UK Asian Film Festival 2018: The diaspora's experience with cinema

Discussions on various aspects of film-viewing and filmmaking among South Asian diasporas are at the centre of this year's ongoing UK Asian Film Festival

The uncomplicated merits of Bollywood cinema become better apparent within the ashen, all-too-couth precincts of English cities. Three weeks after moving to London, I found myself decisively typing the words “badtameez dil” into YouTube. The song, as hoped, provided an artificial boost of energy almost as good as any over-the-counter vitamin.

For the roughly three million South Asians in the United Kingdom, many of whom have lived here for generations, films from the subcontinent serve a far more significant purpose. They offer a way to construct and carry on culture; to make a home away from home. Over time, Indians here