🎥 Indian Indie veteran film director Shyam Benegal wins festival’s top Icon Award
🎥 Audience award goes to Marathi film ‘Sthal’ (‘A Match) by Jayant Digamber Somalkar
🎥 New British Asian shorts – reflections on emerging British Asian filmmakers short films (seven short films with six set in the UK, one in India)
🎥 Youtube star’s first sitcom series ‘Late Bloomer’ by Jasmeet Singh Raina, better known online as Jus Reign, gets screening UK premiere screening (3 episodes)
🎥 Wrap on Opening Film, ‘Paper Flowers’ and Closing Film (‘Kill’)
ONE OF INDIA’S best known independent film directors Shyam Benegal was awarded the top prize at this year’s London Indian Film Festival (LIFF).
The festival which ran from June 26-July 3 in London and until July 7, in other locations (including Birmingham, Manchester and Yorkshire) in the UK, brought its curtain down in the capital with the Indian slasher action flick ‘Kill’. It is on general release in the UK and India currently.
The fest opened with ‘Paper Flowers’, a film about a young Indian American about to brace his traditional Gujarati family for his impending nuptials with a Chinese American woman, when he discovers he has cancer.
Starring Karan Soni – whom we interviewed when he and writing-director and medical doctor Roshan Sethi, both came to London Film Festival for their lockdown non-romantic comedy, ‘7 Days’ , the film in 2021 – ‘Paper Flowers’ went down very well.
Director Mahesh Pailoor was in attendance and is one to continue to keep an eye out on and support – we saw his ‘Brahmin Bulls’ (2012) and were impressed.
This older film is about a father-son relationship, as essayed by Sendhil Ramamurthy and Roshan Seth, respectively. Set in the US, it’s about these two high achieving men who have a bit of an issue with each other. Rooted in family and immigrant dynamics, Pailoor has his pulse on significant but often unremarked and under the radar family issues – and perhaps the same could be said now of the wider themes contained in ‘Paper Flowers’. More Pailoor, please.
The closing film was ‘Kill’ by Nikhil Nagesh Bhatt – it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) last September. We haven’t seen it – so can’t say*.
We did however get to see Youtube star’s Jus Reign’s ‘Late Bloomer’ at LIFF – a series available on the Canadian streaming service Crave – it seems odd no one has bought it for Europe or South Asia itself.
LIFF showed the first three episodes of eight; this is funny, slightly adult (18) and entertaining, and very relatable. as content creator Jasmeet Dutta (played by Jasmeet Singh Raina – Jus Reign himself), navigates the pressure points of family, faith and western culture in Canada.
Between all this, we also saw and covered New British Asian shorts* – perhaps the most exciting aspect of the LIFF programme this year, for those looking for the next wonder global director, such as Gurinder Chadha.
All seven films were excellent with high production values, stimulating subjects and strong acting (where relevant) – it’s very hard to pick out one – as all have unique merits.
Rajinder Kaur Kochar’s ‘Rita Goes Viral’ is beautiful for crossing taboos – the Indian saried, older woman who romances a white geezer – while her 18-year-old granddaughter is caught on a phone camera in a compromising position… needless to say, it gets shared around. Strong family drama here and Kochar identifies taboos and interrogates with flair and understanding.
Rehan Mudannayake’s poignant family drama, ‘So Long, Farewell’ is shot with great sensitivity and adroitness – an ageing Sri Lankan grandmother can’t accept her grandson’s decision to leave the UK for Amsterdam, for his dream job. Touching and relatable for many South Asians – where sacrifice and family are almost two words welded together.
with moderator Elham Ehsas (far left)
Mehek Azmathulla’s ‘Skater Uktis’ is thrilling and eye opening, as Muslim girls bust stereotypes and show much agility on a skateboard. It covers the phenomenon in Birmingham and further afield in Nigeria (through a Zoom, not on location!)
Billy Dosanjh’s ‘Lumbu’ (‘Tall One’) has all the hallmark features of Northern Noir – gritty and realistic, it homes in on a mother-son relationship, as the mum reels from the fallout of a failing relationship and a teenage son growing up. Ably shot and with support from the BBC and BFI, it will be available on BBC I-player soon. Well worth watching.
Equally memorable was Sanjoli Malani’s ‘Chai-Coffi’ with well-known Indian character lead, Chhaya Kadam, as a widow from a village heading to Kerala from Bihar, for reasons unknown, until the end…warm, empathetic, and inspiring and we would hope to see more of this (as a feature?) or similar work from the London Film School graduate.
Leah Rustomjee’s ‘Same Same’ is something of a much needed gentle, narrative driven meditation on mixed race and tangled cultural heritages – with two sisters who look a little different and confuse many – especially at a family Parsi ceremony.
Last but certainly not least is, Sara David’s ‘Khichdi’ (a common South Asian mixed rice and lentil dish) that sees four first generation Asian nurses share their decades’ experiences of the NHS, over a meal and reminisce in a way that is both enlightening and informative. This was another film that represented abundant promise.
Well done to LIFF and Krushil Patel for programming and we fully expect you to be hearing about all these directors in the years to come. Gurinder, look out! Haha.
This year the Satyajit Ray Short Film Award, sponsored by Civic Studios, went to Kamil Chema for his ‘The Clown’. He won the £1,000 cash prize and the award is presented to a director who exhibits the same humanist vision that the great Indian director Satyajit Ray (1921-1992) deployed in all his work. The winning film is set in Lahore, Pakistan.
Cary Rajinder Sawhney, CEO of LIFF, said: “The success of this year’s LIFF truly marks the growing global influence of South Asian storytelling, and the power of cultural festivals like this in amplifying these narratives on an international stage”.
Thanks to Sawhney and his team at LIFF for platforming these films and organising the industry session – read about here.
More about the films and the directors backgrounds and films in New British Asian Shorts below…
