A West London-based South Asian Cinema Foundation (SACF) has received 41,500 pounds grant from Britain's Heritage Lottery Fund to uncover a hidden and highly significant part of Indo-British film heritage in the UK.
Revealing this Lalit Mohan Joshi, Director of the Hounslow-based Foundation said, "The grant will be utilised to research, collate, document and digitise highlights of the period, put them into a documentary film and organise film screening and other community events through the engagement and input of a group of adult volunteers."
Commencing from the 1930s, the one-year project entitled 'A Hidden Heritage - Indo-British Film Collaboration' in UK (1930-1951) will first focus on Himasu Rai and Devika Rani's 'Karma' (1933).
"This was the first Indo-British talking film that was completed in the UK and released with much fanfare in both London and Birmingham," Joshi said.
Interestingly, its music composer was a classical British composer of the London Symphony Orchestra who is still alive.
The project will also highlight the work of Sabu, the first Indian who became an international star and the remarkable life of an Anglo-Indian actress, Merle Oberon who moved to Britain, worked in films with top English actors such as Laurence Olivier and also made a mark in Hollywood.
"The project is bound to expose some almost completely forgotten film personalities of the era," Joshi said.
"The Foundation will work with volunteers to find out and highlight salient landmarks of the period with training and support provided by the project, they will assist in producing a number of public events and some tangible outcomes," he said.
