Nasreen Munni Kabir (born 1950) is an

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

-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 channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. Her work includes the 46-part series '' Movie Mahal'', '' In Search of Guru Dutt'', ''Follow that Star'' (a profile of

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He is often considered one of the greatest, most accomplished and commercially successful actors in the history of Indian cinema.* * * * * With a cinemati ...

), 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 filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

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 Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Hollywood". The industry, producing films in th ...

Javed Akhtar Javed Akhtar (born 1945) is an Indian screenwriter, lyricist and poet. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2007, two of India's highest civili ...

Lata Mangeshkar Lata Mangeshkar (; born Hema Mangeshkar; 28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer. She is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. He ...

A.R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinema ...

Gulzar Gulzar (born Sampooran Singh Kalra; 18 August 1934) is an Indian Urdu poetry, 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 era. He starte ...

, and

Waheeda Rehman Waheeda Rehman (born 3 February 1938) is an Indian actress. Regarded among the most accomplished actresses of Hindi cinema, she has worked in more than Waheeda Rehman filmography, 90 feature films, in a career spanning over five decades. Her ac ...

. Her latest book is a biography of legendary tabla virtuoso

Ustad Zakir Hussain Zakir Hussain Allarakha Qureshi (9March 195115December 2024) was an Indian tabla player, composer, arranger, percussionist, music producer and film actor. The eldest son of esteemed tabla player Alla Rakha, Hussain was widely regarded as the g ...

Early life and education

Born in

Hyderabad, India Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

, 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 made a notable contribution to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, Ellipsis (narrative device), ellipses, an ...

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 (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team 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, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on p ...

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 and film producer who works in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as the " Baadshah of Bollywood" and "King Khan", he has appeared in more th ...

, '' The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan''. 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 Ustad Bismillah Khan (born Qamaruddin 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. His virtuosity made him a le ...

. 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 * '' In Search of Guru Dutt'' (1989) 3-part * '' The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan'' (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 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 Governors of the British Film Institute