Sikh Matron
- Kinver
- 1985-10-13
The British Pakistani journalist talks to Bernard Braden about living in Britain and his thoughts on the concept of integration
In this interview, respected British-Pakistani journalist Dilip Hiro discusses his personal experiences of living and working in Britain. He reveals his struggle to find suitable employment and his move into journalism. Hiro shares his thoughts on the concept of integration, a theme explored in a recent article. Bernard Braden also quizzes him on his creative writing.
This interview was intended to be shown in a television series called Now and Then. Between 1967-68, over 330 public figures were interviewed for this independently financed venture. The series aimed to chart the evolving thoughts of its interviewees, however the project was eventually abandoned. This material remained unbroadcast until 2008.
From local news to feature film, through home movies and TV documentaries, this collection showcases South Asian Britons in front of and behind the camera. The contribution of colonial troops is illuminated through the earliest newsreels, while hardhitting current affairs programmes highlight the struggles faced in the 1960s, 1970s and beyond. Public information films produced for South Asian audiences feature alongside Hindi-language films made in Britain and interviews with prominent Asian-British figures. A bold wave of British Asian filmmaking in the 1990s is represented through early works by the likes of Gurinder Chadha and Asif Kapadia.