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My Beautiful Laundrette and Desi Queers Book Launch

31 July, 2025, 8 p.m.

Come along to GFT for the launch of Desi Queers, a landmark book on South Asian queer communities in Britain and how they have helped to shape LGBTQ+ movements since the 1970s, written by Churnjeet Mahn, Rohit K. Dasgupta and DJ Ritu. The book launch will be accompanied by a special screening of My Beautiful Laundrette, the groundbreaking 1985 classic which portrays the experience of a gay South Asian man in 1980s Britain.

In a seedy corner of London, Omar (Gordon Warnecke), a young Pakistani man, is given a run-down laundromat by his uncle (Saeed Jaffrey), and hopes to turn it into a successful business. Soon after, Omar is attacked by a group of racist punks, but defuses the situation when he realises their leader is his former lover, Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis). The men resume their relationship and rehabilitate the laundromat together, but various social forces threaten to compromise their success.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Rahul Rao, Reader in International Political Thought at the University of St Andrews, and Neha Apsara, a performance, moving-image and text artist. The discussion will be hosted by Churnjeet Mahn, Professor of English at the University of Strathclyde and one of the authors of Desi Queers.

Screening as part of Pride at GFT.

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GFT 12 Rose Street, G3 6RB

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