Having bought a controlling stake in Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks studio, rumours of billionaire-industrialist Anil Ambani’s buyout of MGM Studios dominated movie industry news in early 2010.

But despite his colossal power, the boss of Reliance Big Pictures company doesn’t get the prize for being the first Indian to make waves in Hollywood.

That credit goes to Ashok Amritraj, the one time professional tennis player turned movie mogul who this year celebrates 30 years in the industry and production of 100 films in Hollywood.

The film producer was in London recently for one in a series of celebratory events honouring his landmark achievement.

As the man behind Hollywood hits such as ‘Bringing Down The House’, ‘Premonition’ and upcoming ‘Streetfighter’, during the span of his three decade career, the century of films Ashok has executive produced have gross in excess of $1 billion worldwide.

Amritraj has partnered with every major studio in tinsel-town, and produced films starring the likes of Bruce Willis, Sandra Bullock, Sylvester Stallone, Angelina Jolie and Cate Blanchett.

During his London visit Ashok confirmed that his company has two new film projects “of a British nature” in the pipeline, with plans to shoot both in the UK before the end of 2010.

His company Hyde Park Entertainment has picked up the film rights to Andy McNab’s twelve-novel espionage series based around the character Nick Stone, an ex-SAS officer turned freelance intelligence officer who works on perilous operations for cash.

“We’ve also bought the rights to remake The Persuaders!, the classic 1970s action/adventure series that originally starred Tony Curtis and Roger Moore. We’re in the process of casting that and Brit Peter Howitt, who directed Sliding Doors, will be behind that.”

Originally shown on ITV, the show centred on two international playboys, one American and the other English, who come together to solve cases the courts are unable to.

With movie making partnerships in Singapore, India and the Middle East, Amritraj’s Hyde Park has pioneered the effort to build a bridge between East and West by bringing together cinema and cultural exchanges and providing a platform for Indian and Asian talent to be showcased on a global scale.

Commonly viewed as “India’s Ambassador to Hollywood”, Ashok has preferred to locate his Indian base in his native city of Chennai where he was born and raised, rather than Mumbai where his fellow Hollywood producers have headed.

According to the tycoon, Hollywood’s attempt to get a slice of the Bollywood pie has been a “purely economic” collaboration to date, with studios like Warners, Disney and Fox having “little creative input” into the kind of films they finance for the Asian markets.

“They went in there thinking it was going to be like any other market so their first few attempts were not that great,” he says.

“Now they are rethinking the whole strategy on how many movies they will make and distribute in India. They have the staying power and want to be on the ground, so let’s see what happens.”

Similarly, Ashok recognises the keen interest eastern financers like Ambani have taken in Hollywood. “Economic growth is pretty unstoppable in India, China and the Middle East, and like me a lot of people there would like to be in the movie business.”

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Jaspreet Pandohar is a freelance writer and filmmaker.
jaspreetpandohar@yahoo.co.uk

Rifco Arts, the theatre company behind popular productions such as The Deranged Marriage, There’s Something About Simmy and Where’s My Desi Soulmate are launching their biggest show yet from tomorrow.

The show will tour around the country until 17th July.

Britain’s Got Bhangra has been two years in development and is the first of its kind Bhangra musical. It charts the rise of British Bhangra music ‘from the sequin clad 80s through to the RnB fusion of the current charts’.

The musical features Twinkle, a singer who arrives in a cold UK straight from the fields of Punjab. Can his talent shine through or will the remixed bling of the 90s DJ ruin his dreams?

The cast includes award winning performer Shin: the lead singer of Bhangra band DCS; Sophiya Haque (Coronation Street, Bombay Dreams); Natasha Lewis (Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd); Rakesh Boury (We Will Rock You) and Rina Fatania (Deranged Marriage, Bombay Dreams).

The story is written by Pravesh Kumar, artistic director of Rifco Arts and behind the theatre company’s earlier hit shows.

www.rifcoarts.com

Tour
Press night: 28th April at Theatre Royal Stratford East

Theatre Royal Stratford East, London: 17th April – 16th May
Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry: 25th May – 5th June
Oxford Playhouse: 8th-12th June
Watford Palace Theatre: 15th -19th June
The Lowry, Salford Quays: 22nd -26th June
Theatre Royal Windsor: 29th June- 3rd July
West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds: 13th -17th July

The Sony Radio Academy Awards announced yesterday that Asian Network had been nominated for best speech programme and best news special.

Also nominated was relative newcomer Waqas Saeed who presents the Early Breakfast show for a ‘Rising Star’ Award. Prior to the show he supported Adil Ray on his then afternoon Drivetime show.

6 Music got nominations for: best music programme, music radio personality of the year, music broadcaster of the year, best comedy, specialist contributor and station imaging.

The Sony Awards will be presented on Monday 10 May at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.

The Asian Network also got another boost from internal BBC figures, AIM magazine has learnt.

BBC figures show that the digital station got over 750,000 unique viewers last week on its Interactive Red-Button site. For context, that is the same number that BBC Proms gets on its Red-button site.

An insider told AIM magazine that Asian Network still had tremendous pull, and not just with Asian listeners. “It shows that if you make something national, on an Asian level, by the bbc, the viewers will come.”

In December 2004 Gurpreet Bhatti was forced to go into hiding when threats from Sikh extremists forced the Birmingham Rep to shut down Behzti.

There were numerous protests in Birmingham over the play. Its critics said it insulted Sikhism by depicting rape in a Gurdwara.

Ms Bhatti’s new play ‘Behud’ (Beyond Belief) is her interpretation of what happened at the time. It is a humorous look at one woman’s attempt to tell a story.

Behud is showing at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry until 10th April.
It will also show at the Soho Theatre, London, from 13th April to 8th May 2010

Promotional video

The magazine Index on Censorship is also hosting free several debates in Coventry this Saturday to mark Ms Bhatti’s return to theatre.

In 2004 there were concerns that the fallout from the ‘Behzti’ affair would have a chilling effect in British Theatre and that it would be increasingly difficult to stage controversial work.

‘Behzti Five Years On’ focuses on theatre in the Midlands, and asks to what extent this has come true. Is support for freedom of expression on the decline? See this page for more info.

Behud
Writer: Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti
Director: Lisa Goldman

Live East, the first magazine of its kind in East London, will replicate the model of its hugely well-regarded Brixton-based sister publication Live South, which has a track record with improving lives and offering opportunities to young people in South London since 2001.

The magazine will tackle issues such as diversity, cultural identity and religion and aim to reach out to many of Tower Hamet’s vulnerable young people.

Gavin Weale, Director of Live Futures, said: “Young people in East London are among the most disadvantaged in the country. Through Live East we want to engage and celebrate them, give them a voice and encourage them to tackle and debate key local issues, as well as give them the opportunity to gain valuable skills and work experience.”

Live Futures is a social enterprise that specialises in engaging and improving the lives of young people.

Rahul Verma, journalist and professional mentor for Live East said: “Live East draws people from a huge range of different backgrounds. Some are students with a serious passion for a career in the media, but many are young people who are experiencing disadvantage, struggling with school or feeling marginalised.”

Under the model, young people aged 14 to 22, many of whom have been identified by youth services as being “at-risk” or have been through the criminal justice system, receive training, mentoring, accreditation and job coaching.

The launch event featured performances from hip-hop artist Mumzy Stranger and top London grime artist Mz Bratt.
www.live-magazine.co.uk

Called ‘Alchemy’, the festival will feature a full programme of music, dance, literature, food, debate and fashion.

Events will range from a rare classical concert by celebrated composer A.R. Rahman to the very best UK Bhangra, to an evening of music and chat with the Grewal Family from Channel 4’s hit docu-drama The Family.

It will also have free classical and folk dance workshops, early morning yoga, the Alchemy Market and an immersive installation that recreates the sights and sounds of Southall.

The five-day festival will take over all venues and spaces of Southbank Centre from 7th to 11th April.

Also featured
- Literature and talks
The Alchemy Debates, part of British Council’s UK-India Cultural Connections programme (7/8/10/11 April) explores the foundations and context of Alchemy, opening with the timely discussion India: Global Powerhouse? (7 April). Throughout the festival UK and Indian artists come together to begin the process of creating new collaborative work and share progress with the public on two occasions.

- Free events
A free events programme throughout the Festival will transform The Clore Ballroom, Spirit Level and surrounding areas with a range of events including Daandiya Raas Stick Dancing, The Southall Story: Live featuring performances by Bhangra musician Kuljit Bhamra and Mohindra Kaur Bhamra and an insight into life in Southall with The Southall Storytellers.

- Food
The Alchemy Market in Southbank Centre Square will offer Indian food, hot chai and crafts and The Nation’s Dish will see a guest appearance by celebrity chefs.

On 8 April BBC Radio 1 DJ, Nihal hosts his BBC Asian Network show at Southbank Centre, broadcasting live from The Clore Ballroom. He brings together a panel of artists and decision makers to discuss the ingredients that make Indian culture what it is today, followed by a ‘cook off’ between celebrated chef, Atul Kochar and Sarbjit Grewal, the mother from Channel 4’s The Family.

Tickets from: Southbank Centre: 0871 663 2500
www.southbankcentre.co.uk

“I still retain a bond with the paper and will carry working with them on a freelance basis.”

“In the midst of all this upheaval, the one thing I remain convinced about is my love for news reporting and I intend to keep doing that while experimenting with different media.”

Nitin Swahney is one of the most prolific Indian composers, musicians and producers alive today.

But Monday’s performance at London’s Barbican Centre however, was something new even to me.

I have followed his work for many years as a young ardent follower of his early trip-hop albums, then later to recent shows around London where he has played dubstep inspired jazz sets to crowds of enthusiastic dancers, singing and skanking along.

The concept of the night was an unusually powerful one.

Nitin Sawhney, reincarnated as a composer, played alongside the London Symphony Orchestra delivering one of the most moving performances I have seen at the venue (and not just because the last thing I watched was a ‘Jack n Beanstalk ‘panto. Ahem.)

It was a perfectly-timed 64-min piece to accompany the classic Japanese silent film, ‘Yogoto Ni Yume’.

Filmed in black and white, the story tells of Japan in 1933, at the latter end of the Great Depression, and follows the progananist ‘Omitsu’: a barmaid struggling to bring up her son in poverty, while her partner tries to find a job, leading to ultimately devastating consequences.

The film was projected onto an impressively sized screen, with the orchestra playing live below the projection.

The beauty of the performance was the merging of both mediums together on one stage, with Nitin playing piano alongside the LSO, heightening the emotion of the films content and characters.

“I wanted to really let the orchestra and the score do the talking’ he later said as part of his open Q and A to the audience, “I wanted to get into the musical psychology of what was going on.”

Usually famed for his tabla and sitar accompaniment, to me the show was about representing the range of influences that Asian music and orchestral sounds have in conjunction with one another and the way they in turn can inspire.

The collaboration of the LSO, Japanese cinematography and Nitin’s Asian influence contributed to a multi-dimensional show of emotion through the music.

Though different to anything I have seen before, the performance worked by appealing to the audiences senses,;I know the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up on more than one occasion, despite being unfamiliar with the narrative.

All in all, Nitin Sawhney must be saluted for speaking many languages with music, and appealing to each ear in the full to the brim auditorium.

Also, of course, for putting on a better show that Jack and the Beanstalk. Amazing.

——————
Kieran Yates is a contributor to DazedDigital.com, RWD and LIVE.
She blogs here and is on Twitter here.

The corporation officially launched its Strategy Review, proposing that the Asian Network cease as a national digital service.

But the station could be replaced by a network of local services, with reduced hours, that will operate on analogue as well as digital licenses.

Director-general Mark Thompson told Channel 4 News last night that the new arrangement would allow the BBC to have a more targeted approach to Asian communities. (video below)

The Review will now go to the BBC Trust for a three-month long consultation period.

But there is a chance to save the Asian Network if enough complaints are made during the 12-week consultation period.

The chairman of the Trustees Sir Michael Lyons told the Media Guardian last night: “If we find that… there’s massive public concern that we need to take account of then we will go back to the director general to rethink the strategy before it’s approved.”

The process for the BBC Trust consultation is explained on this page.

There is more scope for complaints to have an impact through this process since the BBC Trust is actively looking for feedback from people (more advice for people looking to complain is on this blog).

It is also likely the BBC Trust will look at online campaigns on social media websites such as Facebook.

Yesterday the Labour MP Tom Watson amended an Early Day Motion in Parliament, which earlier just mentioned 6Music, to include Asian Network. It has now been signed by 33 MPs including Virendra Sharma and Khalid Mahmood.

It says:

That this House notes with deep concern recent newspaper speculation that the BBC is considering closing its 6 Music and Asian Network radio stations; believes that both radio stations offer outlets for independent and non-mainstream music; further notes that both 6 Music and Asian Network reach out to audiences not otherwise well served by the BBC; congratulates 6 Music and Asian Network for acting as a source of talent for the BBC and other media; recognises that the BBC has a duty to represent and give a platform to minority interests that need a mainstream platform to develop and grow; and calls on the Government to encourage the BBC to continue its support for 6 Music and Asian Network for many years to come.

Supporters of the Asian Network are now circulating a joint letter to be sent to the BBC Trust, protesting against the corporation’s proposed changes.

Channel 4 report

Over the years I have been a constant critic of the BBC Asian Network. The station has been the subject of complaints over its confused music policy, not focusing enough on news and current affairs and not doing enough to develop new talent.

But it’s biggest problem has always been poor management. That is now evident more than ever before, given that its management seem to have failed spectacularly to internally make the case to keep the station.

But BBC Asian Network’s survival is important, and there are several reasons why. Here are some:

1) It would reduce competition
With the buyout of Club Asia radio by Sunrise Radio late last year, closing Asian Network would leave no other real alternative to Sunrise. This is especially the case in London where 40% of British Asians live.

All the main radio stations in London (niche offerings such as Panjab Radio aside) are owned by the Sunrise Group: Sunrise, Kismat and BuzzAsia (the re-branded Club Asia). This would also apply to other parts of the country that are only served by local Asian stations or a feed of Sunrise radio from London.

2) A source of talent for the BBC and rest of the media
Along with the now defunct Asian Programmes Unit, the BBC Asian Network has been a stepping stone for scores of presenters, producers, journalists and actors across the media industry.

It’s arguable that Asian talent would be picked up by other parts of the BBC anyway but so far the rest of the BBC and broadcasting industry has been terrible at spotting and developing new Asian talent. If Asian Network were to shut down there is every possibility that the levels of diversity at the BBC would fall in coming years.

The corporation has an internal target to have at least 12.5% of its workforce from diverse backgrounds.

3) It would create ‘parallel lives’
The BBC Asian Network is, for many Asians across Britain, a gateway into mainstream British culture. The station has gone further than any other Asian radio station in combining mainstream pop culture and news with British Asian culture.

Without that, many Asians would retreat to alternatives that would make them less open to popular culture. That would also raise the prospect of ‘parallel lives’ – where different communities consume different media outlets without much overlap.

4) It would abandon Asian license fee payers
The BBC still does appallingly bad in representing minorities (apart from on soaps) in doing ‘Asian stories’ outside narratives of terrorism and crime. The Asian Network has frequently brought stories to the rest of the media that its mainstream news journalists would be unlikely in covering.

The BBC’s Charter itself states the corporation will aim to:

Represent the different nations, regions and communities to the rest of the UK.
Across the range of its network output, the BBC should portray and celebrate the range of cultures and communities across the UK at national, regional and local level.

That is consistent with the view that it should seek to represent British Asian culture to not only serve that demographic but tie it with popular culture.

5) Remove a vital platform for British Asian culture
The station has not done enough to differentiate itself from commercial competitors, but the same argument could be made of other BBC radio stations such as Radio 1 and Radio 2.

Axing Asian Network would kill off vital media space for a lot of British Asian content and culture (documentaries, fusion music) that does not get represented on commercial alternatives. It is within the BBC’s remit to represent and give a platform to minority interests that need a mainstream platform to develop and grow.

By Friday afternoon, once the Conservative shadow culture minister Ed Vaizey had “welcomed” the leaked report in The Times, it looked like the BBC Asian Network’s fate was sealed.

The draft report has been widely seen as a response by BBC executives to strong pressure by the Conservative party to get the corporation to cut spending.

They ask why, at a time when the commercial sector is reeling from a downturn in the advertising sector, is the BBC not sharing some of the pain.

It’s a fair question. And the result seemed to be a report written by a former Conservative party advisor who would make recommendations that could reflect the party’s thinking.

By leaking the report in advance, BBC executive could judge Tory response and make adjustments if necessary.

Except that Asian Network and 6 Music were caught in the cross-fire, and questions were asked why the expensive and relatively unpopular BBC Three was not facing the chop.

A backlash soon started online. On Facebook a page was created to, ‘Save the BBC Asian Network‘. It has already gathered nearly 9,000 fans.

A Facebook group was also set up by several Asian Network staff, including presenters Bobby Friction and Sonia Deol, titled ‘Keep the BBC Asian Network‘.

On Twitter too, word rapidly spread of Asian Network’s troubles and hundreds of people started using the hashtag #saveAsianNetwork.

The backlash took off when singer Jay Sean tweeted:

I can’t believe that they’re trying to shut down the BBC Asian network. This is crazy we have no mainstream platforms as it is. Messed up.

An Early Day Motion (EDM) in Parliament in support of Asian Network is also being planned but it’s too early to say yet.

It’s unlikely that British Asians are going to take the move without mounting stuff resistance.

The event was held at the House of Commons. Other recepients included the Evening Standard’s Joe Murphy for Parliamentary Journalist of the Year, Ed Balls MP as Minister of the Year, David Cameron MP as Politician of the Year and actor Nitin Ganatra as TV Personality of the Year.

A spokesperson said: “Krishna’s appointment at the New York Fed is testimony to the high regard in which the Financial Times and its leading writers are held by decision-makers around the globe.”

At the NY Fed he will be Executive Vice President and Head of Communications. He will also serve on the Bank’s Management Committee.

AIM Magazine previously interviewed him when he was appointed leader writer at the FT.

As a political correspondent previously, Krishna covered the Blair government, domestic policy and the Iraq crisis.

Before that he wrote for the FT’s Lex column, commenting on financial markets. From 1997-2000 Krishna was the FT’s Bombay Correspondent based in India.

He was also named one of Britain’s most powerful Asians in the British media several years ago.

The corporation is due to announce an overhaul of services next month.

The newspaper reported this morning that BBC director-general Mark Thompson will signal that ‘an era of expansion’ would be over. One of the drastic cuts to be recommended would be shutting down BBC Asian Network entirely.

Other changes to be mooted include a cap on spending on broadcast rights for sports events to around £300 million.

The paper added that:

It will be seen as an attempt to show a potential Tory government that the BBC understands the effect the deep advertising recession has had on commercial rivals and that it does not need outside intervention to get its house in order.

The BBC is already under pressure to decrease its online presence, and the report is said to have made recommendations on that area too.

The Asian Network has come under intense pressure recently to improve its audience ratings and improve value for money. An internal survey last year found the station was the most expensive among all BBC radio stations.

Over at the Guardian, Momtaz Begum-Hossain wrote in the station’s defence:

And how am I going to learn about Asian life? We are sadly not yet living in a time where minority voices, Asian and non-Asian alike, are completely assimilated into the mainstream media. Which of the BBC stations is going to meet that big gap that Love Bollywood fills? And what about the community language programmes?

When I was growing up, our household came to a standstill when there was Bengali programming on the radio. I can’t even turn to the commercial Asian radio stations any more to hear what’s happening in Asian news, sport and entertainment, because last year saw the closure of Club Asia and Zee radio. The Asian Network is my only source of information on these subjects.

More coverage on AIM Magazine soon.

In a new series for BBC Radio 4, producer and presenter Mukti Jain Campion finds out what lies behind their success and the impact they are making in India as well as abroad.
The three part series will be aired between Monday March 1st and Wednesday March 3rd at 11am.
Listen online for 7 days after broadcast

The Scotland based comedy Fags, Mags & Bags has returned to Radio 4 for the third time after picking up awards for its quirky humour and good writing (episode below).

The series is written by and stars Sanjeev Kohli, as newsagent and confectioner Ramesh Majhu.

He is ably assisted by his shop sidekick Dave (Donald Mcleary, co-writer), a forty-something underachiever who shares Ramesh’s love of the art of shopkeeping.

Then there are Ramesh’s sons Sanjay (Omar Raza) and Alok (Susheel Kumar, interviewed on AIM here).

The comedy series was recently nominated for a Sony Radio Academy Comedy award, while the writers won a Writers’ Guild Award.

The first series saw Ramesh et al boldly complete a magazine part-work and cause a near riot selling beef swastikas.

In series two the Majhu family was rocked to its core by the appearance of a much-despised auntie and the shop turned into a temporary shrine to Michael Jackson.

The new series of Fags, Mags & Bags sees Sanjay finding a girlfriend and embracing the arts while the very eco-balance of shop society is thrown into chaos after Ramesh allows Alok to install a slush machine.

Sanjeev Kohli previously appeared in six series of ‘Still Game’, where he played Navid.

Airing weekly: Wed 10th Feb to Wed 17th March at 11.30am, Radio 4.
More on the BBC website

Series 2, episode 1

The 24 hour channel will be available free-to-air at launch and later be added to the View Asia package. We wrote more about the company and the channel earlier here.

Viacom18 Media is a joint venture between US based Viacom and Mumbai’s Network 18 Group.

Titled ‘Where Three Dreams Cross’ – it features over 300 works by 70 artists covering historic and contemporary photography from the subcontinent.

There are also numerous unseen photographs from the Partition Era and the early history of the three countries.

The Whitechapel Gallery in East London, where the exhibition is being held until April, has brough together photographs from private family archives, galleries, individuals and works by leading contemporary artists.

The exhibition is presented in five themes which incorporate historic, modern and contemporary works:

The Streets looks at social documentary and street photography; Iintimate Relationships explores family and group structures within society; Architecture addresses the cultural value of buildings and public spaces; Points of Transition looks at political moments and movements. The Portrait charts the evolution of self-representation through portraiture from 19th century studio portraiture to Pushpamala N’s contemporary self-portraits.

More information is available on their website.

The exhibition is open until 11th April 2010.
Whitechapel Gallery, 77 – 82 Whitechapel High Street, London E1 7QX.

For further press information or images please contact:
Rachel Mapplebeck on 020 7522 7880; 07811 456 806 or Email RachelMapplebeck@whitechapelgallery.org
ElizabethFlangan@whitechapelgallery.org

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More on the exhibition here.