The much-anticipated film Mad, Sad and Bad releases on 31st July in cinemas across the UK. A gala screening was held in central London this week with lead stars Meera Syal and Nitin Ganatra attending.

The film is a thirty-something comedy about a dysfunctional family and group of friends whose personal lives are continuously messed up by their own selfish needs and neuroses.

It is directed by writer and director Avie Luthra, who’s short film Lucky was nominated for a Bafta and an Oscar (shortlisted) in 2006. He was listed in Screen International’s ‘Stars of Tomorrow’ 2004 and has made several films for television including Cross My Heart for Film4 and Indian Dream for BBC.

He told AIM magazine his aim was to make a film about Asian families that avoids stories about rebellious children and forced marriages, “but looks at flawed characters pursuing their own flawed lives”.

“So I wanted to make a character based drama about a dysfunctional Asian family where issue to do with race/culture/politics/religion are not at the fore. As a result these issues are present in the story but mostly are in the background and the drama is driven by the characters’ selfish needs and their destructive consequences.”

The film includes an array of well known British Asian actors. Nitin Ganatra currently plays Mr Masood in Eastenders and was previously seen in Meet the Magoons and Mumbai Calling.

In the film, Atul is a sitcom writer who despises the work that everybody else loves. Rashmi lives at home with her mother, craving a life of her own but dreading all that goes with it. Hardeep is a psychiatrist who can diagnose everyone’s problems but his own.

Avie Luthra said it was written around many second generation Asian and non Asian families he had seen.

“It seems that once the initial drama of migration has been won and they’ve established a foothold in this country, some families function in a way that serves the individuals’ needs. I’ve had people tell me this film could apply to their family whether Jewish or white British.”

He said he wanted to avoid falling into traditional stories about Asian families but it was difficult.

“Unfortunately so few films are made about the Asian community and getting films/TV off the ground with Asian themes is so extremely difficult, that anything that is made becomes automatically ‘representative’. For me, I was just trying to tell a particular story of a contemporary family with particular selfish problems who are also Asian.”

It also stars Ayesha Dharkar (The Terrorist, Star Wars) and Andrea Riseborough (Happy-Go-Lucky, Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley). It is nominated for the Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film at Edinburgh International Film Festival this year.

Mad, Bad and Sad released across the UK on 31st July.
www.madsadbad.com