I am here with the exciting news that the London Indian Film Festival (LIFF) is returning for 2015! The film festival takes place between the 16th – 26th July 2015. I am back again to volunteer this year! If you want to find out about my time as a volunteer last year just click here! LIFF premieres the crème de le crème of independent Asian movies for the UK and in some instances for Europe. LIFF are not only showcasing movies in London this year, but also selected movies in Birmingham too.

LIFF is back with even more jhakaas! There are numerous films I am thrilled about, which includes Umrika, Tigers and  Nachom-Ia Kupasa. LIFF’s opening night movie Umrika, winner of this year’s Sundance Audience Award, follows a journey of two brothers from a small village who have dreams of making it big in America (Umrika), where Udai receives an invite to work in the US and decides to leave home to pursue his dream. Rama (Udai’s younger brother) runs away from home to discover his brother’s true fate, as letters and pictures they receive from what they believe is Udai (in the US), turns out to be forged from the family’s local postman.

Tigers starring Emraan Hashmi, plays as a salesman who lands his dream job working for a global conglomerate in the pharmaceutical industry. He achieves speedy success at selling the multinational’s baby formula, but one day he discovers that this formula causes the death of hundreds of babies; sickened by this he quits. This film entails a story of a salesman who stands up against a global conglomerate for justice.

Nachom-Ia Kupasar is a tribute to the unacclaimed musicians of Goa, who perfected the Portuguese inspired jazz that transformed into Hindi cinema’s soundtrack in the 60s and 70s. The film centres around a married band-leader and his relationship with his lead singer, whilst they perform all over India. This film is based on the real lives of musicians and features musical legends like Anthony Gonsalves and Mohammed Rafi. Nachom-Ia Kumpasar makes a bold statement that many classic Hindi songs of the 60s and 70s we know even today, are in reality based on the unaccredited compositions of these music geniuses.

Last year the sensational Farhan Akhtar came down to the UK for a screen talk, this year brings the raw-talented director Mani Ratnam, who is renowned for his films including Bombay, Roja and Dil Se. Also, Manisha Koirala will be a part of LIFF’s Nepal Charity Event, where an exclusive screening of Bombay will showcase on the night at the Grange Hotel (St. Paul’s), in order to raise funds to re-build homes in the earthquake devastated Nepal.

I wish I could talk about all the other movies I am keen to watch, but I could go on forever! However you can discover the full listing of movies and more information about booking tickets please visit: http://londonindianfilmfestival.co.uk/programme.htm. To keep up-to-date on my LIFF 2015 volunteer adventure, then please follow me on Instagram and Twitter. If you want to learn more about LIFF, you can find them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.