

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Channel 4 announced yesterday that Aaqil Ahmed had been appointed to take over as Multicultural Commissioning Editor in addition to his current responsibilities.

The newly created role was announced a few months ago as part of a broader set of initiatives to foster greater diversity within its workforce and programming.

The new role will include commissioning programmes for 9pm and 10pm slots.
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A Skillset backed programme titled Talent Lab is offering opportunities to two talented Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) filmmakers.

The artistic development programme, held during the Toronto International Film Festival, provides emerging talent with an unparalleled creative experience through an introduction to the global community of filmmaking. Over a four-day period, selected participants will be given the opportunity to interact with, and learn from, internationally acclaimed filmmakers.

Participants benefit from the guidance and expertise of Talent Lab guests who have previously included: Terry Gilliam, Gus Van Sant, Gurinder Chadha, Kevin Spacey, Neil Jordan, Atom Egoyan and Paul Haggis.
More here: www.skillset.org/talentlab

The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded a grant to an ambitious project that seeks to research, film and archive the history of India’s Manipuri and Tagore dance forms in the UK. It will be run by London based organisation The Rhythm.

“Besides researching and recording the oral history of these two dance forms in the UK, we are keen to disseminate the knowledge that we endeavour to gather during the project period by organising talent hunts, workshops and dance recitals at various venues,” said Mrs Raha who herself has specialised in Manipuri dance form. Lord Dholakia, deputy leader of the Libdems, is a patron of the company.

Manipuri dance is one of the oldest classical dances of India. The first Asian Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, became an ardent admirer of the Manipuri dance in the early 19th century.

A week-long television series starting on Channel 4 on 14th July, titled ‘The Seven Wonders of the Muslim World’, will travel into the heart of Muslim-majority countries from across the world.

This series is part of a special week of programmes which aims to de-mystify Islam, offering an insight into the lives and beliefs of Muslims all over the world.
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Music producer Kuljit Bhamra is trying to pioneer a new genre of music - Bhangra Latina, by combining elements of the desi beat with Latin music.

A project, featuring a band led by Mr Bhamra and Latin pianist Alex Wilson, in collaboration with emerging British composers and multi-award winning singer Sangeeta, has explored how composers and musicians from different traditions can work together to create new music from these two musical forms.

A CD release is planned for September and the music will be showcased initially at the Henley Festival (11 July) and later at the Southbank Centre, London (21st Sept).

This year’s London Mela will be held on 10th August at west London’s Gunnersbury Park as with previous years.

BBC Asian Network announced this week it had signed up to be the event’s principal media partner for the third year running.

There were some fears among Asian artists that the new London Mayor Boris Johnson was planning to axe funding for the London Mela.
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Journalist Eve Ahmed talks about her experience of growing up with mixed faith parents in this article on the BBC site. She says:

My mum and dad’s different ethnic backgrounds were what had attracted them to each other in the first place. But the complicated reality of living in a mixed race, mixed faith family eventually destroyed their marriage.

That’s why, making a film for ‘Sunday Life’ on the issue, I was so pleased to meet mixed couples making a success of their marriages today. Their secret? According to Catholic/Jewish couple Grazyna and Mel, it’s compromise. For example, at the birth of their daughter they first had a Jewish naming ceremony, followed by a Christian baptism.

Read the full article here.

E4 will soon be launching a bright purple radio station. As part of that, 4Talent are looking for writers and performers who can turn their hand to the E4 style and attitude. They are giving 9 comedy writers and/or performers the chance to attend a series of high-level mentor-led workshops at the E4 Udderbelly at Edinburgh Comedy Festival.
Click here for more info.

British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, met Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty at the Houses of Parliament earlier this week to congratulate her on winning a diversity award. Ms Shetty is currently in London as part of the Bollywood tour show ‘Unforgettables’ and managing her company S2 Global Productions.

HOW TO CREATE, DEVELOP, PITCH AND DELIVER INTERACTIVE IDEAS
Speakers:
o Martin Trickey BBC Vision, Comedy & Entertainment
o Jim Harrison Head of Broadcast, Endemol Digital Media (UK)
o John Denton Managing Editor, TV Platforms - BBC Interactive
o Melissa Goodwin Controller of Mobile, ITV Mobile
o Nick Lockey New Media Assistant Producer, Maverick TV London
o Mark Harrison BBC Vision, Head of Multiplatform Productions
o Colin Donald Futurescape
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It is always good to be an outsider looking in. I had the chance of doing that recently when I was away in India for more than a month.

There are lots of things we take for granted, and don’t realise that we have some of the best systems and regulations in force in this country.

Broadly, freedom and the responsibility of the press is one of them. The press are mostly constrained and law abiding and the same goes for the police. On the whole our police are hard working and follow the letter of the law. There are exceptions of course. But they are few and far between.
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Midlands based presenter Shivani Mair has reached the top 20 in a web based Channel 4 competition to be one of the new faces of Channel 4. Born in London, Ms Mair presents her own radio show (the Creative Careers Surgery) and has worked in the past for MTV, Star TV, BBC WM, Propeller and Sense TV, Youth Net, Social Enterprise Coalition and more.

You can view Shivani’s contribution to the competition here. The winner gets a presenting trip to Miami and a spot on T4. A few years ago former B4U presenter Gurmej Pawar was among the finalists.

The Daily Mail on Friday published an extensive profile piece on actress and writer Meera Syal, with an interview about her career.

I can’t imagine there are many things left on Meera’s wish list. ‘It’s funny how your goalposts move as you get older,’ she agrees, self-deprecatingly.

‘In my 20s, I wanted to win an Oscar; in my 30s, I thought a Bafta would do, and these days, I have huge respect for people who are just able to survive and make a living as well as maintaining family life.’ But Meera is light years away from being your average working mother - she is a multi-talented overachiever with a dizzying number of accomplishments to her credit.

There are two bestselling novels, Anita And Me, and Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee, both of which were adapted for the screen. On top of that, she has written several other screenplays; had a number one Comic Relief pop hit, Spirit In The Sky, with Gareth Gates; and wrote the script for the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Bombay Dreams.

Rather than going down the traditional route of launching a print based magazine, Fatema Khatun and Shuhel Miah are walking the walk of the internet savvy, blogging generation. The two have launched InsideDesi, an entertainment focused webzine that will combine opinion, interviews and lifestyle.

Halima Khatun told AIM magazine: “Columnists are encouraged to use free reign when writing about news stories they see, and within reason, giving fair comment. It’s written by young people who are the target demographic for InsideDesi.”

The site has far featured interviews with musicians including Jay Sean, Karen David and Kazz of Sona Family. “InsideDesi fills a deficit in the current supply of Brit Asian entertainment news,” Ms Khatun adds.

Another day, another Daily Mail outrage. A Scottish police force’s new telephone number has sparked outrage from the Daily Mail after it found out that some Muslim shopkeepers could object to displaying the advert on their windows because it featured the picture of a puppy.

The newspaper declared that the advert had sparked “Muslim outrage” at the police advert, without actually finding anyone who was sufficiently outraged. One councillor Mohammed Asif did point out that: “My concern was that it’s not welcomed by all communities, with the dog on the cards. It was probably a waste of resources going to these communities.

They (the police) should have understood. Since then, the police have explained that it was an oversight on their part, and that if they’d seen it was going to cause upset they wouldn’t have done it.”

The Independent newspaper recently reported on the launch of Q magazine’s radio arm.

Interestingly, the station has poached young women presenters to overhaul its image:

Rather than a beardy bloke, Blaxill and Q editor Paul Rees, have chosen Samanthi (pictured) as their star turn, a former Xfm presenter who also works for DesiDNA, a BBC2 show on British Asian arts and entertainment. “She’s in her mid-20s and is absolutely consumed by music and film. It would have been easier for us to secure that 40-year-old white guy, but it’s required more depth and thought to bring Samanthi on board,” says Blaxill.

Samanthi will be presenting the Qpm show at 6pm-9pm from Monday to Friday but Q Radio will move further into leftfield on Sunday evenings when, Amber and Nisha, The Broken Hearts, move into the studio. The Broken Hearts are one of London’s most fashionable DJ acts – described by this newspaper as “A Hollywood musical on hallucinogenics”.

A good development, no doubt, that British Asians are being seen past their skin colour and being recognised for their diverse music tastes. Well done to Samanthi for making the move.