AwaaZ Magazine

Cover Story: Indian Cinema in East Africa

The Movie Scene in Kenya

By Manu Savani The Beginning of Mohanlal Kala Savani’s Business Journey The growth of the Indian film business in the history of...

Reel Pleasures

By Laura Fair Films and movie-going are the central focus of this book ‘For generations, going to the movies was the...

‘Tonight At The Empire’ - Cinema And Urbanity In Zanzibar, 1920s To 1960s

By Brigitte Reinwald This article deals with cinematographic history ...

Films And Music In My Life, Then And Now ……

By Valli Jamal The Drive-In was the place to be on a Sunday evening w...

Cinema Halls In Mombasa In The Mid And Late 20th Century

By Anjum Asodia MY PERSONAL STORY I joined Coastweek, at its incepti...

South Asian Films in Kenya: A Major Cultural Influence

By Kul Bhushan who reviewed them from 1967 to 1980 and interviewed mos...

Indian Cinema In Mid-1940s Nairobi

By Neera Kapur-Dromson The age of cinema arrived – even in Nairobi – ...

The Romance Of The Regal

By Ameer Janmohamed 1931 was an eventful year in the history of the J...

A Nostalgic Look at Naaz Cinema

Naaz ki Kahaani Meri Zubani. (The story of Naaz and my testimony) By ...

Bollywood Films in Kenya

By Mohinder Dhillon In 1945, two years before I emigrated to Kenya...

Reviving Zanzibar's Oldest Theatre

By Billie Odidi The once imperial building in the historic Stone Town...

Regular Column

Letters to the Editors

A critique (last of three) by Karim Hirji of articles in AwaaZ Volume 15, Issue 2 2018. Kofi Annan In the year prior ...

Cinema Nostalgia

London Calling by Ramnik Shah My earliest memory of going to the cinema is being taken to the Majestic Theatre in Momba...

This Is Our Legacy

By Marge Piercy (https://monthlyreview.org/author/margepiercy/) (Nov 01, 2019) Topics: Capitalism (https://monthlyrevi...

Special Feature

Ali Zaidi: The Editor from India Who Found a Home in Kenya

By Rasna Warah Usually it is writers who have a fan following, but in the case of Ali Zaidi, it was writers who were fans of the much-loved editor, as I discovered when I attended the many garden parties which he held in his home in Loresho, one of the greener suburbs of Nairobi. There, people like Binyavanga Wainaina (who passed away three months before Ali died and whose death had really shaken Ali), Yvonne Owuor, Parselelo Kantai, Judy Kibinge, Muthoni Wanyeki, Tom Maliti, the late Susan Linee, Zarina Patel, Zahid Rajan, Dana Seidenberg,...

Babri Masjid: A Case Of Criminal Trespass

By Nandita Haksar Even before the adoption of the Constitution, in November 1949 India had embarked upon the stupendous task of preparing the electoral rolls on the basis of universal adult franchise. The exercise turned adult Indians into voters even before they had become citizens. Some authors have called this exercise the ‘greatest experiment in democratic human history’. One writer has said: ‘By late 1949 India pushed through the frontiers of the world’s democratic imagination and gave birth to the largest democracy.’ Right back in 1928 Nehru in a report had stated: ‘any artificial restriction on...

Supported [in part] by a grant

Foundation Open Society Institute in cooperation with the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa of the Open Society Foundations

Friends of Awaaz

Yash and Jill Ghai, Mohez Karmali, Gijsbert Oonk, Vijoo Rattansi, Victoria Commercial Bank Charitable Trust, I& M Bank, Willy Mutunga, Chandaria Foundation, Asian Foundation, Firoze Manji, Muthoni Wanyeki, Wanjiru Gikonyo, Kirit Pattni, Ismail Ramadhani, Dr. Ramadhan Marjan, Radha Upadhyaya, Benegal Pereira, Mburu Gitu, Neela Ghoshal, Hindpal Jabbal, Krishna Sondhi, Nyawira Muthiga, Sheetal Kapila, Fiona Mati, Ramnik Shah, Shiraz Durrani, Madhukant Shah, Rosemelle Mutoka, Nivi Sharma, Salim Damji, Juzar Hooker, Mark Ojal, Mohinder Dhillon, Karen Rothmyer, Sachen Shah, Akbar Husein, Peter Kiama, Sarah and Felix Kyalo

About Awaaz

Awaaz is a magazine published tri-annually out of Nairobi, Kenya. It aims to provide a broad platform for debate and reflection on issues of both contemporary and historical interest. What started off in 2002 as a focus on the role of the South Asian community in the historical, political and socio-economic spheres of Kenya; has now broadened to cover the larger debates on diversity, democracy, human rights and social justice. The magazine also critically examines the role of minorities both as communities in Kenya and East Africa; as well as a concept of human rights in a society be they ethnic, racial, gender based, sexual or political.