Stars descend on the Red Carpet in London for 'Cake' World Premiere - New Asian Post

Stars descend on the Red
Carpet in London for ‘Cake’
World Premiere
London’s West End yesterday played host to the stars of one of
the most anticipated Pakistani film releases of 2018, Cake, as
the Red Carpet was laid for the film’s World Premiere at Vue
West End. Actors Aamina Sheikh, Sanam Saeed, Adnan Malik and
Beo Raana Zafar; director Asim Abbasi; and producer Sayed
Zulfikar Bukhari were joined by a who’s who guest list of
celebrities and VIPs for the milestone occasion that marked
the first ever World Premiere of a Pakistani film to be held
in London’s iconic home for international film premieres,
Leicester Square.

Additional guests in attendance included actors Mahira Khan,
Art Malik, Roxanne Pallett and Ainy Jaffri; music artists
Naughty Boy and Juggy D; TV presenter Melanie Sykes; co-owner
and Vice Chairman of English football club QPR, Amit Bhatia,
British businessman Peter Virdee, cricketer Monty Panesar;
Baroness Warsi MP; and UK’s first Muslim to go to space and
poet, Hussain Manawer. Guests dazzled on the Red Carpet ahead
of the World Premiere screening.

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Cake, a co-production between UK and Pakistan, has been
generating worldwide buzz since the teaser launch and UK fans
and audiences are now preparing to welcomes the stars, who are
embarking on a UK-wide tour of public appearances ahead of the
film’s theatrical release on 29th March 2018.

A truly crossover Pakistani film, Cake is a family drama about
love, loss, choices and responsibilities. The story unravels
when the ageing patriarch of the Jamali family is taken ill
and his eldest daughter and sole caregiver, Zareen, is forced
to reconnect with her sister, Zara, on her return from London.

Cake is set to release in cinemas on 29th March 2018.

University graduate addresses
caste discrimination in new
film
A documentary charting a Birmingham City University graduate’s
battle against caste discrimination        in British-Asian
communities has been generating a          buzz within the
community. Reena Jaisiah, who graduated from Birmingham City
University in 2013, shares her own story in the documentary,
‘Caste Aside’, which looks at the caste discrimination and has
been screened at several locations in London and broadcast on
television since its release in January.

After graduating with a BA honours in Sociology in 2003, Reena
began raising awareness of caste discrimination and founded a
theatre company called Caste Away Arts to address the issue in
a creative way. She was named Birmingham City University’s
Alumni of the Year in 2013 for her work on community
engagement and leadership.

Reena is believed to be one of the first people to speak out
publicly about caste issues in Britain, having done awareness
work for the past 15 years on the subject, and ‘Caste Aside’
highlights her journey.

The documentary has been screened in London and broadcast on
television. It was premiered in West London in January and
received nearly 100 registrations and a live post-screening
debate.

Reena Jaisiah, Birmingham City University graduate and
Artistic Director at Cast Away Arts, said: “I think this
documentary is important because it states the past and
present problems with caste discrimination and consciousness
and it’s a voice that has been silenced for too long. I
decided to take part because I am responsible to speaking out.

“Others won’t step up so I have stepped into their silence. My
ancestors went through a lot because of their so-called caste
and I can’t bury that because this toxic is not dead yet. I am
an activist not a passivist. If it affects one, it affects us
all. This documentary might be a hard pill to swallow but it
reflects only truth and truth is my currency.”

‘Caste Aside’ has been broadcast on television and is due to
be shown at locations across the UK over the coming months and
will be screened at the British Association for South Asian
Studies’ Annual Conference in April 2018.

Caste discrimination has been on the British Government’s
agenda for a number of years, resulting in a public
consultation in late 2017 and an expected announcement of
their final decision in 2018.

Pakistani superstar Mahira
Khan to attend UK Asian Film
Festival
Pakistan’s biggest superstar with a global fan base, actress
Mahira Khan, will be attending the UK’s leading South Asian
film festival to champion female-oriented films, artists and
auteurs. Historically known as Tongues on Fire and, more
recently, London Asian Film Festival, the festival synonymous
with programmes featuring strong, South Asian feminist content
will run in London, Leicester, Manchester and Edinburgh from
14th – 25th March, now known as UK Asian Film Festival.

The Opening Gala Dinner on 14th March 2018 at The May Fair

Hotel, will host an In Conversation with Mahira Khan. The
evening will also feature an award presentation honouring
female heroes that have challenged stereotypes, broken
barriers and pushed boundaries to make a difference. Further
attendees will include veteran Indian actress, director,
producer and talk show hostess, Simi Garewal.

Screening of Verna on 16th March 2018
On 15th March 2018, Mahira Khan will be conducting a Q&A with
audiences at Phoenix Cinema, Leicester. On 16th March 2018 at
Regent Street Cinema, London the actress will conduct a Q&A
following a screening of social issue film, Verna. Synonymous
with female-centric films that hold a mirror to the injustices
of contemporary society, director Shoiab Mansoor’s latest
feature tackles the issues of rape, misogyny and the position
of women in Pakistani society and culture.

With her fan base transcending borders globally, Mahira Khan
made her film debut with the critically acclaimed and
commercially successful Bol (2011) directed by Shoaib Mansoor,
which become one of Pakistan’s highest grossing films of all
time. She went on to champion roles in film and television,
garnering a portfolio of coveted industry awards and accolades
along the way. She played lead role in Pakistani drama
Humsafar, a turning point for the Pakistani television
industry, with many attributing the series to the renaissance
of local drama, now consumed by audiences globally. Since
then, she has essayed lead roles in the country’s most popular
television dramas and films, going on to crossover into
Bollywood, cast opposite superstar Shah Rukh Khan in Hindi
film Raees (2017). Khan’s recent performance in Shoaib
Mansoor’s Verna (2017) garnered unanimous plaudit the world
over. With the biggest social media following of any Pakistani
actor, she was recently announced as the first ever Pakistani
Ambassador for L’Oreal.

Marking 100 years of women gaining the right to vote in the

UK, the theme of UK Asian Film Festival 2018 is F-Rated –
known to have denoted films that have been cinematically
classified as representing women on film or behind the camera
and that are female-centric in subject matter.

Ben Luxford, Head of UK Audiences at the BFI says, “We are
pleased to support the 20th anniversary of the festival,
enabling it to expand to reach more people across the UK and
to engage audiences with a broad range of South Asian cinema.”

UK Asian Film Festival 2018, 14th – 25th March. Full Festival
Programme at www.ukasianfilmfestival.com

UK Asian Film Festival 2018
marks   the   centenary  of
women’s suffrage
The UK’s leading South Asian film festival, from 14th – 25th
March 2018 is to mark the the centenary of women’s suffrage by
championing female-oriented films, artists and auteurs. 2018
also marks the festival’s 20th anniversary. Historically known
as Tongues on Fire and, more recently, London Asian Film
Festival, the festival synonymous with programmes featuring
strong, South Asian feminist content will run in four cities
across the UK from 14th – 25th March 2018, now known as UK
Asian Film Festival.

UK Asian Film Festival 2018 is F-Rated
Marking 100 years of women gaining the right to vote in the
UK, the theme of UK Asian Film Festival 2018 is F-Rated –
known to have denoted films that have been cinematically

classified as representing women on film or behind the camera
and that are female-centric in subject matter. Filmhouse,
Edinburgh (22nd – 25th March 2018); Home, Manchester (25th
March 2018); Phoenix Cinema, Leicester (15th March extended to
31st March 2018); and various venues across London (14th –
25th March 2018) will play host to a carefully curated season
of film screenings and events that celebrate female stories,
talent and creatives on celluloid. The festival will also be
honouring Anita Anand, broadcaster, journalist and author of
Sophia: Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary, for shining
light on the story of Sophia Duleep Singh, a prominent figure
and activist of the UK Suffragatte movement although largely
absent from popular narrative.

The festival Opening Gala Dinner on 14th March 2018 at The May
Fair Hotel will feature an award presentation honouring female
heroes that have challenged stereotypes, broken barriers and
pushed boundaries to make a difference. Recipients will
include broadcaster and Sophia Duleep Singh biographer, Anita
Anand; and veteran Indian film actress, producer, director and
talk show hostess, Simi Garewal. One of the most atypical and
avant garde female members of the Indian and international
film fraternities, Simi Garewal deconstructed the archetypal
female heroine in Indian cinema from her screen debut in the
60’s, a consistent game-changer in the industry as both
outsider and insider. Simi will also lead a posthumous tribute
to Indian actor Shashi Kapoor (1938 – 2017), with whom she
starred in the controversial English language film, Siddhartha
(1972), based on the novel by Hermann Hesse, in which she
boldly featured in a nude scene – the first actress in
Bollywood to do so. The film predictably faced backlash and
censorship issues at the time.

In Conversation with Mahira Khan
The Opening Gala Dinner will also feature an In Conversation
with actress Mahira Khan, Pakistan’s biggest celebrity
transcending borders with a global fan base. Khan made her

film debut with the critically acclaimed and commercially
successful Bol (2011) directed by Shoaib Mansoor, which become
one of Pakistan’s highest grossing films of all time. She went
on to champion roles in film and television, garnering a
portfolio of coveted industry awards and accolades along the
way. She played lead role in Pakistani drama Humsafar, a
turning point for the Pakistani television industry, with many
attributing the series to the renaissance of local drama, now
consumed by audiences globally. Since then, she has essayed
lead roles in the country’s most popular television dramas and
films, going on to crossover into Bollywood, cast opposite
superstar Shah Rukh Khan in Hindi film Raees (2017) – a
significant milestone as the first Pakistani actor be offered
a Bollywood debut opposite one of the three Khans of Hindi
cinema. Khan’s recent performance in Shoaib Mansoor’s Verna
(2017) garnered unanimous plaudit the world over. With the
biggest social media following of any Pakistani actor, she was
recently announced as the first ever Pakistani Ambassador for
L’Oreal, all of her accomplishments achieved as a woman who
entered the industry as a divorced, single mum, defying
stereotypes and challenging the status quo.

Mahira Khan will be conducting a Q&A with audiences at Phoenix
Cinema, Leicester on 15th March 2018 and at Regent Street
Cinema, London on 16th March 2018, following a screening of
social issue film, Verna. Synonymous with female-centric films
that hold a mirror to the injustices of contemporary society,
director Shoiab Mansoor’s latest feature boldly tackles the
issues of rape, misogyny and the position of women in
Pakistani society and culture. The social drama is a powerful
call to action for those wronged by the system and deprived of
their right to justice. Due to its difficult yet deeply
relevant subject matter, the film faced severe pushback from
the Pakistani censor board prior to release.

The Opening Film on 15th March 2018 at Regent Street Cinema is
Devashish Makhija’s Ajji (Granny) (2017). The Hindi-language,

social drama revolves around an elderly woman, fondly known as
Ajji, who finds her nine-year granddaughter dumped in a trash
heap after having been assaulted near her slum. What follows
is a bloody quest for revenge and an exploration into the
horrors of toxic masculinity and how the disadvantaged are
denied justice at the mercy of the corrupt police and those in
power. Ajji exposes the cold, brutal realities of the world we
live in and presents us with the most unlikely of saviours to
challenge the status quo and seek justice. The screening will
be followed by a Q&A with director Devashish Makhija. Full
Festival Programme of Screenings and Events to be announced on
12th February.

Dr. Pushpinder Chowdhry, Festival Founding Director says, “We
are delighted to be celebrating the festival’s 20th
anniversary by expanding nationally and giving audiences
across the UK the opportunity of engaging with our programme
of screenings, guest talks and events with a strong, feminist
theme. From its inception, the festival has always championed
gender equality in cinema, launching 20 years back at a time
when there was but a handful of Asian women filmmakers and the
scope of female roles was restricted to women of a certain
age, confined to certain archetypal parameters. We are finally
seeing a shift in this, as women continue to create a space
for themselves in South Asian cinema, redefining and expanding
their roles both in front of and behind the camera and on
their own terms. We continue to celebrate those achievements
with a rich showcase that represents the ever-evolving
contributions and representations of women to cinema.”

UK Asian Film Festival 2018, 14th – 25th March. Full Festival
Programme www.ukasianfilmfestival.com

New    film    honours   the
involvement of Sikh soldiers
in the British Army
As the country celebrates the Centenary of the end of conflict
of World War I, a remarkable new film honours the involvement
of Sikh soldiers in the British Army. Sajjan Singh Rangroot,
which releases nationwide on 23rd March 2018, is based on the
true story of the Lahore Regiment of the British Indian Army.
It follows the regiment and the challenges faced through the
eyes of soldier Sajjan Singh Rangroot.

The Punjabi movie, starring Diljit Dosanjh in the lead role,
traces the arduous journey of the Indian British Army’s Lahore
Regiment as it takes on German forces during the war. The film
highlights themes of alienation, discrimination and loss
whilst also celebrating the bravery of Indian soldiers who put
their lives on the line for their colonisers. The period
drama, directed by leading Punjabi film director, Pankaj
Batra, is based on the experiences of Sikh regiments on the
front lines of the war.

Whilst Sajjan Singh Rangroot, follows the tumultuous journey
of one soldier in war, the soldiers’ story highlights a number
of facts that remain unknown to many:

• The Indian Army contributed a large number of divisions and
independent brigades to the European, Mediterranean and the
Middle East theatres of war in World War I.

• Over one million Indian troops served overseas, of whom
62,000 died and another 67,000 were wounded. In total at least
74,187 Indian soldiers died during the war.

• In World War I the Indian Army fought against the German
Empire in German East Africa and on the Western Front.

The first trailer of the film shows the high production values
and stunning cinematography by Vineet Malhotra, with each and
every frame of the trailer showcasing the intense emotions one
goes through at the time of war.

Sajjan Singh Rangroot also stars newcomer Sunanda Sharma
alongside Yograj Singh, Jagjeet Sandhu, Dheeraj Kumar and
Jarnail Singh in key roles.

Sajjan Singh Rangroot is produced by Jay Sahani and Bobby
Bajaj of Vivid Art House and with music by Jatinder Shah.
Sajjan Singh Rangroot is distributed Worldwide by Omjee Group
and Grand Showbiz Entertainment. The film releases nationwide
on March 23rd 2018.

New feature film ‘The Beatles
in     India’     celebrates
meditation
In 1968, The Beatles travelled to Rishikesh, India, to study
Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in a
remote ashram on the banks of the sacred river Ganges. Those
few short weeks became one of the most prolific and creative
periods of their lives. A new feature film documentary The
Beatles in India’, directed by two time Emmy award winning
producer-director, Paul Saltzman and produced by Paul Saltzman
& Reynold D’Silva for Sunrise Films, Ren/oir Pictures & Silva
Screen is set to be released worldwide in Autumn 2018.

Also present at the ashram was a young Canadian filmmaker
named Paul Saltzman, there to heal a recently broken heart

while seeking his own path to understanding and enlightenment.
In the informal and relaxed atmosphere, he captured some of
the most famous and intimate photographic portraits of The
Beatles ever taken.

The film details Saltzman’s return journey to India, The
Beatles stay and the songs they composed at the ashram as well
as meditation as it applies to creativity, the divine inner
journey and the healing power of love and music.

Integral to the story will be the background of many of the
songs written in India and how they progressed through their
initial writing, intensive rehearsals back in England and the
release of the White Album on November 22nd, 1968.

Rarely seen footage and images, in depth interviews from
India, the UK and North America and an authoritative team
behind the film heralds its release later this year.

Producer Reynold D’Silva said: “The idea of a Beatles in India
documentary has been with me since the mid-nineties. By pure
coincidence, or perhaps it was fate, three separate people put
me in touch with Paul early last year. It turned out he had
been harbouring the idea for even longer than I had! After our
first phone call, we were set on a path to produce the film
together. Paul has a stellar track record in his field of
producing and directing films. He has a clear vision with a
profound knowledge of the subject matter borne out by the fact
he was at the ashram in Rishikesh with The Beatles in
February, 1968.”

For more information visit: www.beatlesinindiamovie.com

European Premiere of new
Indian short film ‘Bagheera’,
11th Feb 2018
The European Premiere of new Indian short film ‘Bagheera’ will
take place at the London International Filmmaker Festival of
World Cinema on Sunday 11th February 2018. Bagheera is an
exhilarating new film that addresses the major issue of the
violent denigration of women. Written, produced and directed
by Christopher R. Watson and co-produced by Sakar Raut, this
captivating Tarantino-does-Bollywood, 20-minute short, is a
highly relevant piece of international cinema. Created with a
stylistic, western approach, yet written in Hindi language and
culturally sensitive, Bagheera gives rise to an exciting wave
of inventive new storytelling, layered with unexpected
nuances.

Shot in Mumbai in a disused Indian shipyard, Bagheera (Preeti
Choudhury), is the bright young leader of a Girl Scout troop
in India. Abducted after a meeting with her pack, she uses the
many skills of her achievement badges to combat her assailant,
Kaka, (Rajesh Balwani) and serves up a scorching retribution.

Bagheera takes her name from the Black Panther of Rudyard
Kipling’s Jungle Book. When the Empress of the Jungle uses her
claws, things don’t go well for her opponents, as Bagheera’s
blistering revenge demonstrates.

Whilst the subject is dark, the message is hugely uplifting.
This thought provoking story highlights the vulnerability of
women in many societies across the world today. Bagheera
reminds us that fearlessness and resourcefulness are two of
humanity’s most powerful tools.

Director Christopher R. Watson states: “I wanted to tell a

powerful story about a modern woman which would uplift
audiences. Bagheera is a piece of cinema that celebrates the
human spirit, by demonstrating the value of common-sense,
resourcefulness and courage.”

Watson has been living in Mumbai, India for the last four
years. He is fascinated by Indian culture and his work is
focussed on exploring the extraordinary diversity of human
experience that he sees throughout Indian culture. His next
film is also written in Hindi language and is based on the
true story of a young woman called Anuradha, which means, and
is titled, Goddess of Luck. Watson’s hybrid approach for both
Indian and International audiences lends his work a unique
creative difference.

Bagheera is also currently being developed into a full-length
feature film. The short film will be screened at the London
International Filmmaker Festival of World Cinema, Crowne Plaza
London Docklands, London, E16 1AL on Sunday 11th February at
19:45. Admission: free– tickets on a first come, first served
basis.

To learn more about the film, visit www.bagheerafilm.com