Nasreen Munni Kabir (born 1950) is an

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

-born television producer, director and author based in the U.K. She is best known for producing an annual season of Indian films for the British terrestrial television channel

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

. Her work includes the 46-part series '' Movie Mahal'', ''

In Search of Guru Dutt ''In Search of Guru Dutt'' is a 1989 three-part documentary film on the life and work of Indian actor, writer, director and producer of Hindi films Guru Dutt to mark his 25th death anniversary. This documentary is a three-part tribute to direct ...

'', ''Follow that Star'' (a profile of Amitabh Bachchan), and

series such as '' How To Make It Big in Bollywood'' & ''The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan''. She won the 1999 Women of Achievement Award in Arts & Culture in the UK and became a governor on the board of the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

in 2000, serving a six-year term. Over the years, she has directed several documentaries and published 15 books on cinema, including five books featuring the dialogue of Indian celebrated classic films and book-length biographical conversations with personalities in the Hindi film industry, Javed Akhtar,

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar () (born as Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 06 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is widely considered to have been the greatest and most influential singers in India. Her con ...

, A.R. Rahman,

Gulzar Sampooran Singh Kalra (born 18 August 1934), known professionally as Gulzar, is an Indian Urdu poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and film director known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of greatest Urdu poets of this ...

, and

Waheeda Rehman Waheeda Rehman (born 3 February 1938) is an Indian actress and dancer. Regarded as one of Hindi cinema's finest actresses, Rehman's accolades include a National Film Award and three Filmfare Awards. Rehman was honoured with the Padma Shri by G ...

. Her latest book is a biography of legendary tabla virtuoso

Ustad Zakir Hussain Ustad Zakir Hussain (born 9 March 1951) is an Indian tabla player, composer, percussionist, music producer and film actor. He is the eldest son of tabla player Alla Rakha. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1988, and the Padma Bhushan in 2002, ...

Early life and education

Born in

Hyderabad, India Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the '' de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern In ...

, Kabir's parents moved to London when she was age three. She did her master's in cinema studies.

Career

Kabir moved to Paris and lived there for 19 years, studying film and working as an assistant on various documentaries. She also worked with French film director

Robert Bresson Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson contributed notably to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, ellipses, and sparse use of scoring have l ...

as his trainee assistant on the film FOUR NIGHTS OF A DREAMER. She also worked as a consultant with

Pompidou Centre The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

in Paris, where she organised two Indian film festivals in 1983/85. In 1982, she resettled in London where she began her current job as Channel 4 TV's consultant on Indian Films. In 1986, she directed and produced a 46-part television docu-series on

Indian cinema The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, ...

titled ''Movie Mahal'' for Channel 4 TV UK. and other series on Hindi cinema. In 2005, she produced a two-part documentary on

Shahrukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. Referred to in the media as the " Baadshah of Bollywood", "King of Bollywood" ...

, ''

The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan ''The Inner and Outer World of Shahrukh Khan'' is the release title for a pair of documentaries pertaining to Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, Shahrukh Khan, both directed by the London-based writer and producer/director Nasreen Munni Kabir, an ...

''. It featured the superstar's 2004 Temptations concert tour, the film contrasts Khan's "inner world" of family and daily life, with the "outer world" of his work. She continues to curate an annual season of Indian films for Channel 4 each year. She has also directed a six-part series for Channel 4 UK on the legendary playback singer Lata Mangeshkar called LATA IN HER OWN VOICE. In April 2011, a book titled "A. R. Rahman The Spirit of Music" written based on the conversations with Nasreen Munni Kabir was released. Also in 2011, she produced ''Bismillah of Benares'' a documentary on shehnai maestro,

Bismillah Khan Bismillah Khan (born Amaruddin Khan, 21 March 1916 – 21 August 2006), often referred to by the title ''Ustad'', was an Indian musician credited with popularizing the shehnai, a reeded woodwind instrument. While the shehnai had long held imp ...

. It was presented by A.R. Rahman's KM Musiq and distributed by Sony Music in India. April 2014 saw the release of a book named 'Conversations with Waheeda Rehman' which was based on her conversations with

about the latter's life and work.

Personal life

She lives in London.

Filmography

* ''Movie Mahal'' (1986/88) 49-part TV series * ''

'' (1989) 3-part * ''

'' (2005) * ''Bismillah of Benares'' (2011)

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

Biography of Nasreen Munni Kabir
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Munni, Nasreen 1950 births Living people Writers from Hyderabad, India Indian emigrants to England English Muslims Indian documentary filmmakers Indian social sciences writers Indian film historians Indian women historians 20th-century Indian historians Indian women science writers 20th-century Indian women writers 20th-century Indian writers 20th-century Indian film directors 20th-century Indian women scientists 20th-century Indian scientists Women writers from Telangana Women documentary filmmakers Writers from London English documentary filmmakers British social sciences writers British film historians British women historians English science writers 20th-century British women writers Film directors from London English emigrants to France Indian emigrants to France