ARTS SPECIAL

BOLLYWOOD BRINGS IT home

Ek Pal is Hindi for ‘One Moment’ (of regret). It’s also the name of a new Bollywood movie that tells the simplistic but moving story of a young married Indian man, and a forlorn lover, who discovers he has HIV, and of the aftermath of shame that he brings to his family and friends. A musical tale of love, tragedy and guilt. The cast of the film are all prominent Indian soap stars, and Bollywood’s most famous singer, Kumar Sanu, contributed the

Karamjeet on the set of Ek Pal in Bollywood - “an industry dominated by men”

soundtrack.
Karamjeet, why a Bollywood movie about HIV?
“Every south Asian family here in the UK and in India watches Bollywood films. I wanted to get the issue of HIV and Aids into the home. To reach the women and the children too. I knew that the only way I could do this was with the dramatic form of film. After three years of trying to do the obvious kind of prevention work - leaflets, conferences, and so on - a health promotion worker is supposed to do, I realised we weren’t getting to the people we needed to get to.
There is a huge amount of ignorance and denial attached to the issue of HIV in the UK’s Asian community. There are about 66,000 Muslim families living in the Birmingham area; 51,000 Indian families and 13,000 Bangladeshis in Birmingham itself. In India, the number of people with HIV has

reached four million and the complacency surrounding HIV is horrendous. The caste system and hierarchy only reinforce the prejudice against it.