Derek Malcolm recommends: London Asian Film Festival

Two tributes to outstanding talents of the past are as central to this year’s programme
First sight: Nagesh Kukunoor’s Lakshmi will be premiered
Derek Malcolm30 May 2014

Although there are new films in the 16th Asian Film Festival programme, including the European premiere of Nagesh Kukunoor’s Lakshmi (June 1, Tricycle, NW6), the highly praised story of child trafficking in India, two tributes to outstanding talents of the past are as central to this year’s programme.

The legendary writer, director and producer Yash Chopra, who died in 2012, needs little introduction. He changed the face of Indian popular cinema with his classic Bollywood films (Lamhe and Darr, especially) and was largely responsible for making a superstar of Shah Rukh Khan. A tribute to Chopra, attended by his widow and many Bollywood stars, takes place at Bafta on Piccadilly on June 7.

Far too few in the UK, however, know much about Rituparno Ghosh, the Bengali film-maker who was often considered the natural heir to Satyajit Ray, and 12 of whose 18 films won national awards in India. He died a year ago, aged only 49. On Sunday, the festival presents Chitrangada at the ICA, Ghosh’s impressively mounted 2012 drama, based on the story of the character in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, in which he takes the central role himself.

He plays a young choreographer whose struggles with gender identity, sexuality and social conventions mirrored those of Ghosh himself who, apart from being a stylish writer-director, was also a TV host, fashion icon and gay activist.

His final feature, Jeevan Smriti, a tribute to Rabindranath Tagore, the great writer and poet who inspired both him and Ray, also gets a screening (June 11, Nehru Centre, W1). In addition, there will be a performance of Ghosh’s Shakespearean drama, The Last Lear (June 13, Watermans, Brentford), with Amitabh Bachchan as a latterday Lear in one of his finest performances.

The London Asian Film Festival (020 8961 8908, tonguesonfire.com) runs June 1-14 at various venues

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