COMEDY WITH A CAUSEBANGLATOWN

Director Dishad Husain has worked in British Television over 20 years now filming for mostly Documentary and Factual Entertainment shows as varied as Grand Designs, Big Brother, Police Camera Action. However slowly but surely he's been taking his career into Drama and Comedy where his talents really shine.

As a writer and director he made 2 short films "Holly - Bolly' and 'Viva Liberty!' that won a host of awards on the film festival circuit. Naturally the next move was to go into features. But funding opportunities for features are difficult to come by and so he formed a production company of his own - a collective called Imotion.

People love films told with passion. A film has to have a beating heart, a soul. A good story is nothing without characters that you care for. Making a film is tough and making a independent film is even tougher. The only thing that will keep you going as a film maker is that fire, the desire to share, to entertain and maybe educate too. Hopefully that comes across and connects with the audience. They might not be as polished as the big budget affairs but indy films shine just as bright!

Dishad Husain, Director -Imotion Films

A collective that would go on to make "Banglatown", a story about a struggling actor who starts working for a local Gangster who is being hounded by the Police. Working with some incredible talents over the years Dishad selected a very strong diverse cast.

The South Asian female actresses are From the formidable Police Detective Mirza played by comedian Sajeela Kershi to plucky shop owner Mama Chips played by Sanchita Dan. Two young actresses making waves in the industry also play a key roles Soni Bhalla and Nikkita Chadha. Sajeela is a British South Asian award winning stand up comedian who has worked with Dishad on many comedy projects over the years. They met at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival back in the early 2000's and have a hilarious working relationship.

Dishad ‘Sajeela is so unpredictable on set! One minute she'll turn up with a selection of home made sandwiches and another she'll go completely off script because of her gut instincts. She's been doing comedy projects with me for years now. We've done live comedy shows with dodgy comedy promoters, massive productions for cultural festivals and we try to help each other out as much as possible in our respective careers. The industry is a tough one and having good people around you is really important' Sajeela ' Dish came to me years ago with the idea for making 'Banglatown' which was called something completely different back then. My child who was a teenager helped read some of the script to development stage. The film production took so long, he is now a grown adult! But Dish put him in the film and it's come together marvellously we've had a great time making the film and it's testament to Dish that a big part of film making is having sheer tenacity and that singularity of vision to keep going after all these years!'

So Banglatown is doing well on the Film Festival Circuit - it premiered to a sell out London Cinema for the Raindance Film Festival. It then went on to play at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival and is due to go to Nottingham and Bali in the next few months. Currently in talks with distributors and the hope is to give us enough momentum to go into the next feature project this year.

What's next for the Director? Plans to film with some Bollywood legends, a cowboy film set in Bangladesh and India. Watch this space - as the tag line to Banglatown goes - You can't fight progress!