HELLO FOLKS! Welcome to the new site – take a look around*
These are miscellaneous Bird Bites from our week…
Now – International (Indian) Film
‘Love in Vietnam‘
THIS is a cross-cultural romance story we got to hear about from its team when we were in Cannes in 2024. (Video link above).
It’s available to see in selected UK cinemas from yesterday (September 12) and releases in India and China too.
Directed by Rahhat Shah Kazmi, it’s an adaptation of a Turkish 1943 novel, ‘Madonna in a Fur Coat’ – changing the star-crossed lovers to contemporary times in Vietnam.
It stars Shantanu Maheswari and Avneet Kaur who are big stars in their respective regional cinemas, Bengali and Punjabi, respectively.
If the energy we witnessed in Cannes was anything to go by – this will be a be a hit and mark another significant milestone for Kazmi, whose stock has been steadily rising. His films have screened at the UK Film Festival and we have even seen ‘Identity Card’ (2014), his early feature about his native Kashmir, but not ‘Country of the Blind’ (2023) which got a US release and has an Academy Award Library filing.
‘Love in Vietnam’ is in selected cinemas in the UK (and India) now…
New award nominated play – short UK tour left…review
American Candy – Sweet drama spot, almost…
SET partly in an American candy store on a British High Street, this is a play high on drama – stabbing, gun violence, and poisoning – you can’t fault writer Tom Murray for the action but personally, it’s a little short on character motivation and depth.
Having said that, the four performers are strong and help to hold it all together in a tight 90 minutes.
Some of it is a little far-fetched and improbable for a play that is firmly in the UK social realism category.
What is impressive is the range of ‘misfit’ characters Murray presents to us – Zaynab (Layla Chowdhury) works in the store alongside Connor (Joseph Pape) with whom she also went to school with, some years back.
Their manager Daniel (George Kirby-Smith) is a brute in more ways than one but also has that charm typical of those who wish to manipulate and exploit others. He is also angry and spiteful (when stressed) and has in it for anyone, not like himself really.
His wife, Sabrina, (Grace Longman) is gentle and loving, has depression and doesn’t fare too well – it’s an interesting combustible mixture that doesn’t quite fit together in the way it perhaps could…
Nevertheless, it’s great to see writers such as Murray – with direction by Francesca Hseih – take on “weird Turkish barber shops” in drama and try to unravel the dynamics of such seemingly casual remarks.
Produced by The Mango Ensemble, it’s the runner up in the Charlie Hartill Award and the Untapped Award Longlist…more on the group’s website (see link below). We saw it on Wednesday (September 10) at the Clapham Omnibus Theatre.
It’s on short UK tour – check venues and dates below…
(https://www.mangoensemble.com/american-candy)
ACV rating: *** (out of five)
Concert – review
Arijit Singh & Anoushka Shankar – who saw that coming?
SOME 50,000 people were at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to witness history – this Indian singer was the first to ever headline a stadium concert in the UK.
Arijit Singh is huge in India and has 151 million followers on Spotify. He has a string of Bollywood hits and his summer single with Ed Sheeran (‘Sapphire’) introduced him to the West in a big way ahead of this.
He has an easy charm, spoke mostly in English when addressing the crowd, covered some English tracks, and played a couple of numbers with Anoushka Shankar, in a surprise move last Friday (September 5) – everyone thought it was going to be Sheeran, when Singh said he had a special guest.
There was backing from a 25 piece orchestra and Singh played his most famous songs – ‘Tum Hi Ho’, ‘Ae Dil Hai Mukshil’ and ‘Sapphire’… dancers and other singers helped to keep the show lively.
It was a brilliant night, the atmosphere was terrific and the crowd, mostly brown, and covering a wide age range, enjoyed themselves. Some thought it was good, if not spectacular and Singh – not being aware of the strict rules around the concert curfew of 10.30pm – ran out of time, leading to a limp end – he was on stage for nearly four hours though. Personally: great, still, come again please.
ACV rating: ***** (five out of five)
New TV Drama
‘Coldwater’ with Indira Verma
NO, NOT A NEW BEAUTY treatment technique signed off by the ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Kama Sutra’ (1996) star – it’s actually a new ITV drama hitting our screens from this Sunday (September 14).
Varma plays Fiona, the wife of stay-at-home Dad John – reprised by Andrew Lincoln (yes of ‘This Life’ late 1990s fame). It’s something of a return to UK TV, for Lincoln, having been in US ‘The Walking Dead’ more recently.
He’s the main character in ‘Coldwater‘ and the couple, who have two children, have moved from London to this fictional village in Scotland called Coldwater.
A violent incident in London has prompted John, who has a lot of ‘issues’, into moving his family up north. His marriage is in a difficult place and the two befriend the vicar wife – Rebecca (Eve Myles) and her husband, Tommy (Ewen Bremner) – neither are traditional or conventional and one gives Fiona the heeby-jeebies…
An early, unnerving welcoming dinner and another strange incident involving John in Coldwater this time, send the drama into high stakes, unpredictable and uncomfortable areas (for each character).
Worth catching if you like edgy, spooky thrillers with characters who are all hiding something – perhaps a multiplicity of secrets or shameful episodes in their lives.
www.asianculturevulture.com saw a first episode (of six) with the main cast in attendance. Written and executively produced by David Ireland and directed by Lee Haven Jones and Andrew Cumming (three episodes each, respectively) this should give you a reason to stay in as the nights get longer.
ACV rating: **** (out of five)
ITV Sunday, September 14, 9pm linear TV
Our home film festival – who’s excited? Public booking this week…
London Film Festival launch interviews – watch!
ALL OUR videos from the Venice Film Festival, covering the British ‘Ish’ (Imran Perretta) and the Mumbai-set and award-winning ‘Songs of Forgotten Trees’ (Anuparna Roy) will drop shortly and complement those on the other Indian feature which premiered there – ‘Secret of a Sacred Mountain’. The festival ended on Saturday (September 6). Debut director Roy won the Best Director prize at Venice in the Orrizonti (Horizons) section – not bad for someone who worked three jobs and put her own money into the film. It’s ‘presented’ by Anurag Kashyap – one of India’s best known directors and often referred to as India’s Quentin Tarantino. Need we say more… watch it (and our interviews) when you get the chance!
See our conversations too with indie star Adil Hussain and debutant writer-director Nidhi Saxena from the film, ‘Secret of a Mountain Serpent‘. Indie films dealing with female sexuality, in all its guises, seems to be a thing at the moment in indie cinema in India; and led by women writer-directors themselves. The feature ‘Girls Will Be Girls‘ by Shuchi Talati was a sensation when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year.
And speaking of film festivals, London Film Festival (LFF October 8-19) is not too far away – public booking opens on Tuesday (September 16) and if patrons and members’ booking is anything like it was this morning when we went to simply browse the website – expect to queue even online, as an ordinary punter, to get on the website and grab what tickets you can.
For us, among the highlights will be the screening of ‘Sholay – the Director’s Cut’ (Ramesh Sippy); ‘Hotel London’ (Ahmed Jamal); ‘Ish’, which those of us in London have not seen yet and Indian American Annapurna Sriram’s anarchic punkish, lesbian romp com (?) ‘F**Ktoys’. Get clicking! We will have more…soon!
Our interviews from the launch last week will drop soon on our YouTube channel (subscribe!) – check the picture to see everyone we spoke to … who’s excited? What are you looking forwards to…?
More on LFF as we approach the start date…
Finally, thanks for reading or scanning to the bottom – what do you think of our new website?
We will be sending a newsletter out early next month, so if you have something to say…
Subscribe here…
We are still testing the site and will be tweaking it to give you the best experience!
