A big question mark hung over the fate of BBC Asian Network this week after it was criticised in an annual report by the BBC Trust for its falling audience figures.

A report in the Evening Standard last week by former Eastern Eye editor Amar Singh, now their media correspondent, suggested the station was up for a chop.
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Actor and rapper Riz Ahmed has released another single – ‘Sour Times’. It is the MC’s second independent track after his highly political debut ‘Post 9/11 blues’.

Sour Times follows a similar political theme and features a montage of people mouthing the lyrics. It include rappers Plan B, Scroobius Pip, actors Jim Sturgess, Tom Hardy, and musician Nitin Sawhney.
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A former journalist, showbiz editor and television presenter is making a leap from the media industry to the charity sector to help bone barrow and blood donation charities.

Reena Combo, the former editor of Desi Xpress newspaper and then Ikonz magazine, has co-founded ‘Desi Donors’ and is organising an event in Birmingham this week to raise money for the Anthony Nolan Trust.
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From comfy cushions to the collapse of capitalism, documentary maker Navid Akhtar (pictured) examines the impact of Islamic design and values on the life of the Victorian designer, poet, craftsman and socialist radical, William Morris.
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A British made Bengali ‘western’ is about to finish its tour of cinemas this week after a successful run.

The Last Thakur is made by director and cinematographer Sadik Ahmed and was first screened at the London Film Festival and Dubai International Film Festival last year.
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The BBC’s new head of religion Aaqil Ahmed takes up his post on Monday 6th July.

The date of his start at the BBC has been highly anticipated given the controversy surrounding his appointment.
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Singer and actress Karen David released her debut single Magic Carpet Ride this week with an accompanying video.
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Frustrated by constantly being mistaken for people of other cultures, J. Singh-Sohal decided to take things into his own hands. He decided to make a documentary.

The subject: the Sikh turban, an integral part of his own identity and yet a constant subject of bafflement for others.

The former ITV journalist is making an hour long documentary that will get its initial broadcast next week. It will explore how British attitudes since the terrorist attacks of 7/7 have impacted people who tie turbans.
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by Amardeep Sohi
Freelance Arts Journalist

Inspired by the true story of a worker who was fired for masturbating whilst on duty, writer Mina Maisuria’s comic take on life at a petrol station played to audiences in East London recently.

Girish, or ‘Gary’ as he prefers to be known, is the politically incorrect cockney manager who is at times outright racist.

He supervises Krishnan, the overworked immigrant who succumbs to his sexual needs on duty and Feroza, the gobby northern girl who stands up to her indignant boss.
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by Imran Ahmad
Author

I have always felt that Britain has remained remarkably tolerant despite the shock of the July 7th terrorist attacks in London, and the continuing provocation from some elements. But I wasn’t sure the same was the case for the United States.

For example there was a dreadful incident on this year’s New Year’s Day when nine Muslims – including three young children, and all US citizens – were removed from a domestic flight because two of them were overheard discussing where was the safest place to sit on an airplane.

A few weeks later, I was reclining on my sofa, watching President Obama’s inauguration speech in January – in which he mentioned a new era of ‘mutual respect’ between America and the Muslim world. I thought: ‘I can do that!’
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Eastenders is planning to spice up the plotline revolving its only Asian / Muslim family with a gay twist.

The BBC soap’s producers said today that the storyline would be a, “traditional love affair, albeit with a modern multicultural twist”.
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Susheel Kumar is part of an award-winning comedy series that could become the next Goodness Gracious Me. He is also acting in a new theatre production with a decidedly twisted storyline. He talks to AIM magazine about his journey through the industry.

You were recently in the BBC Radio show Fags, Mags and Bags – tell us a bit more

It’s a comedy that was written for Radio 4 and is set in a town just outside Glasgow in a cornershop. It focuses around Ramesh played by Sanjeev Kholi his sidekick Dave and his two sons Alok and Sanjay (Sanjay being the stroppy teenager and Alok, as Ramesh describes him ‘the self appointed Richard Branstons’). It’s not your typical Asian comedy, the humor really transfers well across the board. The show scooped the prize for Best Radio Comedy at the 2008 Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Awards which was a great achievement.

It features some familiar faces and voices in Scottish comedy as well as a guest spot from Nina Wadia. We’ve got a 3rd series on the way later in the year, so expect more mayhem!
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BBC Radio has launched a new service combining all its Asian programming across the country as one weekly podcast.

Desi Download is a new weekly service, presented by actor Kulvinder Ghir, which takes snippets from Asian programmes across local BBC Radio stations. It is being billed as a half-hour ‘pick of the week’ featuring community Asian programming.
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The BBC made its widely expected announcement yesterday that Channel 4 commissioner Aaqil Ahmed had been appointed its new head of religion.

He will become the corporation’s first Muslim to occupy the post, and the second appointee ever from a non-Christian background.

The decision is also likely to trigger a crisis at Channel 4, where he was recently appointed head of multicultural programming. There he had a ringfenced budget of £2 million to commission prime-time programming aimed at a diverse audience.
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The BBC presenter Anita Rani is planning to go undercover to investigate illegal skin-lightening creams available across the UK.

A special documentary was commissioned to take The One Show presenter across the country to ask why many British Asians and Afro-Caribbeans desire lighter skin, and sometimes embrace illegal products to get the desired effect.

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Journalist Deepa Shah has left The Times newspaper after working as commissioning editor on its Body & Soul supplement. She also worked as an editor on its new Weekend section.

Before The Times, Ms shah freelanced as a writer or editor for Look, Woman, at Daily Mirror supplements and on magazines launches for News International and IPC. She was also a senior writer at Closer magazine, a reporter for the Evening Standard, The Sunday Times, The Observer and the Mail among others. She started her career at Eastern Eye where she was eventually News Editor.

In an extended interview with a newspaper, actress and writer Meera Syal has talked about her first marriage and growing up feeling insecure for the first time.

In an interview with the Daily Mail newspaper she said she found it difficult growing up as an Indian girl in a white, working-class mining village. “I felt isolated as a child because I was different. … I stuck out like a sore thumb.”
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British-Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. has been named by Time Magazine as among the 100 most influential people in the world. She is joined by the Bollywood composer A.R. Rahman, underlining the big impact impact Slumdog Millionaire has made in the United States.
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A Bangladeshi born filmmaker and science teacher has taken to online videos to promote science, while taking a subtle pot-shot at ‘mystics’ who use tricks to con people out of money.

Alom Shaha has made a half-hour film titled ‘Why Science is Important’, thanks to funding from various sources, which aims to tell youngsters why they should bother with science.
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by Jaspreet Pandohar
Freelance journalist

He’s played a rude boy nemesis to Sacha Baron Cohen in Ali G Inda House, a post apocalyptic survivor in 28 Days Later, a homeless heroin addict in The Feral Generation and even a cocky MC in Eastenders. However, Ray Panthaki’s latest screen role sees him in an altogether more sensitive guise.

In City Rats, the British born actor portrays a frustrated young artist obsessed with making a disabled prostitute his muse. A far cry from the recent slate of Gangster obsessed flicks churned out by the British film industry, the dark comedy weaves together a collection of urban tales featuring eight troubled Londoners struggling for recognition and approval amongst a diverse society.
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The highly successful Britain’s Got Talent act Signature will join singer Shahin Badar in a brand new comedy show on the BBC on Monday 20th April. They will feature on a show by the Iranian stand-up comedian Omjid Djalili at 10:35pm.

Shahin’s will sing a cover of Bhangra hit ‘nachna onda nai‘, with Signature performing. She is best known for her vocals on the dance hit singles ‘Smack my bitch up’ and ‘Get up get off ‘ by The Prodigy.

by Sunny Hundal
Editor

A couple of weeks ago, the Sunday Telegraph ran a front-page story alleging that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, was worried the appointment of a Muslim as head of religion at the BBC would “sideline” the “Christian voice”. Coincidentally, the Sunday Times ran a remarkably similar story the same day, as did the Daily Mail the following day.

It smacked of a classic media hit-job and I decided to dig deeper. Rowan Williams had met the BBC director-general at a lunch that was nothing out of the ordinary. According to a source at his office, there was no official agenda or any leaks about what was discussed. Since his office is very non-confrontational about such matters, and because nothing is ever denied or confirmed, it presents a perfect opportunity for others to use for their own agenda.

According to many, the Churches’ Media Council kicked off the story. The lobby was on the attack.
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The National Health Service launched a publicity campaign this week featuring former Eastenders star Pooja Shah. The NHS wants to encourage Black Africans, Black Caribbeans and South Asians to give more blood and help meet the need for rare blood types.

Statistics currently show that less than three per cent of the total number of donors are from ethnic minority backgrounds.
More: www.blood.co.uk/vip

One of the most powerful Asians in British media – Jay Kandola – is to leave her senior position at ITV.

Ms Kandola was the broadcaster’s director of acquisitions, responsible for buying and acquiring American shows for ITV’s network of channels.

She is leaving as part of a general cost-cutting restructuring plan, according to the Media Guardian.
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by Kuljit Bhamra
Artistic director

The Southall Story is a project in celebration of a town that has welcomed new communities throughout the last century, enabling them to excel and influence both the social and political structures of this country.

Southall is also a place that has come to be affectionately known as Little India, but for many it is much more than that. Being a port, (Heathrow is a stones throw away), Southall has been a home to such diverse groups as the West Indians, Indians and Pakistanis in the 50′s through to the Ugandan Asians in the 70′s. Most recently, new arrivals include Sikhs from Afghanistan and Somalians.
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