Radhika Madan’s ‘Sanaa’ to open UK Asian Film Festival 2023

The 2023 UK Asian Film Festival will open with Sanaa, which stars Radhika Madan.

Director Sudhanshu Saria and Radhika will attend the screening on May 4, 2023, at the BFI Southbank in London.

The movie centres on the titular Sanaa (Radhika), a 28-year-old Mumbai-based financial advisor who learns she is pregnant.

Sanaa is adamant that she wants to end her pregnancy, but the termination procedure compels her to wonder if the decisions she has been making are truly her own.

The 25th anniversary of the Asian Film Festival is being commemorated in 2023 with an impressive lineup of films.

Sudhanshu stated that it is an honour to have his film open the 25th UK Asian Film Festival.

He said: “We are thrilled to be part of this wonderful event that has been celebrating diverse voices and helping change minds for the past 25 years.

“Sanaa is an intimate and raw portrait of the modern Indian woman and I can’t wait to see how it resonates with British audiences.”

Radhika Madan shared her thoughts on the film.

She said: “It’s a film that talks about unresolved trauma, something that a lot of people go through but never talk about.

“It was a challenging role for me, and I am so glad that it has been appreciated by audiences worldwide.

“I am excited to present the film at the UK Asian Film Festival and to share Sanaa with the audience there.”

At the 26th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Sanaa received its international premiere, and at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, it got its North American premiere.

Soham Shah, Shikha Talsania and Pooja Bhatt also star in the film.

Tongues on Fire, a nonprofit organisation, is in charge of planning the UK Asian Film Festival, which has the support of the BFI and Arts Council England.

With the emphasis on movies that centre on the British Asian experience, the 2023 theme is ‘Celebrating Our Stories’.

In addition to the showcase of Sanaa, the world premiere of Shiladitya Bora’s Bhagwan Bharose, will be shown at the festival’s closing gala on May 13, 2023, at the Kiln Theatre.

Bhagwan Bharose centres on two impressionable children who struggle with their concept of God and religion in this film, which is set against the backdrop of a growing Hindu nationalist movement in late 1980s India.

Their ideal world is torn apart by circumstances that they are no longer able to comprehend, yet they nonetheless deal with the normal obstacles of childhood, a conservative upbringing, and community surroundings.