Leicester based Phizzical Productions unveils its newest production, A Perfect Ganesh, from next month with a tour around London venues.

The play is a seductive comedy about two middle-aged suburban women, who travel to India, and discover the unexpected.

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The London UK Film Focus (LUFF) will return to the capital from 30 June – 3 July 2008 at the BFI Southbank.

Now in its fifth year, the four-day export event will again provide a platform to celebrate and promote British films and talent to the international market. The strictly by-invitation-only event attracts 150 buyers from all world territories who come to see around 40 British titles.
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Three British women organisers - Kavita Bhanot, Ayesha Siddiqi and Shazia Nizam - have sent a letter to Indian newspapers to protest at their treatment over the Mumbai based literary festival: Kitab. They are now asking British literary personalities to reconsider lending support to the event.

In their letter, they said: “[W]e feel that we were misled by Pablo Ganguli and are very disappointed by his behaviour prior to, during, and subsequent to the festival. We urge you to express your disapproval for this unjust behaviour; to email Pablo on the address above and not to lend your support to Kitab 2008.”

“Lastly, we would like to apologise to all the participants who were also left inconvenienced and disappointed by Kitab 2007 - those who were cancelled on at the last minute, those that were misled, and those who were given lower priorities than their British counterparts - and we assure you that we expressed our concerns about all these factors throughout.”

The three allege that they had been communicating with Mr Ganguli, another British Asian, for the past 12 months, requesting full salaries but to no avail. They say they were forced to pay for expenses out of their pocket and had not been able to claim those expenses back.
More at Hindustan Times

In comments to The Guardian newspaper, Pablo Ganguli is denying all the accusations.

Journalist and photographer Jagdeep Parbha is featuring his exhibition of photographs, on canvas, at the Curzon Soho this month. This exhibition is a series of photographs taken in and around Delhi and Chandigarh. His interests lie in photographing culture and politics in society.

The exhibition is on until 2nd March. More info here.

London’s Southbank Centre will once again host Daredevas, a performance of some of the best new talent in contemporary Indian dance, in early March. Presented by Akademi, it will feature contemporary interpretations of the time-honoured styles of Kathak and Bharatanatyam.
Tuesday 4 - Wednesday 5 March, 2008 at 8pm; Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London
www.akademi.co.uk

Female superheroes in hijab, 19th century black musical theatre, global story-telling and one man’s drama as he lives on the fringes of society: just some of the offerings at the Evolved Festival, coming to Arena Theatre, mac and Black Country venues, in the Midlands, next month.

Over the past year, a consortium called r:evolve has been working with Black, Asian, Chinese and Eastern European artists across the West Midlands, with the aim of developing talent and creating fresh and exciting new theatre. The result is Evolved, a festival showcase bringing together talents including Nu Century Arts, Muslim female theatre company Ulfah Arts and mac productions, as well as upcoming artists Dreamscape Theatre Company, Vimal Korpal and storytellers Peter Chand and Chris Lowe.
See: www.r-evolve-theatre.co.uk for the full diary of events.

British comedian and writer Meera Syal from Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No. 42 is among the celebrities backing Happy Soul – South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust’s second festival of film, arts and music (9-15 March). Its aim is to explore mental health awareness among London’s African-Caribbean, Asian and Korean communities. You can join Meera for tea and samosas at the Vestry Hall in Mitcham on Wednesday 12 March.
More on this website.

Tamasha Theatre’s new show, Lyrical MC opens this week at Oval House Theatre. The company is collaborating with South London youth theatre, React, for this unique show that explores how young people negotiate their multicultural differences through language, how they interact and experience life in the multicultural, urban world of school.

The script is based on verbatim text that came from Tamasha’s workshops with drama classes in urban secondary schools.

Performance dates:
Wed 6 Feb, 7.30pm, Oval House Theatre (part of 33% London season)
Thu 7 Feb, 1.30pm and 7.30pm, Oval House Theatre
Tue 26 Feb, 4.30pm, Soho Theatre
Wed 27 Feb, 4.30pm, Soho Theatre
Thu 28 Feb, 4.30pm, Soho Theatre
Thu 6 Mar, 2pm and 7pm , Unicorn Theatre
Fri 7 Mar, 2pm and 7pm, Unicorn Theatre
Tue 11 Mar, 2pm and 7pm, Half Moon Young People¹s Theatre
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Ulfah Arts unveils its debut theatre production in March, doing a short tour of the Midlands area. Danger Gulaam Fatima is storytelling by Muslim women about a heroic superwoman in hijab. She rescues women from bad situations only to find herself in similar places along the way. The performance is in poetry, spoken word and song. According to the company, the characters “go on a journey where they get lost, grow up and get rescued”.

Performances
4 March Bantock House, Wolverhampton, at 7.30pm
6 March Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton at 1pm
13 March Midlands Art Centre (MAC), Birmingham at 8pm
More on: ulfaharts.co.uk

Tongues on Fire, the annual film festival which celebrates achievement of South Asian women in cinema, presents its 10th film festival across a variety of locations in London with a press launch on Tuesday 19th February at the National Film Theatre (NFT) with Actress, Writer and Filmmaker Meera Syal at 7 pm.

Bafta will host the opening gala weekend launch on 8th & 9th March with a Q and A with Director Tanuja Chandra and Bollywood actress Mahima Chaudhry. She stars in one of the festival’s highlights - Hope And a Little Sugar (pictured below).

Other highlights will include a special celebration of Meera Syal’s works, who will be interviewed by playwright and critic Bonnie Greer on 19th March at Bafta. This year’s festival contains feature films that explore the topics of displacement; relationships and friendships; social and cultural prejudices and the subject matter of mental health within South Asian communities.

It will also feature: a screenwriter’s workshop, a director’s workshop, a short film competition sponsored by UK Film Council, seminars, documentaries and a photo exhibition.
Tongues on Fire website.

New comedy act Humili-Asian take to the touring circuit next month with a debut at London’s Watermans on 9th March. Headliner Hyde Panaser has previously gone on to open for comedian Jason Rouse. With a host of fresh comic acts including Amit Sodha, Jade Sidhu and Humza Ahmed, this is the beginning of a tour that will continue throughout London in coming weeks.

The Watermans event follows a sell-out debut at a west London venue in December 2007. Tickets can be bought through ChilliTickets.

Virtuoso table player Kuljit Bhamra has been appointed the artistic director at spnm – a membership organisation founded in 1943 to promote and launch new music. In particular it aims to find the best of the next generation of composers and has launched the careers of many of the UK’s leading composers.

Bhamra, who has recorded over two thousand songs to date, is a self-taught composer, producer and tabla player. He worked on the film scores of
Bhaji on the Beach, Bend it like Beckham, Alexander the Great, The Guru, A Little Princess, Wings of a Dove, The Four Feathers, Brick Lane and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In 2002, he joined forces with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the West End musical Bombay Dreams and he spent the next two years appearing as an on-stage percussionist.

He also acted as Indian Music Consultant and wrote music for the musical adaptation of The Far Pavilions, and in 2005 re-worked the Bee Gee’s popular seventies hit Staying Alive, which became the first instrumental to top the Sunrise Radio people’s chart. spnm will celebrate the announcement with a party and live performance by Kuljit Bhamra on Thursday February 21st from 6pm at the trendy lounge bar Piya Piya, London.
[Media contact: Mary Rahman for after-party.]
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Shot in Bombay, an “often surreal” documentary exploring the thin lines that separate crime from punishment and fiction from reality in and around the Bombay film industry - began its theatrical run at London’s ICA on Friday, 18 Jan.

According to a review in Timeout Magazine:

The ironies are ripe indeed, but director Mermin doesn’t spend too much time elbowing us in the ribs, instead offering wry observation of the Bollywood movie factory at work, and fanning out to assess the local public’s evident support for shoot-to-kill law enforcement, the very different levels of justice available to rich and poor, and the long shadow cast by fugitive crimelord Dawood Ibrahim, an apparent linking factor between the bombings, police corruption and Bollywood finances.

Though lacking genuine investigative heft and with obviously limited access to Dutt himself, the result is an absolutely fascinating survey, nimbly skipping from the bubble-headed asides of ‘Shootout’s irrepressibly crass filmmaker to assess more serious human rights issues without feeling too superficial or indeed overly snooty about the infectious can-do spirit of the seasoned crew trying to create Bruckheimer spectacle on a rupee budget.

The film is being screened at the ICA in London through to 10 February.
(A Little Bird Production / Producer: Nahrein Mirza; Director: Liz Mermin)

The website Pukka PR has pictures from the recent Asian Woman magazine Awards.

Click here.

B4U will once again be the official media sponsor of the Mayor of London’s popular annual Diwali event at Trafalgar Square.

Diwali on the Square will be held on Sunday 28th October 2007 and will showcase talented dance and music performances. It is the third year B4U has been media sponsor for the event.

UK-USA Leadership on Diversity in Film
Friday 19 October

Leading US industry figures are coming to meet representatives from the UK industry to discuss best practice and activities to increase diversity in film, behind and in front of the camera. Confirmed speakers include Kimberly Myers (Writers Guild of America), Rebecca Yee (Screen Actors Guild) and George Sunga (Producers Guild of America). Representatives of training providers, guilds and trade associations in the film industry are invited to attend.

To reserve a seat, email your name and organisation details to diversity@ukfilmcouncil.org.uk with ‘RSVP UK-USA LOD’ in the subject line, and please advise of any access requirements. This is a ‘Leadership on Diversity’ initiative under the Equalities Charter for Film, funded by the UK Film Council (www.diversityinfilm.org.uk).

Picture at the launch of the Britstar mag, at the High Commission of Pakistan, with High Commissioner Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, on the 14th Aug 07.
Tailor Imtaz Khaliq was honoured. Also pictured are MP Shahid Malik, boxer Amir Khan and writer Sarfraz Mansoor.

Leading Black theologian, academic and BAFTA award-winning broadcaster Dr. Robert Beckford, of Oxford Brookes University, will deliver the 7th Annual Claudia Jones Memorial Lecture, organised by the National Union of Journalists’ Black Members Council at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday October 10 at City Hall.

Dr. Beckford is a reader in Black Theology and Popular Culture at Oxford Brookes University. An acclaimed BBC and Channel Four broadcaster, a presenter of the Sunday Morning Show on BBC WM, his journalism work is known for tackling controversial subjects in an engaging and popular style, such as Jamaican Independence, Gospel Music, Reparations and the rise of fundamentalist Christianity. His recent documentary Undersize Me was broadcast on Channel Four on September 23.

The Bengali Cultural Heritage Festival is putting on a free plat at the Brady Arts Centre this Sunday.

‘Ranjana’ is a heart-rending drama set against the backdrop of 1960’s India (Calcutta). Ranjana, the main protagonist, has to uncover the true identity of a convict, Kaushik awaiting a death sentence, whom she thinks might be her long-lost brother. This adaptation is an homage to the birth centenary of the eminent playwright Bidhayak Bhattacharya.
The showcase designed to raise awareness about their film production of the same name.

On Sunday 9th September, 7pm
Brady Arts Centre

Celebrities and music artists will perform at the Sandwell Asian Family Support Service (SAFSS), based in the Midlands, as it celebrates it’s 21st anniversary on 31st August 2007. Hosted by the BBC’s Satnam Rana and Asian Network’s Sukhi Bart, the entertainment will showcase the best in British Asian entertainment and will include special performances by Hitesh (Man from Africa) and Rama, the Ashyana Dance Company, and many more.

The event will raise funds for activities and trips for South Asian children and young people with disabilities. Sandwell Asian Family Support Service was established to respond to research that identified South Asian families were not taking up mainstream health and care services.

The charity dinner and dance being held at Samsons Palace, Oldbury on 31st August 2007.
Contact: Claire Bradshaw on (0121) 558 2198 or Claire.bradshaw@blueyonder.co.uk

To mark 60th Anniversary of Indian Independence (1947- 2007), as part of India Now this 3rd thematic South Asian Cinema Foundation Festival at Watermans brings the first ever Cinema of Independence to London. The Festival presents a niche selection of landmark films and documentaries that mirror India’s struggle for independence and the trauma India and Pakistan faced at Partition.

Lalit Mohan Joshi, director of SACF says: “Made between 1947 to 2007 by masters like Satyajit Ray and Shyam Benegal, these films are Indian Cinema’s tribute to the struggle for Independence and for ending the British Raj. Sixty years on, it leaves many questions unanswered and these films address them directly or obliquely.”
Cinema of Independence ; 10th – 15th August 2007 ; Watermans

Dance company Akademi will unveil its production Dreaming Now at this year’s Trafalgar Square Festival, before performances in Birmingham and Manchester.

The production is a re-working of the highly acclaimed Sapnay, directed by esteemed choreographers Gauri Sharma Tripathi, Mavin Khoo and Jennifer Irons, with an inspiring cast of dancers led by Seeta Patel and Jasmine Simhalan (pictured). Rhythmic soundscapes have been produced by internationally renowned DJ Per Qx, with eastern influences by Niraj Chag.

The Trafalgar Square Festival is part of the India Now festival and will run on 3rd - 5th August. See their website for Birmingham and Manchester details.
www.akademi.co.uk

Dancer and choreographer Honey Kalaria is one of the participants at the BBC Proms this year, in a surprise announcement. The business woman and performer’s dance academy will feature at the Blue Peter Prom on 21st July alongside the Bollywood Brass Band.

She first opened the British Asian dance academy in 1997. and has choreographed dance for students of all ages and cultures, some of whom appeared in Bollywood hit movie ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’.

Actress Shilpa Shetty joined London Mayor Ken Livingstone and actress Joanna Lumley at London Bridge Pier earlier this week, to unveil India Now – the three-month festival of events and exhibitions dedicated to Indian art, film, theatre, music, fashion, food and business. More on the festival here.

Shyam Benegal, one of India’s best known directors, has announced he will be making an international film on the life of Noor Inayat Khan, the courageous Indian woman who was a secret agent for the British in the Second World War and was awarded the George Cross for her bravery.

Based on the best-selling and critically acclaimed book The Spy Princess by Shrabani Basu, with a screenplay written by Lord Meghnad Desai and Kishwar Desai, the film will include spoken English, French, German and Hindi together for the first time.

The film is currently in pre-production. More on Noor Inayat Khan here.