An English language family drama, centred on the experiences of the Indian diaspora in Britain.
With his wife’s sudden death, Sanjay is thrown into close proximity with his three daughters. The drama unfolds over five days from the day Manju dies to her funeral. Haunted by memories, grappling with devastating loss, missing the mediating influence of his wife, Sanjay finds himself carving out new relations with his daughters. He is faced with a further crisis when he discovers his most loved daughter Dia has a Muslim boyfriend. Sanjay is forced to face his past demons; his trauma over the partition of India as a child when he was forced to leave his home. Finally, he has to come to terms with his old and unspoken prejudice about Muslims, in the larger context of the country in the grips of Islamophobia as the events of 7/7 and the consequences of the Iraq war reverberate.
Q&A with Sangeeta Datta, critically appraised writer, filmmaker and film historian. Her books on cinema include World Director Series: Shyam Benegal and the co-edited Rituparno Ghosh: Cinema, Gender and Art and Tagore: The World As His Nest. Her filmography includes Bird of Dusk. She is also the mother of musician and composer Soumik Datta, an Arts Council-funded artist whose charity is based at Hawkwood. His work is centred on advocating for the preservation of Indian arts and raising awareness of social and environmental issues.
Venue: Hawkwood Centre for Future Thinking, GL6 7QW
Start time: 7.00pm
Cost: £8 concessions, £10 full price