Pahariwood movies

In an earlier job I produced audio information publications in Pahari/Pothowari as well as other languages such as English, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Mandarin Chinese and Polish.

So I was fascinated to read the Wikipedia article on the majority language of Mirpur, Pahari- Pothwari. This is a distinct dialect related to Punjabi. The language does not have a written tradition and there is still no generally agreed way to transcribe the spoken sounds into Urdu script, though scholars are developing it.

As a result of that situation, I remember some amusing moments in the recording studio when we had script readers who were not the same people who had written the scripts.

Miki Kharo England

However, there is progress – even talk of ‘Pahariwood’ – a smaller version of Bollywood! For example, the first ever comic telefilm in Pahari – Miki Kharo England – which means “Take Me to England”. This romantic comedy was so successful that there was a comic sequel in 2007 called Main Julian England – which means “I’m Going to England”.

Main Julian England

From my own experience, I guess that part of the comedy must have appeared on the film set. With lots of laughs when actors tried to read some of the words in the Pahari-Pothwari film script!

This is a link to the YouTube promo for another Pahariwood comedy Acho Khari Nal.

And there is a YouTube promo of another Pahari movie – Lakeer.

Mirpur, Azad Kashmir – میر پور

The Azad Mega Mart referred to in the BBC article

One of the largest communities in Kirklees, West Yorkshire comes from Mirpur in Pakistan-administered Kashmir – Azad Kashmir.

A RECENT BBC ARTICLE explains the logic behind the “Little Britain” term sometimes used in Pakistan to refer to Mirpur.

When thousands of residents lost their livelihoods as farmers in the 1960s -when the huge Mangla dam was built in the area – there was a large migration of Mirpuris to the United Kingdom. This built on a smaller, earlier migration.

As a result about 70% of the Pakistani migration living in Britain today originates from this one district of Kashmir. Around half a million Mirpuri people live in the UK, compared to about 370,000 in Mirpur City.

Mangla Dam - Mirpur

Dewsbury’s Festival of Flight Ambassador

Akeel with the Cessna C-172

Our photo shows Akeel Javed, Dewsbury’s Festival of Flight Ambassador during his training learning to fly a Cessna aeroplane near Inverness in the North of Scotland. Beautiful scenery! Akeel is going to be leading two future Festival of Flight exhibitions and events for other young people in Dewsbury which have been organised by Young Dewsbury.

The first one runs from Monday, July 26 to Friday, July 30, at 10am – 2pm at Young Dewsbury, in Dewsbury Town Hall.

The second one runs from Monday, August 9 to Friday, August 13, at 10 am – 2pm at Dewsbury Arena Youth Centre.

If you’re aged 13-19 and live near Dewsbury, put the dates in your diary!

Dewsbury Town Hall

Akeel is Dewsbury’s Festival of Flight Ambassador

Akeel and Lt. Commander Whitfield next to a Hawk jet trainer

As promised in my post on 3rd April we now have details of Dewsbury’s young Festival of Flight Ambassador. He is Akeel Javed, a business studies student at the Dewsbury campus of Kirklees College.

In our photo above Akeel is shown learning about flight at the Royal Naval Air Station at Yeovilton, Somerset with the Hawk jet trainer squadron commander, Lieutenant Commander Matt Whitfield. The photo was taken last Thursday April 8th.

Akeel is travelling to Inverness, Scotland this week to learn more about flight, including flying a light aircraft. He will then return to Dewsbury to play a major part in the travelling Festival of Flight exhibition which has already visited several schools and youth centres in the Dewsbury district.

Festival of Flight is co-ordinated by the Heartstone organisation, a social enterprise which exists to increase understanding between young people who are aged 8-18 of all classes, creeds and colours and encourages them to examine and express their hopes, fears and expectations for the world today and tomorrow.

Festival of Flight in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire

A recent event was held at Earlsheaton Technology College to launch the Festival of Flight, involving young people at 15 locations in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. Festival of Flight is organised by the Heartstone social enterprise whose mission is ‘challenging racism, prejudice and intolerance.” The highlight was a live phone linkup to two of the living black pioneers of flying in Tuskegee, Alabama. The linkup featured Mildred Carter, the first black woman to gain a pilot’s licence in the southern USA, fighting both gender as well as race prejudice, who went on to become part of the Civil Rights Movement marching alongside Martin Luther King and also Herbert Carter, one of the black Tuskegee Airmen who fought in the Second Word War. They linked up in several conversations with the Rt. Hon. Shahid Malik,  Under Secretary of State for Communities and MP for Dewsbury and several young people including Ambassadors of Flight, young people with a special role in promoting the Festival of Flight nation-wide.

The Festival of Flight involves an    exhibition whose main purpose is to provide a vehicle to bring together groups who would otherwise not meet from different backgrounds, nationalities, races and cultures. Our photo here shows Councillor Masood Ahmed, Chair of the Dewsbury Area Committee, with young people and airmen from the modern UK Armed Forces at Earlsheaton Technology College.