In its 28th year, the UK Asian Film Festival 2026 celebrates powerful cinema from South Asia and its diaspora, uniting bold storytelling and diverse voices under this year's theme, ‘Stories That Bind Us’.

Umrao Jaan (1981), a Bollywood restored 4K cult classic, brings its timeless tale of love, longing, and poetry to life on an epic scale. The film traces the journey of a young girl abducted and raised in a Lucknow kotha, who becomes the legendary courtesan and poet Umrao Jaan. Celebrated for her beauty and artistry yet bound by fate, her story unfolds as a haunting reflection on desire, resilience and the search for freedom.