{"id":1014937,"date":"2026-06-09T08:27:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1014937\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T08:27:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:27:20","slug":"aamir-khan-arundhati-roy-film-to-lead-london-indian-film-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1014937\/","title":{"rendered":"Aamir Khan, Arundhati Roy Film to Lead London Indian Film Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBollywood actor and filmmaker Aamir Khan<\/a> will appear in conversation at BFI Southbank on July 16 as the closing gala of the London Indian Film Festival<\/a>\u2018s 17th edition, which runs July 9\u201319 across London, Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield and Bradford. <\/p>\n

\n\tKhan\u2019s event is tied to a 25th anniversary screening of his Academy Award-nominated colonial epic \u201cLagaan: Once Upon a Time in India\u201d at BFI Imax on July 12.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs previously announced<\/a>, the festival opens with the European premiere of \u201c52 Blue,\u201d directed by Ali El Arabi (\u201cCaptains of Zaatari\u201d) and starring Adil Hussain and Neha Dhupia. The film screens at BFI Southbank on July 9, followed by dates in Birmingham, Sheffield and Greater London through July 17.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Central Gala on July 11 at BFI Southbank reunites the full cast of the 1990s BBC sketch comedy \u201cGoodness Gracious Me,\u201d with Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal, Nina Wadia, Kulvinder Ghir and Anil Gupta all expected onstage.<\/p>\n

\n\tA restoration also anchors the program: the Berlinale 2026-screened<\/a> \u201cIn Which Annie Gives It Those Ones<\/a>,\u201d directed by Pradip Krishen, receives its U.K. premiere in a new 4K version at BFI Southbank and HOME Manchester. The 1989 cult film, set in a Delhi architecture school in the mid-1970s, was written by and features Booker Prize laureate Arundhati Roy<\/a>. Originally produced for Indian state broadcaster Doordarshan, it aired once before vanishing from circulation for decades. The restoration, by the Film Heritage Foundation, also offers audiences an early glimpse of Shah Rukh Khan, who appears in a small role.<\/p>\n

\n\tU.K. premieres include \u201cIn Search of the Sky,\u201d directed by Jitank Singh Gurjar and first shown at Toronto, screening in London and Birmingham; and two Bangladeshi films from the International Film Festival of Rotterdam 2026 \u2013 Rezwan Shahriar Sumit\u2019s \u201cMaster,\u201d winner of the Big Screen Competition at IFFR, and Mejbaur Rahman Sumon\u2019s \u201cRoid\u201d \u2013 both premiering at the ICA, London and Midlands Arts Centre.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe festival\u2019s India\u2019s AI & Film Future event, billed as Europe\u2019s first showcase of Indian films made with AI as part of the creative process, takes place at BFI Southbank on July 11. Jury selection was overseen by director Shekhar Kapur, with panelists including Chaitanya Chinchlikar, Arati Kadav, Hardeep Gambhir, Deepa Bhatia and Prateek Arora. The event repeats in Manchester on Oct. 2 in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University.<\/p>\n

\n\tOther strands include the LGBTQIA+ shorts programme Too Desi Too Queer, co-curated by Manchester\u2019s Rainbow Noir; the Satyajit Ray Short Film Competition; and a Brit-Asian Shorts showcase paired with an industry panel, \u201cCreating a New Horizon for British Asian Film Talent \u2013 Stronger Together,\u201d held in partnership with Rifco Theatre Company. Peter Brook\u2019s \u201cThe Mahabharata\u201d will receive Northern premieres in Manchester, Bradford and Sheffield, and a Midlands premiere in Birmingham.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are delighted to open our 17th festival with \u201952 Blue,\u2019 a riveting and inspirational film about youth finding a way against impossible odds, which seems to wonderfully go against the grain of these despondent times. Further inspiration will come with major In Conversations with legendary trailblazers, Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, and Britain\u2019s much loved \u2018Goodness Gracious Me\u2019 team, all of whom I am pleased to say are still at the top of their game. Bringing together a glittering box of indie gemstone films from some of the world\u2019s finest film festivals to U.K. premiere at our five-city festival offers a rare treat to our audiences and an opportunity to experience the rich creativity of the world\u2019s most populated region,\u201d said festival CEO and Programming Director Cary Rajinder Sawhney.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAs \u2018Lagaan\u2019 completes 25 years, it\u2019s hard to put into words what this journey has meant. We made the film with a lot of belief, passion and honesty, never imagining the kind of love it would receive and continue to receive all these years later. I\u2019m truly delighted that this milestone is being celebrated with a screening at the BFI. To see \u2018Lagaan\u2019 still connect with audiences across generations and across geographies is very special,\u201d Khan added.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe festival is backed by the BFI Audience Projects Fund via National Lottery funding, with additional support from Dell, the British Council, Birmingham City University and Manchester Metropolitan University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bollywood actor and filmmaker Aamir Khan will appear in conversation at BFI Southbank on July 16 as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1014938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7757],"tags":[29175,128547,748,393,4884,280957,257,280958,16,15],"class_list":["post-1014937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-aamir-khan","tag-arundhati-roy","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-in-which-annie-gives-it-those-ones","tag-london","tag-london-indian-film-festival","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116719205935471944","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1014937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1014938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1014937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1014937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1014937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}