Channel 4’s SOUTH ASIAN FILM SEASON 2025 kicks off with award-winning film, JOYLAND

Channel 4 today announces its South Asian Film Season is returning on Monday 29th September and runs throughout October on Film4 and Channel 4, with all films available to stream after broadcast. It features 11 films which represent a cross-section of the best contemporary examples of South Asian cinema.

Curated by longstanding season consultant and Indian cinema expert, Nasreen Munni Kabir, this year’s season includes films from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal and spans drama, thriller, documentary and social realism, exploring themes of class, racial, political and gender divides.

All films are Network Premieres aside from the classic Bollywood romantic drama MR & MRS 55 and Sandhya Suri’s British immigration documentary I, FOR INDIA.

2025 Season Details

The season launches on Film4 on Monday 29th September 2025 with director Saim Sadiq’s award-winning controversial drama from Pakistan, JOYLAND. The youngest son of a patriarchal family joins an erotic dance theatre and falls in love with its ambitious headline act, starting a love story against the odds and igniting a desire for sexual rebellion.

Next, BERLIN, a tense spy thriller from India. When deaf-mute Ashok Kumar (Ishwak Singh) is accused of spying for a foreign power, intelligence officers in New Delhi bring in sign-language translator Pushkin Verma (Aparshakti Khurana) to interpret for the young Ashok during his interrogation. But as the case proceeds, the mystery deepens, and Pushkin finds himself caught up in a complicated and dangerous game between rival intelligence agencies in India.

Also from India, the season features two films from British-Indian director Sandhya Suri. THE FIELD is a sensitive and layered short film set in a rural community. During the harvest of the last remaining cornfield, unknown to those around her, a married young labourer, Lalla (Mia Maelzer), leads a double life. 

Next, the documentary I FOR INDIA is a chronicle of immigration seen through the eyes of one family, following the arrival and its aftermath of GP Dr. Yash Pal Suri and his wife and daughter to 1960s England. To keep in touch with relatives, Yash began sending super-8 films and reel-to-reel recordings back to India, receiving ‘cine-letters’ in return. Decades on, with a return to the homeland increasingly unlikely, the realities of alienation, racism and family tensions begin to colour this unique visual and sound diary.

Moving on to Bangladesh, a drama from director Maksud Hossain, set in Dhaka, SABA follows the title character (played by Mehazabien Chowdhury) as she struggles to care for her ailing, often cantankerous mother. After her mother’s health deteriorates further, Saba’s struggles increase as she fights to raise enough money for the operation that will save her mother. To do so she must sell the family home, look for work and beg relatives for money, placing her future and her relationship with senior co-worker Ankur (Mostafa Monwar) at stake.

The debut feature from director Zarrar Kahn, IN FLAMES is a highly original and atmospheric Pakistani film. In this haunting thriller set in Karachi, Mariam's precarious existence is ripped apart when her father passes. Living in a deep-rooted and toxic patriarchy, Mariam (Ramesha Nawal) and her mother (Bakhtawar Mazhar) find the strength to survive the malevolent forces that threaten to swallow them. Official Pakistan entry for Best International Film at the 2024 Academy Awards.

Awarded Best Non-Feature at India’s 70th National Film Awards, AYENA (MIRROR) is a documentary from director Siddhant Sarin. This sensitive film explores the aftermath of acid attacks on Ritu and Faraha as the young women are forced to redefine who they are and how the world sees them. Through their unusual friendship, the two survivors also fight for justice and seek ways of healing, while their changed lives bring about new opportunities and unexpected possibilities.

American-born Belgian actor Rumana Molla writes, directs and stars in the lead role in her 2024 film MINIMUM. Soon after marrying, Fauzia finds herself kept a virtual captive in her marital home in Belgium by secretive mother-in-law Ruxana (Geetanjali Kulkarni). Gradually the newlywed discovers everything she was told about her husband Ali (Namit Das) was untrue, but her family refuse to allow her to return to India. When French tutor Laurie (Saba Azad) is engaged to teach her the basics of the language, Fauzia begins to find new courage through their growing friendship and strives to make an independent life in Belgium.

Inspired by true events, POOJA SIR from Nepali director Deepak Rauniyar follows female D.I. Pooja Thapa (Asha Magrati), sent from Kathmandu to a small border town in Southern Nepal to investigate the kidnapping of two local boys. Plunged into a world of political unrest, racial tensions and ingrained misogyny, alongside local Madhesi policewoman Mamata (played by Nikita Chandak), Detective Inspector Pooja must draw on all her resources to solve the case.

Marking 100 years since actor-director Guru Dutt’s birth, with a sharp, wisecracking script, MR & MRS 55 is his Frank Capra-esque classic from the golden age of Hindi cinema. In order to claim her inheritance when she comes of age, Anita (Madhubala) must be married. Her scheming aunt, Sita Devi (Lalita Pawar), decides to hire a fake husband that Anita can ditch after claiming her fortune. But when cartoonist Preetam (Guru Dutt) agrees to the arrangement, the couple soon begin to find their heads are overruled by their hearts.

To close the season MR & MRS 55 REMEMBERED is a short film to remember Guru Dutt on his 100th birthday anniversary and an introduction to Mr & Mrs 55. His close colleagues, excerpted from a longer documentary, remember this master of Hindi cinema, who is loved across generations. Directed/produced by Nasreen Munni Kabir.

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For more information: South Asian Film Season 2025 | Channel 4