There are many stories of Queen Victoria in the history of British India. Some are buried in the grave of time while some are immortalized by historians and writers. The story of Queen Victoria’s controversial relationship with her trusted aide from India in the late 1800s is still alive in NRI journalist and author Shrabani Basu’s book “Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant” which will soon be adapted into a film.

Oscar-winning British actress Judi Dench has been roped in to play Queen Victoria, the Empress of British India, in the upcoming film based on London-based author Shrabani Basu’s book which was published six years ago. Award-winning British filmmaker Stephen Frears will direct the film which is yet to be titled.

The Calcutta-born author is happy to know that her book will be adapted into a screenplay for celluloid by none other than Stephen Frears who made The Queen on the British Royal Family’s response to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 2006.

Author Shrabani Basu’s book “Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant” pictures how a 24-year-old handsome Abdul Karim, who was brought from the Agra Central Jail to England to wait at tables during Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887, became a personal attendant, Urdu teacher and influencer to the then British Monarch in politically turbulent times and how the royal family responded to their intense relationship.

Victoria & Abdul captures the tender love story of a young Indian Muslim and the then Empress of India; an undefined relationship that survived the best attempts to destroy it at a time when independence movement in the subcontinent was gaining momentum. – Author Shrabani Basu

Author Shrabani Basu, a postgraduate in History from Delhi University, was born in Kolkata (then Calcutta). She joined The Times of India’s Bombay office as a trainee journalist in 1983 and moved to London in 1987. Since then she has been a correspondent of Kolkata-based leading dailies: The Telegraph and Ananda Bazar Patrika. She combined her love of history with her profession and passion for creative writing in two other books: “Spy Princess” and “For King and Another Country.”

Travel Beats is a digital portal for Indians and NRIs by IndianEagle, a leading international travel organization. Travel Beats publishes interesting stories and news about the worldwide Indian Community in travel, culture, entertainment and lifestyle.

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Prince William and Kate Middleton’s upcoming trip to India in April seems to dig out the skeletons of the past in connection with Princess Diana’s solo trip to the Taj Mahal in Agra in 1992, which had added fuel to the fire in her crumbling marriage with Prince Charles.

The picture of Princess Diana sitting alone on the bench at the Taj Mahal is one of the iconic moments in the history of India’s most popular and top-earning monument in Agra. But it became the image of a lonely and depressed princess, which the global media used as a fodder to feed their stories about the fall of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s marriage. On being asked how she felt being alone at the Taj Mahal which stands for eternal love, Princess Diana made her first public statement, “It was a healing experience…very healing,” hinting at her troubled marriage.

However, the bench at the Taj Mahal became an ideal spot for posing in front of camera and many foreign tourists have got themselves photographed on the bench with the monument of love in the background since then. Now Prince William along with Kate Middleton will visit the Taj Mahal to live the “Princess Diana moment” for a while in honor of the memory of his mother. “He feels incredibly lucky to visit a place where his mother’s memory is kept alive by so many who travel there,” said Jason Knauf, the communication secretary of Cambridge.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip traveled to India and visited the Taj Mahal in 1961 – IndianEagle

Prince William and Kate Middleton’s itinerary of India includes a visit to Mumbai’s Taj Palace Hotel besides a tribute to Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal. The royal couple from England will offer a wreath in memory of the victims of the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai during their visit to the Taj Palace Hotel where they are supposed to meet members of the staff who risked their lives to protect guests during the 2008 attack.

The Duke and the Duchess will attend a charity cricket match of young slum children at Oval Maidan, a large public park in Mumbai City and meet the representatives of three charitable organizations: Magic Bus, Doorstep and India’s Childline. It will be followed by a brief meeting with the representatives of SMILE, a charity that helps young people be employable by imparting skill-developing training to them. In the evening of April 10, the royal couple will attend a glittering dinner held by the film industry of Mumbai.

April 11, the second day of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s itinerary of India will see them at the India Gate in New Delhi where they will offer a wreath in honor of the Indian soldiers. Then they will visit Gandhi Smriti, a museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, and take a walk through the last 144 days of Gandhi’s life from his bedroom to the spot of his assassination in the garden.

In the evening, the royal guest duo will grace a birthday party for Queen Elizabeth II with their presence at the residence of the British High Commissioner in New Delhi. Prince William will deliver a speech in honor of his grandmother to the invitees including VIPs from different walks of life. The next day they will attend a conference with NGOs in and around Delhi in the morning before they fly to Assam in northeast India.

On April 12, the couple will visit the Kaziranga National Park in Assam. One of the UNESCO World Heritage sites in India, Kaziranga National Park is famous for one-horned rhinoceroses. The third day of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s itinerary of India coincides with the celebration of the Assamese New Year called Bohag Bihu, one of the most popular northeast Indian festivals. The guests will be treated to spectacular music and dance performances celebrating the folk culture of Assam on this occasion.

On April 13, the Duke and the Duchess will take an open-air drive around the Kaziranga National Park and visit the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation where Prince William will speak about the scenario of rhino poaching in India. Their itinerary in Assam also includes a visit to the Kaziranga Discovery Centre build by Elephant Family that Mark Shand, late brother of the Duchess of Cornwall, had founded.

A meeting with a group of young filmmakers from Green Hub, an Assam-based local organization that imparts lessons on the art of filmmaking, will mark the end of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s itinerary of India from April 10 to April 13. On April 14, they will catch a flight to Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan in Southeast Asia.

The royal couple of England will visit the Taj Mahal in Agra on return to India from Bhutan on April 16.

Travel Beats is a digital portal by IndianEagle for Indians and Indian Diaspora. IndianEagle, a leading US-India travel organization, publishes interesting stories and news about travel, culture, events, festivals and entertainment from India and USA.

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In 2015, the Narendra Modi style was the talk of the fashion world. Since his rise to the hot seat of India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has made headlines for not only diplomacy, controversies and foreign trips but also his traditional Indian fashion. Over 40 African leaders donned signature “Modi Kurtas” in silk and “Modi Jackets” in khadi for a dinner at the third India-Africa summit in New Delhi.

In 2016, the Narendra Modi fashion will be put on display at Madame Tussauds Wax Museums in London, Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Who will be exhibiting the “Modi Kurtas” and “Modi Jackets” at those wax museums? The wax statues of Indian PM Narendra Modi himself!

Yes, soon Indian PM Narendra Modi’s life-size wax figures dressed in his signature silk kurtas and khadi jackets will share space with eminent global leaders at Madame Tussauds museums in Singapore, Bangkok, London and Hong Kong from April 2016. A team of Madame Tussauds’ artists took 4 months to craft each of PM Modi’s wax statues for a whopping $214K or £150,000. The statues feature a traditional pose making namaste with both hands joined in supplication. (watch the video below to see the making of Narendra Modi’s wax statues)

Since being elected to the prime ministerial office in 2014, Narendra Modi has made foreign trips to the US, the UK, the UAE, China, Canada, Singapore, Japan, France, Brazil, Germany, Malaysia and other countries. Now his traditional Indian fashion in khadi will be stealing the show at Madame Tussauds wax museums.

What made Madame Tussauds to spend a lavish amount of $214K for each of his wax figures?

In response to the mounting curiosity and excitement about it, Madame Tussauds described Narendra Modi as “a hugely important figure in world politics” and said that visitors would be glad to click selfies with the wax idols of such a great leader. Besides, PM Modi is currently the second most followed politician on Twitter next to the US President Barack Obama.

Where and when were the wax figures of Narendra Modi crafted? It happened at his own residence in New Delhi where he gave the museum team of artists and experts a sitting, according Kieran Lancini, the spokesperson of Madame Tussauds. Praising the team for its dedication and professionalism, the Indian Prime Minister said that he had the pleasure of standing next to the figures of various dignitaries for photographs during my visits to Madame Tussauds’ wax museums.

There is nothing surprising about the wax statues of Indian PM Narendra Modi at Madame Tussauds museums in Singapore, London, Thailand and Bangkok since he is among the most influential people on Internet. Time Magazine refers to him as an ‘Internet Star’ with over 32 million Facebook likes and 18 million Twitter followers. PM Modi has been on Time Magazine’s list of the most influential people on Internet for two consecutive years: 2015 and 2016.

New Delhi, the capital of India, is to get a Madame Tussauds museum in 2017, the India-UK Year of Culture. If the upcoming wax museum in Delhi will have a Narendra Modi statue is not yet confirmed. – IndianEagle

When are you flying to London or Singapore or Bangkok or Hong Kong to click selfies with wax statues of Indian PM Narendra Modi?  

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Though the Indian entries including the Marathi film Court for the 88^th Academy Awards are out of the Oscar nominations 2016, India does still have a reason to rejoice. Two NRIs – one Indian-American animator and one Indo-British filmmaker – made their way to the shortlist of entries for Oscar 2016.

Sanjay’s Super Team, animated short film by Indian American Sanjay Patel, and Amy, a documentary by Indo-British director Asif Kapadia, are among the Oscar nominations 2016 in the Best Animated Short Film and the Best Documentary Feature categories respectively.

Sanjay’s Super Team is one of the stories of East vs West, India vs America, and tradition vs modernism, which Sanjay Patel tells through the portrayal of a young Indian American boy of the present generation. The story of Sanjay’s Super Team is weaved around Sanjay Patel’s personal experience of how his love for western pop culture clashed with his father’s adherence to traditions. The cast of Sanjay’s Super Team features non-white characters in the lead. It is the first short film to talk about the Hindu religion in an animated fashion.

To say precisely, Sanjay’s Super Team among the Oscar nominations 2016 is a universal story of intergenerational differences, experienced by many Indian American teens in the communities of immigrants from India. Sanjay as a young boy is fond of cartoons, while his father tries to pique his interest in age-old Hindu traditions. This conflict puts Sanjay on a voyage into a world of comics where he comes across mythological characters with superhero qualities. He brings them alive through comic illustrations which his father also connects with.

“I am glad to be on the list of nominations for 88^th Academy Awards in the Best Animated Short Film category. My story is not only mine. It resonates with many immigrants in the United States. Sanjay’s Super Team has a universal message under the surface,” says Sanjay Patel with a beaming face.

Among the Oscar nominations 2016 in the Best Documentary category, Asif Kapadia’s Amy depicts the life and death of British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse. Released across the UK and the USA, Amy-The Girl Behind the Name has been acclaimed as the best documentary of the year and described as a tragic masterpiece. The film depicts Amy Winehouse’s struggle both before and after her career reached its zenith in the entertainment industry.

Amy earned Asif Kapadia a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015 and won the Best Documentary title at BAFTA Awards 2016. It became the second highest grossing documentary of all time in the UK. Amy will compete with Cartel Land, What Happened, The Look of Silence, and Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom among the nominations for 88^th Academy Awards.

Of all NRI filmmakers, Asif Kapadia is a favorite of the Indian diaspora in the United Kingdom. His directorial debut The Warrior was filmed in the vast Himalayas and the arid desserts of Rajasthan. His documentary films including The Warrior, Far North and Senna have won awards at several international film festivals across the globe. Asif Kapadia is hopeful about Amy’s success in Oscars 2016.

When Indians rejoiced in the success of Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire at Oscars 2009, the nomination of ‘Sanjay’s Super Team’ and ‘Amy’ among the finalists for Oscars 2016 should be a thing of joy for Indians. – IndianEagle

Travel Beats is a culture and entertainment portal for Indian diaspora by IndianEagle, a leading international US-India travel organization. It publishes interesting stories of India, USA, Canada, NRIs, aviation and tourist places.

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Among the Oscar nominations 2016, documentary film Amy by Indo-British filmmaker Asif Kapadia won the “Best Documentary” title at BAFTA Awards and the “Best Music Film” title at the 58^th Grammy Awards. Asif Kapadia’s take on the life and career of late British singer Amy Winehouse won the Best Documentary BAFTA award over other promising nominations including He Named Me Malala, Listen to Me Marlon, Cartel Land, and Sherpa.

At the Grammy Awards, Amy – The Girl Behind the Name won over its competitors: The Wall, What Happened, Miss Simone, Sonic Highways, and Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown. Filmmaker Asif Kapadia said that the “Best Music Film” title at Grammy Awards for his Amy documentary is the best tribute to Amy Winehouse, one of the biggest music icons in British history.    

Asif Kapadia’s Amy is one of the nominations for the 88^th Academy Awards in the Best Documentary category. A tragic masterpiece according to film critics, Amy – The Girl Behind the Name depicts British singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse’s eventful life and career in the entertainment industry. It was also acclaimed as the best documentary of the year 2015.

In his acceptance speech at BAFTA Awards, filmmaker Asif Kapadia paid tribute to Amy Winehouse by crediting the trophy and the success of the documentary to her. Amy Winehouse, the first British female singer to win 5 Grammy Awards in 2008 for her Back to Black album, died at the age of 27 in 2011 as she succumbed to the life-taking effects of drug and alcohol.

We really fell in love with her when making the film and our aim and mission was really to try and tell the truth about her. To show the world what an amazing person she was, how intelligent, how witty, how beautiful she was, before it all kind of got out of control and went a bit crazy. – Filmmaker Asif Kapadia

Asiaf Kapadia’s documentary on Amy Winehouse has been a favorite of critics since its successful premier at the Cannes Film Festival 2015. However, Amy’s father Mitch is the only person who is indifferent to the success of the documentary and its director. He differs with Asif Kapadia and critics, calling it a disappointment.

It is the third time that Asif Kapadia made it big at BAFTA Awards. He has two more BAFTA awards to his fame: one for Irrfan Khan-starrer The Warrior in 2003 and the other for sports documentary Senna in 2012. The Warrior was his directorial debut filmed across the sand dunes of Rajasthan and the terrains of the Himalayas. Asif Kapadia’s Senna is a poignant portrait of racing driver Ayrton Senna, who died in 1994.

A London based filmmaker of Indian origin; Asif Kapadia has recently completed shooting for Ali and Nino, a period film based on a novel by Kurban Said. The film with an international cast is set in Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Besides ‘Amy,’ ‘Sanjay’s Super Team,’ an animated short film by Indian-American filmmaker Sanjay Patel, is on the list of Oscar nominations 2016. Read more about Sanjay Patel’s film. – IndianEagle

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Britain owes its taste of Chicken Tikka to Lord Ghulam Noon or Ghulam Kadebhoy Noon, a food baron of Indian origin. Famous as “Curry King” in the culinary world, he made his fortune by catering Indian food to the British taste buds. Lord Ghulam Noon’s journey from a small sweet shop in Mumbai (then Bombay) to a multibillion dollar food empire in the United Kingdom is an eventful one full of inspiration despite an honors scandal for his whopping donation to the Labour Party.

Noon Baron was born into a Muslim family in Bombay in 1936. His father owned a small sweet shop, and he died when Ghulam Noon was only 7 years old. A relative was trusted with the family business until he joined it at the age of 17. He got his first entrepreneurial lesson in food business when he renamed the shop “Royal Sweets.” He stepped into the shoes of an ambitious entrepreneur and expanded the family business by exporting Indian sweets to international markets.

Lord Ghulam Noon traveled to London in 1964 when he realized the popularity of Indian food outside the country. He started with a sweet shop in Southall, London, in order to cash in on the demand for Indian food by the Brits. He founded and ran several food product manufacturing companies in London. The backbone of his entrepreneurship in the UK was the business of Noon Products, which he set up in 1987 after his permanent settlement there with only £50 in 1972.

One of the most popular Noon Products is Bombay Mix, a traditional Indian snack. What is known as Chanachur in India is called Bombay Mix in the UK and Ireland. Named after Bombay, the previous name of Mumbai, it is a mixture of dried, spicy ingredients. His confectionery company was known as Bombay Halwa. However, it is Indian chicken tikka masala, which added to his fame and fortune.

One of the units of his food business in the UK was that of packaged meals, which he started with 11 employees in a small setup. With orders for packaged meals from Birds Eye, Sainsbury’s and others pouring in, it became an ultra-modern factory and the workforce touched nearly 1000 people by 2006. His business was the largest for packaged Indian food in the supermarkets of London. Thus the chicken tikka masala dish became a favorite of Britain.

His business suffered a serious setback due to fire breakout in the factory in 1994, and one of his entrepreneurial initiatives bit the dust in the USA. He was not just a businessman but a fighter. On strength of his vision and optimism, the company was up in 10 weeks of the disaster. Surprisingly, he did not lay off a single employee. Diversification of the business into such areas like aviation catering, dietary supplements and luxury cruise liners is a proof of his entrepreneurial acumen.

Lord Ghulam Noon was a dedicated Indian-British citizen. He was a diehard supporter of the English Cricket team. He flew to London in 1966 to celebrate England’s victory in the Football World Cup. He was a member of Surrey County Cricket Club, too, and proudly possessed 30 autographed bats.

His love for Britain was out of question. Reacting to the July 7 blasts in London, he stated, “These (terrorists) are monkeys who tie bombs to their chests and pull the strings. They are kids. They have been brainwashed. The Muslim community has a responsibility to make sure that those in the business of brainwashing people should be brought to book.”

The food baron was a social entrepreneur as well. He was a member of several charitable trusts including the Prince’s Trust, Care International, and Cancer Research UK. He used to make monetary contributions to a trust for the education of girls in rural India and a Jewish-Muslim interfaith organization. In 1995, he established the Noon Foundation with four million pounds to promote education of girls and fund health projects. He was once elected President of the London Chamber of Commerce.

Lord Ghulam Noon was one of those trapped in Taj Hotel Mumbai during terrorist attacks in November 2008. He was lucky enough to have a narrow escape from it. The then Prime Minister Gordon Brown was first to check whereabouts in Mumbai. He published his memoirs of the infamous 26/11 terrorist attack in “Noon with a View: Courage and Integrity.”

He presented a collection of letters written and received by Mahatma Gandhi, and a piece of khadi cloth spun by Gandhiji, to Pratibha Patil, former President of India, at a function organized by the Indian High Commission in London in 2009. He along with an NRI entrepreneur had bought those memorabilia of Mahatma Gandhi at an auction in London.

There are several feathers in the cap of Lord Ghulam Noon. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1996. He was honored with Knight Bachelor in 2002 and awarded an Honorary Degree by the University of East London in 2009. He was appointed the Chancellor of the University of East London in 2013. Even he was introduced in the House of Lords in 2011.

The Curry King of the UK, as the food baron Lord Ghulam Noon was popularly known, breathed his last yesterday. We at Indian Eagle pay our regards to the food baron, who made Indian food popular beyond India.

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