UK Asian Voice | 25th March 2017
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Kapoor, who acted in ty of the material, then I feel that I’ll be the best perthe American version of son to produce it. So I go 24 playing President Omar ahead and do it. So 24 is Hassan, bought the official one of those materials that rights in November 2011. I felt I should produce The show aired in Hindi and was also dubbed in rather than giving it to various regional lansomeone else to proguages. India is the duce. first country outSo it is about side the US to getting the right get rights to people in to Hmm, I love adapt the ollaborate my role! It’s the cand s h o w . that was Kapoor job. first time I am my holds the Getting the playing a rights right team for 192 British Asian together. So far episodes it’s been fantasfor four tic both the seay e a r s , sons, yes.” extendable to Anil Kapoor could another ten! It’s a be said to have reached the winning deal and he top of his tree but he is still is clearly passionate humble. Asked about the about the series. difference he finds between acting in India While Anil extended and acting in the west, he himself to bring 24 to says that he admires the India, acting still has the organisation, communicaedge on producing for him. “Well, my first passion tion and smooth running is acting of course but of, for instance, British there is certain content, film production crews, that when I come across compared to their somematerial- to keep the aestimes more chaotic Indian thetics, to keep the integricounterparts.
Rani Singh, Special Assignments Editor
Anil Kapoor Shooting in the UK Plays a Sikh for the First Time Actor-Producer Anil Kapoor is in an enviable position. He is doing something that many of his highly successful H o l l y w o o d/ B o l l y w o o d counterparts do; he produces in addition to continuing an acting career played at an admirable level. Only megastars tend to take on producing as that involves finance and a great amount of organisational ability. It demonstrates his clout; especially bringing American series 24 triumphantly to India. Anil’s role in Slumdog Millionaire cemented his international reputation and he has walked into Hollywood as well as Bollywood in roles of his own choosing since then. He talked to the Asian Voice Leading Lights column in a side room at the British Film Institute recently as a special guest at the launch of the BFI India-UK film season in celebration of the 70- year anniversary of Independence. Anil had come to the UK to act in an Indian film called Mubarakan. He explained the
meaning of the title. “It’s like saying ‘congratulations.’ Or ‘all the best’ when you wish someone; ‘god bless.’ It’s a comedy-drama. There’s a lot of drama and I play a British Asian character whose name is Kartar Singh. It’s about cross culture, about Indians living here, in England, and of course Indians living in Punjab. How they have this great big fat Indian wedding in London. There’s situational comedy, a lot of songs, a lot of things happen.” The wedding scenes were shot in Gravesend in a real gurudwara, much to the joy of the local population and its town council. Anil loved his role. Mubarakan was written and directed by Anees Bazmee and produced by Sony Pictures Network Productions, Murad Khetani and Ashwin Varde. Anil Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor will portray their real-life relationship of uncle and nephew in the film.
Anil is enthusiastic
“Hmm, I love my role! It’s the first time I am playing a British Asian. It’s the first
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time I’m playing a Sikh. These are these two things and of course the director of the film. I’ve done a lot of films with Anees Bazmee. I’ve done Welcome, No Entry, so we have a good track record of successes. Hopefully, this time also, it will be successful.” A courageous hit for Anil Kapoor has been 24, the Indian television drama based on the American series of the same name. The Hindi language show is written by Rensil D'Silva, Bhavani Iyer, directed by Abhinay Deo and produced by Ramesh Deo. The Hindi version of 24 is the first adaptation of the show, the India rights for which were acquired from Fox and 24 producer Howard Gordon by the Anil Kapoor Film Company. In November 2011, Kapoor's production house signed a $20 million deal to adapt the series for India. Kapoor plays the lead role in the series, which is set in Mumbai.
DON’T FORGET TO SPRING FOWARD
On Sunday 26th March 2016, the clock will go forward by one hour. Don't forget to change the time!
Are you making the most of the Government’s tax giveaways?
Kishan Devani Consultant
As a community we pride ourselves on our ability to save and future planning. However we often forget that the Government are giving us opportunities to save tax free and build up cash pots for us and our families. ISAs are Individual Savings Accounts, a Government scheme allowing individuals to build a portfolio of cash, shares, and unit trusts free of tax on dividends, interest and capital gains. There is no personal Income Tax or Capital Gains Tax liability on
either the investment growth or any income taken. Nor is there a need to declare or report ISA investments on your Tax Return. We can manage your ISA portfolios and aim to produce average net growth of around 5% per annum in a low-risk portfolio. What could this mean to you? From the coming tax year if a couple were each to contribute the new ISA allowance of £20,000 every year for the next ten years (assuming a net return of 5% pa) they will have ISAs worth over £500,000. Carry on doing the same for a further 6 years and will see your combined ISA pots exceed £1 million in value. That’s over a million pounds of tax free cash to be used without restriction in just 16 years. You can fund your ISA with an annual lump sum or smaller regular contributions to make it more affordable. There are no restrictions on
withdrawing your money at any time. The Government giveaways do not stop there. In our experience, most people do not use their annual Capital Gains Tax (CGT) allowance. This is currently £11,100 and any Capital Gains up to this amount are not taxed. We can help you utilise this allowance by investing in an onshore collective investment account. Again, we aim to produce average net growth of about 5% per annum in a low-risk portfolio. The growth in capital value will be subject only to Capital Gains Tax. Through our careful management we can trigger the gains each year so as to soak up your allowance and enable your investment to effectively grow tax-free. Dividends and interest within certain limits are also paid tax free (currently Dividend Savings Allowance of £5,000pa and Personal Savings
Allowance of up to £1,000pa are paid tax free).For example if a couple investing £400,000 into a joint collective investment account achieved 5% capital growth, assuming their Capital Gains Tax allowance are not used elsewhere, the growth amount of £20,000 is less than their combined annual allowance of £22,200 and therefore free of tax. We can work together with you to ensure that we trigger these gains and manage them according to your circumstances so as to maximise the tax efficiency of all your investments. As you can see from the examples above just by using these Government Giveaways we can benefit ourselves and our families tremendously. So when you have those weddings, birthdays, or family events or indeed emergencies you do not have to look fur-
ther than your structures to access liquid funds. Rather than looking to divest your properties or raise equity on them to access liquid assets - if you plan properly, set up the correct structures and invest wisely - you should be able to have access to a large pot of liquid assets. So do not miss this opportunity that is knocking at your door!
Cash is not always King!
Do you know much interest you are earning on the cash you have worked so hard to save? You may be surprised to know that the interest rate could be as low as 0.01% if it’s held in a standard instant access account. Of course we all need to keep cash available for the inevitable emergencies that life throws at us, such as a new boiler or replacing your washing machine. But most of us
keep far too much money in cash. If as some commentators suggest inflation hits 3% in the near future this will actually mean that your savings buying power is being reduced by 2.99%. Cash is of course is safe and it won’t go down in value – but you can lose out from inflation as you can see above and from what is called the risk of “lost opportunity”. If you are holding more cash then you may need for emergencies then you should consider a different way of investing for potentially better long term returns. For more information, please contact Kishan Devani (Consultant): 020 8953 3444. E-mail: kishan@hbfs.co.uk