"Lahore" – an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet, a 19th century French composer much admired by Tchaikovsky - wrote over 25 operas, and hundreds of songs. Le Roi De Lahore stands out amongst his works because of its unusual theme. The opera was much admired as was most of his work. The libretto of Le Roi De Lahore is by Louis Gallet.

First performed in Paris in Theatre Opera, Lahore was an ode to Sita imploring the God Indra to save them from the invading Muslims led by Sultan Mahmoud. Commenting on the performance, Tchaikovsky, wrote in a letter that; "His opera, however, seduced me for its formal beauty, simplicity and freshness of the ideas and style, as well as for the richness of its melodies and the elegance of the harmony"

The extraordinary expect of this Opera is its confused narrative whilst attempting to be modern – Islamic characters are mixed up with Hindu gods such as Indra. Louis Gallet cleverly uses Sita who is played by Joséphine de Reszké as the protagonist, whilst Indra by Menu, Kaled by Fouquet, Timour by Boudouresque and Alim by Salomon. The creation of the role of Sita is credited to Joséphine de Reszké. A highly divisive piece of work, Le Roi De Lahore works within the tradition of orientalism – a romantic view of India – the mish-mashing of time-lines, the opera explores the invasion of Mogul empire and the demise of Hinduism. More

Perhaps the demonstrators protesting against the kiss by Richard Geer planted so passionately upon the cheeks of Shipla Shetty should go back into their heritage. May I suggest the remarkable translation of the Kama Sutra by Alain Daniélou which is faithful to the original by Vatsyayana. The protestors, who are easily provoked, are frightening; poverty, instability, caste and religious differences and the growing gap between the poor and the rich have added to their anger.

The draconian censorship laws in India are partly inherited by the British.  In actual fact, it was the British colonials who during the 1930's created the censorship laws that were directed specifically at the Indian Film industry, their greatest achievement being the banning of the kiss on the screen, applying prudish Victorian values on a culture with an extraordinary heritage. Prior to that, the kiss was an everyday matter, Devika Rani in Karma.

What a pity that sensuality of the kiss is relegated to something crass and dirty and contemporary Indians lack the courage to embrace their true heritage. Will they destroy Khajurao or the magnificent temples dedicated to Shiva in the South, clearly showing Shiva's masculinity? I visited the temple at Kanya Kumari, where Shiva is draped in dhotis!

In Alain Daniélou's extraordinary translation of the Kama Sutra of the entire works complied and written by Vatsyayana, you finally understand its genius. The Kama Sutra dates back to the eight century, and in Danielou's translation he presents the complete Kama Sutra – the first unabridged modern translation of the classic Indian text. In contrast, Richard Burton's version pales into insignificance, highlighting the Victorian values he applied, censoring and butchering the work in his version of the 1800's. More

May 2007 saw the second issue of the amazing photographic journal 'Camerawork Delhi' launched in Delhi earlier in January.

Camerawork Delhi is a new free quarterly newsletter in print with a focus on photography in Delhi; its practitioners, its consumers and its suppliers. It carries news and information of local, national and international interest. The first issue was organised by Gauri Gill, Sunil Gupta, Radhika Singh and the print run was financially supported by Khoj.

The second issue for May 2007 includes work by Prabhuddha Dasgupta, Sunil Gupta, an interview with Harry and Laxman of Siddharth Photographix Bhogal in New Delhi, Allan Sekula, an article on Agatje Gaillard and her 'galerie' and an article by Mark Sealy, director of Autograph ABP and much more.

Camerawork Delhi is supported by the French Embassy in India and the Alliance Francaise Network

Co-editors are Gauri Gill, Sunil Gupta and Radhika Singh.

For further information you can contact Camerawork Delhi at: gauri.gill [at] gmail.com;  sunilgupta [at] mac.com; fotomedia [at] airtelbraodband.in

My article on Zarina Bhimji and her nomination for the Turner Prize has been published in this month's eZine; The Bohemian Aesthetic. I will be writing for them in the section 'London Letters' on a regular basis. The Bohemian Aesthetic is published each month on the 15th. 

"With an extraordinary body of work and a humble, dedicated approach to her art, Zarina Bhimji encapsulates the Indian notion of tapasya, wherein a person is devoted, without distraction or pomposity, to explore, understand, and present to the world, truly open to its judgment"  To read more of my article click here.

Created by Pasty Moore, The Bohemian Aesthetic is a remarkable eZine focusing on diverse subject matters in line with exploring works by artists unafraid to act against the status quo. More

Extract reproduced by the kind permission of The Bohemian Aesthetic©2007

COMING SOON – The Winter of Love DVD! I have been waiting for a long time to write those words! I am delighted to let you know that The Art Ministry will be distributing my DVD which is being released as a signed Special Edition for all you early buyers where you will have an opportunity to purchase a copy in advance.  

The release of my first feature film that I wrote and directed entitled 'The Winter of Love' on DVD (formally A Quiet Desperation) has been waiting in the wings since 2001. An all British cast and crew, the film was shot entirely on location in Southall, London. It is a story which is very specific to a corner of the world that is seldom seen by the general public and yet its themes are universal. I can't remember which established British actor said that "anyone who manages to make a film in the UK and gets some sort of release deserves an Oscar" – I am waiting for mine!

Releasing the DVD independently for an audience to see 'The Winter of Love' and being a part of the creative hub at a time when the film sector appears to be thriving, brings an element of excitement that I have not experienced for a very long time. Eagerly awaited by the cast and crew, in particular Julian MacDonald the Sound Designer, my director of photography Koutaiba Al-Janabi and the very talented composer Kuljit Bhamra who composed the entire soundtrack and recorded it within 3 months, will be as euphoric as me. My producer Manjeet Singh, who is still recovering from a devastating car accident, can see the fruits of her hard labour. My associate producer Anita McKay has played a key role in bringing the film to this stage and is instrumental for plans for national and international distribution of the DVD.

As part of the pre-sales launch, I will have a week of celebrating the release of the DVD!!! I'll bring you exclusive inside stories, extracts of the script, contributions from crew and cast and much more. As part of marking the release, I'm creating a home for The Winter of Love right here on my blog, where you can access the gallery, trailers, press, details on the cast & crew, adding to this unique story of a thoroughly independent British feature.

For details on how to order your copy of The Winter of Love DVD, please contact us using the form here.

Marking the abolition of slavery, I would like to present you with an extract from Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon, one of the greatest minds of the 20th century:

I am talking of millions of men who have been skilfully injected with fear, inferiority complexes, trepidation, servility, despair, abasement. – Amié Césaire, Discours sur le Colonialisme

The explosion will not happen today. It is too soon… or too late.
I do not come with timeless truths.
My consciousness is not illuminated with ultimate radiances.
Nevertheless, in complete composure, I think it would be good if certain things were said.
These things I am going to say, not shout. For it is a long time since shouting has gone out of my life.
So very long…

What does the black man want?
At the risk of arousing the resentment of my colored brothers, I will say that the black is not a man. There is a zone of nonbeing, an extraordinarily sterile and arid region, an utterly naked declivity where an authentic upheaval can be born. In most cases, the black man lacks the advantage of being able to accomplish this descent into a real hell.

Man is not merely a possibility of recapture or of negation. If it is true that consciousness is a process of transcendence, we have to see too that this transcendence is haunted by the problems of love and understanding. Man is a "yes" that vibrates to cosmic harmonies. Uprooted, pursued, baffled, doomed to watch the dissolution of the truths that he has worked out for himself one after another, he has to give up projecting onto the world an antinomy that coexists with him.

The black is a black man; that is, as a result of a series of aberrations of affect, he is rooted at the core of a universe from which he must be extricated.

The white man is sealed in his whiteness.
The black man in his blackness.

Man's tragedy, Nietzsche said, is that he was once a child. None the less, we cannot afford to forget that, as Charles Odier has shown us, the neurotic's fate remains in his own hands.

However painful it may be for me to accept this conclusion, I am obliged to state it: For the black man there is only one destiny. And it is white.

Frantz Fanon was born in Martinique in 1925 and studied medicine in France, going onto psychiatry. His writings had far reaching influence from the civil rights to black consciousness' movements.

Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon is available here.. ISBN 0-8021-5084-5

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

Not a believer inside the mosque, am I
Nor a pagan disciple of false rites
Not the pure amongst the impure
Neither Moses, nor the Pharaoh

Not in the holy Vedas, am I
Nor in opium, neither in wine
Not in the drunkard's intoxicated craze
Neither awake, nor in a sleeping daze

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

In happiness nor in sorrow, am I
Neither clean, nor a filthy mire
Not from water, nor from earth
Neither fire, nor from air, is my birth

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

Not an Arab, nor Lahori
Neither Hindi, nor Nagauri
Hindu, Turk, nor Peshawari
Nor do I live in Nadaun

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

Secrets of religion, I have not known
From Adam and Eve, I am not born
I am not the name I assume
Not in stillness, nor on the move

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

I am the first, I am the last
None other, have I ever known
I am the wisest of them all
Bulleh! do I stand alone?

Bulleh! to me, I am not known

Written as a memoir, Saadi Yacef has approached Pontecorvo to turn his writings into a film. Yacef took on the role of co-producer, making much of the shoot possible and also acted in the film as Djafar. Banned by the French, the film went on to win the Golden Lion at the Venice film festival. Over the years, the film has been instrumental in inspiring directors around the world, including Oliver Stone and Michael Haneke.

Present at the screening were Zafira Saadi, daughter of Saadi Yacef and Yamina Benguigui, the French-Algerian woman film director internationally known for her films on issues concerning women and the migrant community in France. She is also credited with being the first French-Algerian woman to have directed a feature film.

Zafira Saadi spoke on behalf of her father Saadi Yacef who could not attend due to poor health. She spoke about growing up with the film as a child as Yacef regularly projected the film – words like "long live Algiers" were one of the first phrases that she learnt. More

In her introduction to Reading Lolita in Tehran.. - a memoir in books, Azar Nafisi recreated a world full of hope doomed to remain with the realms of sorrow. Gathering a motley crew of students from the University of Tehran (which Nafisi resigned from), both Nafisi and her students took great risks of being discovered at their regular literature class reading banned classics.

First published in 2003, Reading Lolita in Tehran gave first hand account of what it was like to live in revolutionary Iran. A remarkable book about books, Reading Lolita illustrates Nafisi's talent and magic of pinning each word down to have depth and meaning, nothing is wasted, nothing is written for the sake of writing. Her talent lies in her courage and her ability to construct without compromise or false memory, a time within her memory of how there really were moments of fearless living.

Reading Lolita in Tehran – a memoir in books written by Azar Nafisi is published by Fourth Estate publications.

The Oxford English dictionary's definition of unrequited reads as '(of love etc) not returned'. Simple, brutal and unforgiving – much like dressing room lights. And that is the association that many of us have with film finance and Funding.

As film makers our love-hate relationship with film finance and funding never ceases to exist, although in recent years the notion of film funding has more or less been thrown out of the window with just a few pockets remaining, containing their own twist and turns. Earlier this year, I teamed up with a producer to apply for a feature length documentary via a fund set to assist experienced women film makers. Of course neither of us looked at the small print until we both sat down with the documentary proposal in order to fill up the form for submission.  As we went along the criteria we were numbed by the conditions for application; you had to pay to apply and upon being accepted you had to go through a short period of training, I think it was six weeks after which you had to appear in front of a panel who would then decided if what you had written during your training was good enough to be short listed for the next stage. And this scheme was for experienced film makers who had a number of films under their belt. We decided to go to Pizza Hut instead.

If ever there was a pogrom of ending creativity and enthusiasm for making films in this country, I think we are living through it now. Avant-garde, original and maverick voices seem to be disappearing fast. These voices are very important and much needed to feed mediocrity so it can renew itself, taking what it needs. And I don't mean in terms of technical achievements, these are of course astounding in what individual film makers and essential video artists and those working in advertising have achieved. I am talking about good old fashioned knowledge of the craft of film making per se and of course ideas. Mine isn't a reaction against change or new technologies, but there are real and fundamental problems here. How do we achieve the understanding of producing a work like 'Remains of The Day', 'the Last King of Scotland' or 'Blood Diamond'? Granted these are all big films but we need to know our craft, always aiming high. Where do we find the training ground inhabited by talent for us to learn from? How do we roll from one production to another in order to be rust free, polishing our talent? More