London Indian Film Festival 2021: Cinema & Online Mix

The 12th edition of the Bagri Foundation London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) is back with a hybrid programme for 2021.

LIFF and its sister festivals in Birmingham and Manchester unveil the 2021 edition as a love letter to the Indian sub-continent during a challenging year for South Asia.

The festival, which takes place from June 17 to July 4, 2021, will continue to showcase independent premieres from the homelands, along with Special in conversations and Q&As.

The festival will also present many films, reflecting some strands.

The strands include  Young Rebel, Great British Asians, Extra-Ordinary Lives, Classic Cinema, Save The Planet, Satyajit Ray Short Film Competition, Too Desi Too Queer, New Brit-Asian Shorts and BSL Special Double Bill: For Each Other & Double Discrimination.

Festival Director Cary Rajinder Sawhney MBE mentions the continuation of digital screenings as well as full return to the in-cinema experience:

“Last year we grew our audiences quite substantially by going online and UK-wide.

“With the UK scene improving, we are delighted to not only offer a strong high definition online experience on LoveLIFFatHome.com but to also welcome our audiences back to the big screen in 3 major UK cities, at some of their finest cinemas.

We highlight the London Indian Film Festival 2021, as well as participating cinemas and screenings online.

Opening Night Gala

WOMB, Women of My Billion (2020: India ) is an inspiring feature documentary, which has its UK Premiere on the opening night of the London Indian Film Festival.

The opening night gala takes place at BFI South Bank on June 17, 2021, at 17:20.

The Ajitesh Sharma directorial will also have screenings in Manchester and Birmingham.

Additionally, there will be an in-cinema Q&A post-screening of the film.

The film follows Srishti Bakshi, a young woman who embarks on a monumental traverse of India.

Her walk over 240 days from the southern part of Kanyakumari to the North, in Kashmir, covers a distance of almost 400 km.

On her journey, she learns more about the experiences of Indian women in different corners of the country.

Closing Night

Flight (UK: 1997) is a British Asian family drama, which closes the 2021 London Indian Film Festival.

The film and post-screening Q&A take place at Ciné Lumière on July 2, 2021, from 18:30.

The film will also be shown earlier in Manchester and Birmingham as well.

Alex Pillai is the director of this sensitive English film, with Tanika Gupta being the writer.

The film focuses on the young Shikha (Mina Anwar) who resides in Accrington, Lancashire but runs away to London.

She escapes from the north after her private romance with a boy from a different faith leaks out.

Fearing danger and the wrath of her patriarch father (Roshan Seth) prompts her to flee.

It is in the capital that she realises freedom. But that is all short-lived as the past catches up with Shikha.

Meera Syal and Kulvinder Ghir also star in this TV movie.

Special In-Conversations

The 2021 London Indian Film Festival will present special in-conversations both on stage and digitally.

BFI Southbank will host a rendezvous with eminent screenwriter Hanif Kureishi of My Beautiful Laundrette (UK: 1985) fame.

Award-winning director Asif Kapadia will also have an in-conversation at the same venue.

He will take centre stage with renowned film critic Hanna Ines Flint.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the production, Bend It Like Beckham (UK: 2002), BBC presenters will host an in-conversation with director Gurinder Chadha OBE at the Barbican.

Author and producer Nasreen Munni Kabir digitally talks to Indian film industry legend Pam Cullen.

LoveLIFFAthome will also showcase an in-conversation with the dynamic Avtar Panesar of Yash Raj Films. Cary Rajinder Sawhney is the host of this event.

There will be several other online in-conversation events with celebrities from India.

There will be a special rendezvous each with hit Bollywood director Karan Johar, versatile actress Shruti Haasan and young star Jahnvi Kapoor.

Screening Highlights

The 2021 London Indian Film Festival has many others films on show, covering different strands.

Late Soumitra Chatterjee, one of Satyajit Ray’s greatest actors, stars in the European Premiere of Abhijaan (India: 2021) at Ciné Lumière.

Bengali drama, Searching For Happiness (India: 2021) will have its UK Premiere at BFI Southbank.

The UK premiere of the Black comedy Karkhanisanchi Waari, Ashes On A Road Trip (India: 2020) will screen at Ciné Lumière.

Both films will also enthral the audience with light-hearted moments.

Making its UK debut at Ciné Lumière is the Tamil film Koozhangal, Pebble (India: 2021).

Manju Warrier, a renowned actress from South India features in the UK Premiere of the Malayalam movie Kayattam, A’hr  (India: 2020) at BFI Southbank.

I’ll Meet You There (USA: 2020) is an Urdu film, which explores the life of an immigrant Pakistani American family in Chicago, USA.

Directed by Iram Parveen Bilal, the film has its UK Premiere at Ciné Lumière.

Here are full listings for London, Birmingham, Manchester and digital screenings:

LONDON

WOMB, WOMEN OF MY BILLION (English, Hindi Tamil, Telugu with English subtitles) | OPENING NIGHT | UK PREMIERE | 102 Mins
Showing: June 17, 2021, 17:20, BFI South Bank | June 22, 2021, 18:30, Ciné Lumière
Director: Ajitesh Sharma | Cast: Srishti Bakshi

IN CONVERSATION WITH HANIF KUREISHI
Showing: June 18, 2021, 20:20, BFI Southbank

MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE (English, Urdu with English subtitles) | 97 Mins
Showing: June 18, 2021, 20:20, BFI Southbank
Director: Stephen Frears | Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Gordon Warnecke, Saeed Jaffrey

MARA PAAPA SUPERHERO (Gujarati with English subtitles) | 120 Mins
Showing: June 19, 2021, 18:00, Watermans
Director: Darshan Ashwin Trivedi | Cast:  Bhavya Sirohi, Abhinay Banker, Shraddha Dangar

IN CONVERSATION WITH ASIF KAPADIA
Showing: June 19, 2021, 20:10, BFI Southbank

THE WARRIOR (English) | 86 Mins
Showing: June 19, 2021, 20:30, BFI Southbank
Director: Asif Kapadia | Cast: Irrfan Khan

AHIMSA: GANDHI THE POWER OF THE POWERLESS  (English) | EUROPEAN PREMIERE | 108 Mins
Showing: June 20, 2021, 15:00, BFI Southbank
Director: Ramesh Sharma

GHAR KA PATA, MY HOME ADDRESS (Hindi, Kashmiri, English with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 67 Mins
Showing: June 20, 2021, 16:00, Watermans | June 26, 2021, 16:00, Bertha DochHouse 
Director: Madhulika Jalali

SEARCHING FOR HAPPINESS… (Bengali with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 63 Mins
Showing: June 22, 2021, 20:50, BFI Southbank
Director: Suman Ghosh | Cast: Sudiptaa Chakraborty, Arindam Ghosh, Shahida Neera

KOOZHANGAL, PEBBLES (Tamil with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 75 Mins
Showing: June 23, 2021, 18:30, Ciné Lumière | June 30, 2021, 2o:00, Rich Mix
Director: PS Vinothraj | Cast: Chellapandi, Karuththadaiyaan

NAZARBAND, CAPTIVE (Hindi, English with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 85 Mins
Showing: June 23, 2021, 20:45, BFI Southbank
Director: Suman Mukhopadhyay | Cast: Tanmay Dhanania, Indira Tiwari

KAYATTAM, A’HR (Malayalam with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 105 Mins
Showing: June 24, 2021, 18:00, BFI Southbank
Director: Sanal Kumar Sasidharan | Cast: Manju Warrier, Gaurav Ravindran, Bhupendra Khurana

KARKHANISANCHI WAARI, ASHES ON A ROAD TRIP (Marathi with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 108 Mins
Showing: June 24, 2021, 20:40, Ciné Lumière | June 27, 2021, 15:00, Genesis Cinema
Director: Mangesh Joshi | Cast: Amey Wagh, Mohan Agashe, Geetanjali Kulkarni

PRATIBHA PARMAR: BRITISH ASIANS – THE UNDERGROUND GENERATIONS (English) | 85 Mins
Showing: June 25, 2021, 18:00, Barbican
Director: Pratibha Parmar

MUTINY: ASIANS STORM BRITISH MUSIC (English) | 83 Mins
Showing: June 25, 20:00, Rich Mix
Director: Vivek Bald

TOO DESI TOO QUEER (Punjabi, Hindi, English, Marathi with English subtitles) | 65 Mins
Showing: June 25, 2021, 20:15, Ciné Lumière
Directors: Various

BRICK LANE (English, Bengali, Arabic with English subtitles ) | 102 Mins
Showing: June 25, 2021, 2o:30, Genesis Cinema
Director: Sarah Gavron | Cast:  Tannishtha Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik, Christopher Simpson

IN CONVERSATION WITH GURINDER CHADHA
Showing: June 25, 2021, 20:45, Rooftop East Stratford
Hosts: Sunny and Shay Grewal

BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM (English, Punjabi, Hindi with English subtitles) | 112 Mins
Showing: June 25, 2021, 20:45, Rooftop East Stratford
Director: Gurinder Chadha | Cast: Parminder Nagra, Keira Knightley, Anupam Kher

PRATIBHA PARMAR: ASIAN ARTISTS IN EUROPE (English) | 71 Mins
Showing: June 26, 2021, 15:00, Barbican
Director: Pratibha Parmar

BSL SPECIAL DOUBLE BILL: FOR EACH OTHER & DOUBLE DISCRIMINATION (Assamese, Silent with English subtitles) | 112 Mins
Showing: June 26, 2021, 18:00, Genesis Cinema
For Each Other Director: Rima Das | Double Discrimination Director: Rinkoo Bargapa

ABHIJAAN (Bengali with English subtitles) | EUROPEAN PREMIERE | 160 Mins
Showing: June 26, 2021, 20:15, Ciné Lumière
Director: Parambrata Chattopadhyay  | Cast: Soumitra Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta, Quashiq Mukherjee

MUGHAL-E-AZAM (Urdu with English subtitles) | 197 Mins
Showing: June 27, 2021, 14:00, Ciné Lumière
Director: K. Asif  | Cast: Prithviraj Kapoor, Madhubala, Dilip Kumar

NONAJOLER KABBO, THE SALT IN OUR WATERS (Bangla with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 106 Mins
Showing: June 27, 2021, 15:00, BFI Southbank | July 1, 2021, 20:30, Genesis Cinema
Director: Rezwan Shahriar Sumit | Cast: Fazlur Rahman Babu, Shatabdi Wadud, Titas Zia

AISE HEE, JUST LIKE THAT (Hindi with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 113 Mins
Showing: June 29, 2021, 18:00, Barbican
Director: Kislay  | Cast: Mohini Sharma, Harish Khanna, Sadhna Singh

SATYAJIT RAY SHORT FILM COMPETITION PART 1:

LATA ~ Presented by Alisha Tejpal, 21 mins, Hindi, Marathi
BLACK GOAT ~ Presented by Tang Yi, 12 mins, Nepali, English
DHULO, THE SCAPEGOAT ~ Presented by Tathagata Ghosh, 25 min, Bengali
ANITA ~ Presented by Sushma Khadepaun, 18 mins, Gujarati
1978 ~ Presented by Hamza Bangash, 17 mins, Urdu

Showing: June 29, 2021, 18:30, Ciné Lumière

BREAD & BELONGING (Konkani, English, Kannada with English subtitles) | EUROPEAN PREMIERE | 51 Mins
Showing: June 29, 2021, 20:00, Rich Mix
Director: Sonia Filinto

NEW BRIT-ASIAN SHORTS:

ALIEN CULTURE by Iesh Thappar
#WEAREHERE by Hussina Raja
VEST by Samir Mallal
KHAANA by Cary Rajinder Sawhney
I CHOOSE by Tina Pastora
CHARIOT RIDERS by Kate Jessop
LITTLE ELEPHANT by Kate Jessop
ARMOUR by Chila Kumari Singh Burman, Susanne Dietz
MEOW OR NEVER by Neeraja Raj

Showing: June 30, 2021, 18:10, Barbican

KALIRA ATITA, YESTERDAY’S PAST (Odia with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 83 Mins
Showing: June 30, 2021, 18:30, Ciné Lumière
Director: Nila Madhab Panda | Cast: Pitabash Tripathy

SATYAJIT RAY SHORT FILM COMPETITION PART 2:

BITTU ~ Presented by Karishma Dev Dube, 17 mins, Hindi, English with English subtitles
FRAYED LINES ~ Presented by Priya Belliappa, 2o mins, Kodava Assamese with English subtitles
SUMAMIME, WADE ~ Presented by Upamanyu Bhattacharyya, Kalp Sanghvi, 1o mins, Bengali with English subtitles
KANYA ~ Presented by Apoorva Satish, 16 mins, Tamil with English subtitles
TRANSIT ~ Presented by Ariq Anam Khan, 19 mins, Bangla with English subtitles
B. SELVI & DAUGHTERS ~ Presented by Drishya, 24 mins, Tamil with English subtitles

Showing: June 30, 2021, 20:30, Genesis Cinema

WILD WEST (English) | 85 Mins
Showing: July 1, 2021, 20:00, Rich Mix
Director: David Stwood | Cast: Naveen Andrews, Sarita Choudhury, Ronny Jhutti

I’LL MEET YOU THERE (Urdu with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 90 Mins
Showing: July 1, 2021, 20:30, Ciné Lumière
Director: Iram Parveen Bilal | Cast: Faran Tahir, Nikita Tewani, Sheetal Sheth, Qavi Khan

FLIGHT (English) | CLOSING GALA | 75 Mins
Showing: July 2, 2021, 18:30, Ciné Lumière
Director: Alex Pillai | Cast: Mina Anwar, Kulvinder Ghir, Roshan Seth, Meera Syal

BIRMINGHAM

WOMB, WOMEN OF MY BILLION (English, Hindi Tamil, Telugu with English subtitles) | OPENING NIGHT | MIDLANDS PREMIERE | 102 Mins
Showing: June 25, 2021, 19:00, mac Birmingham
Director: Ajitesh Sharma | Cast: Srishti Bakshi

AISE HEE, JUST LIKE THAT (Hindi with English subtitles) | MIDLANDS PREMIERE | 113 Mins
Showing: June 26, 2021, 12:00, mac Birmingham
Director: Kislay  | Cast: Mohini Sharma, Harish Khanna, Sadhna Singh

ABHIJAAN (Bengali with English subtitles) | MIDLANDS PREMIERE | 160 Mins
Showing: June 26, 2021, 15:00, mac Birmingham
Director: Parambrata Chattopadhyay  | Cast: Soumitra Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta, Quashiq Mukherjee

SEARCHING FOR HAPPINESS… (Bengali with English subtitles) | 63 Mins
Showing: June 27, 2021, 12:00, mac Birmingham
Director: Suman Ghosh | Cast: Sudiptaa Chakraborty, Arindam Ghosh, Shahida Neera

BSL SPECIAL DOUBLE BILL: FOR EACH OTHER & DOUBLE DISCRIMINATION (Assamese, Silent with English subtitles) | 112 Mins
Showing: June 27, 2021, 14:00, mac Birmingham
For Each Other Director: Rima Das | Double Discrimination Director: Rinkoo Bargapa

MARA PAAPA SUPERHERO (Gujarati with English subtitles) | 120 Mins
Showing: June 28, 2021, 19:00, mac Birmingham
Director: Darshan Ashwin Trivedi | Cast:  Bhavya Sirohi, Abhinay Banker, Shraddha Dangar

I’LL MEET YOU THERE (Urdu with English subtitles) | 90 Mins
Showing: June 30, 2021, 14:00, mac Birmingham
Director: Iram Parveen Bilal | Cast: Faran Tahir, Nikita Tewani, Sheetal Sheth, Qavi Khan

KAYATTAM, A’HR (Malayalam with English subtitles) | 105 Mins
Showing: June 30, 2021, 18:20, Everyman Mailbox Birmingham
Director: Sanal Kumar Sasidharan | Cast: Manju Warrier, Gaurav Ravindran, Bhupendra Khurana

NONAJOLER KABBO, THE SALT IN OUR WATERS (Bangla with English subtitles) | MIDLANDS PREMIERE | 106 Mins
Showing: July 1, 2021, 19:00, mac Birmingham
Director: Rezwan Shahriar Sumit | Cast: Fazlur Rahman Babu, Shatabdi Wadud, Titas Zia

TOO DESI TOO QUEER (Punjabi, Hindi, English, Marathi with English subtitles) | 65 Mins
Showing: July 2, 2021, 19:30, mac Birmingham
Directors: Various

MUGHAL-E-AZAM (Urdu with English subtitles) | 197 Mins
Showing: July 3, 2021, 14:00, Millenium Point Birmingham
Director: K. Asif  | Cast: Prithviraj Kapoor, Madhubala, Dilip Kumar

KARKHANISANCHI WAARI, ASHES ON A ROAD TRIP (Marathi with English subtitles) | MIDLANDS PREMIERE | 108 Mins
Showing: July 3, 2021, 19:00, mac Birmingham 
Director: Mangesh Joshi | Cast: Amey Wagh, Mohan Agashe, Geetanjali Kulkarni

FLIGHT (English) | CLOSING GALA | 75 Mins
Showing: July 4, 2021, 15:00, mac Birmingham
Director: Alex Pillai | Cast: Mina Anwar, Kulvinder Ghir, Roshan Seth, Meera Syal

MANCHESTER

WOMB, WOMEN OF MY BILLION (English, Hindi Tamil, Telugu with English subtitles) | 102 Mins
Showing: June 23, 2021, 18:30, Everyman Manchester St John’s
Director: Ajitesh Sharma | Cast: Srishti Bakshi

FLIGHT (English) | 75 Mins
Showing: June 26, 2021, 14:30, Everyman Manchester St John’s 
Director: Alex Pillai | Cast: Mina Anwar, Kulvinder Ghir, Roshan Seth, Meera Syal

BHAJI  ON THE BEACH (English) | 1O1 Mins
Showing: June 27, 2021, 14:30, Everyman Manchester St John’s (women-only screening) 
Director: Gurinder Chadha | Cast: Kim Vithana, Jimi Harkishan, Lalita Ahmed

VIRTUAL SCREENINGS AT LOVELIFFATHOME.COM (24 HOURS)

POP CITY (Hindi with English subtitles) | 80 Mins
Showing: June 18, 2021, 18:00
Director: Rohit Mittal | Cast: Arjun Radhakrishnan, Naina Sareen, Preeti Sharma

SISTERS OF THE TREES (Hindi, Merwari with English subtitles) | 86 Mins
Showing: June 19, 2021, 18:00
Directors: Camila Menéndez, Lucas Peñafort

BITTERSWEET (Marathi with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 101 Mins
Showing: June 20, 2021, 18:00
Director: Ananth Mahadevan | Cast: Akshaya Gaurav, Suresh Vishwakamra, Anil Nagarkar

GAMAK GHAR, THE VILLAGE HOUSE (Maithili with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 91 Mins
Showing: June 21, 2021, 18:00
Director: Achal Mishra | Cast: Abhinav Jha, Mira Jha, Satyam Jha

BAGANIYA, GARDEN OF MEMORIES (Bhojpuri, Bengali with English subtitles) | 56 Mins
Showing: June 22, 2021, 18:00
Director: Humaira Bilkis

STHALPURAN, CHRONICLE OF SPACE (Marathi with English subtitles) | 86 Mins
Showing: June 23, 2021, 18:00
Director: Akshay Indikar | Cast: Neel Deshmukh, Anushree Wani, Sonia Mahale

WINGMAN THE UNIVERSAL IRONY OF LOVE (Hindi with English subtitles) | EUROPEAN PREMIERE | 85 Mins
Showing: June 24, 2021, 18:00
Director: Anuj Gulati | Cast: Shashank Arora, Trimala Adhikari, Nakul Bhalla

LORNI – THE FLANEUR (Khasi, English, Hindi with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 85 Mins
Showing: June 25, 2021, 18:00
Director: Wanphrang K Diengdoh | Cast: Adil Hussein, Elizer Bareh, Dawait Syiem

SWIMMING THROUGH DARKNESS (Bengali with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 76 Mins
Showing: June 26, 2021, 18:00
Director: Supriyo Sen

WHO IS BAUL (Bengali, English with English subtitles) | EUROPEAN PREMIERE | 54 Mins
Showing: June 27, 2021, 18:00
Director: Sairam Sagiraju

KASTOORI, THE MUSK (Hindi, Marathi with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 101 Mins
Showing: June 28, 2021, 18:00
Director: Vinod Kamble | Cast: Samarth Sonawane, Shravan Upalakar, Vaishali Kendale

TRIJYA – RADIUS (Marathi with English subtitles) | UK PREMIERE | 91 Mins
Showing: June 29, 2021, 18:00
Director: Akshay Indikar | Cast: Abhay Mahajan, Girish Kulkarni, Anjali Jogalekar

GHAR KA PATA, MY HOME ADDRESS (Hindi, Kashmiri, English with English subtitles) | 67 Mins
Showing: June 30, 2021, 18:00
Director: Madhulika Jalali

BREAD & BELONGING (Konkani, English, Kannada with English subtitles) | 51 Mins
Showing: July 1, 2021, 18:00
Director: Sonia Filinto

I’LL MEET YOU THERE (Urdu with English subtitles) | 90 Mins
Showing: July 2, 2021, 18:00
Director: Iram Parveen Bilal | Cast: Faran Tahir, Nikita Tewani, Sheetal Sheth, Qavi Khan

The 2021 London Indian Film Festival has the perfect balance of classic films and contemporary independent movies.

The festival caters to the South Asian diaspora, especially with so films in a variety of South Asian languages.

Watch the Trailer for the London Indian Film Festival 2021 here:

Alka Bagri, trustee of the title sponsor, Bagri Foundation looks back to a challenging period for everyone, along with LIFF 2021 providing some much-needed relief:

“It has been a difficult year for many these past 12 months, and we are pleased to support a little escape for you via LIFF’s hybrid festival this year.

“Our seventh year as title sponsor showcases classic films and Q&As, as well as a range of UK premieres from some top British Asian and South Asian talent.

“Whether you attend in person, or watch from the comfort of your sofa, we hope you feel as excited as we are to see fresh faces and legendary stories from across Asian cinema!”

The 2021 London Indian Film Festival provides the perfect opportunity to enjoy some intriguing and alternative cinema.

For further information about the 2021 London Film Festival, including the full programme for all three cities and virtual screenings please check the LIFF website here.