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Irfan
Ajeeb,
son of Mohammed Ajeeb, talks about the day his father became Lord
Mayor as a 'major breakthrough' for the Pakistani community.
He says: "Obviously I was quite young at the time so I did not really
appreciate and understand what that accomplishment meant: But for
a person who was born and raised in a village, who came here with
hardly anything and to become the 'first citizen of Bradford' was
like saying, 'Yes, we've finally arrived here, they've accepted
us - we're here to stay.' "
Irfan
now works as a film programmer at the National Museum of Photography,
Film and Television in Bradford.
He talks about the importance of cinema in the early days - when
films were often the only source of relaxation for Asians.
He says: "In the 60s and 70s there were approximately one dozen
to two dozen cinemas in Bradford alone. You had people travelling
from all over the country - they made a day of it just to come to
the cinema and really experience something unusual. It was unusual
at that time because you had three-hour epic movies full of dance,
full of colour, emotion and romance, and shot in India and Pakistan.
Part of the reason why they were so popular was because people would
reminisce about things back home. My mum and dad described how they
used to go to the cinema and when they came out they used to see
loads of people crying and remembering how it used to be back in
the village."
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