Simran Kaur 1970, a powerful short narrative from Dutch writer, actor and director, Keshavi Jaharia, and produced by Sohail Anjum, Avanish Sharma and Swati Agarwal, will have its US premiere at the 21st edition of the illustrious Tasveer International Film Festival, which will take place from October 13th to 18th October 2026 in Seattle, Washington, USA.
The film, recently held its world premiere at the Bengaluru International Short Film Festival in India where it was selected as a finalist for the Women’s Collective Award category.
Inspired by true events, Simran Kaur 1970 tells the gripping story of Simran, an Indian bride-to-be, arriving at Heathrow Airport to marry her fiancé. Upon landing, she is separated from the airport crowd and subjected to a cold, bureaucratic procedure that determines her right to enter the country. The film brings to light a dark chapter in British immigration history: the discriminatory and invasive practice of virginity testing.
Speaking about the film, Keshavi has said “Simran Kaur 1970, is not just a historical account; it is a necessary excavation of a buried trauma that continues to resonate in conversations about borders, bodies, and belonging. These examinations were not hidden acts of violence; they were carried out politely, procedurally, and with official language. I wanted to observe how harm can exist inside a system that believes themselves to be reasonable.” She further adds “we are thankful to the Tasveer Film Festival to have provided Simran Kaur 1970 a platform to bring this story to an American audience.”
In the late 1970s, British immigration authorities at Heathrow Airport subjected more than 80 South Asian women – primarily from India and Pakistan arriving on fiancée visas – to intimate gynaecological examinations. Officials claimed the exams were meant to verify “marital status,” operating under racist and sexist prejudices that South Asian women were submissive and always virgins before marriage. The practice was banned in February 1979 after a public scandal, and decades later, the UK government officially criminalized virginity testing nationwide in November 2021 under the Health and Care Act.
