The Media Archive for Central England is the public screen archive for the East and West Midlands. An independent charity and company based at the University of Lincoln, MACE acquires, catalogues, preserves and makes widely available moving image materials that inform our understanding of the diverse cultures and histories of communities between the Lincolnshire coast and the Welsh border.
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Indian Businessman
He arrived in Britain with £3 and went on to become one of the richest business men in the Midlands. How did Amrat Parmar do it?
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Overview
In 1975 Parmar was the head of a business empire that combined property and film. As owner of the Villa Cross cinema in Handsworth and the Natraj complex on Leicester's Belgrave Road he typified the new successful Asian businessman in Britain. But when he arrived in the UK fourteen years earlier he only had a total of £3 in his pocket. Parmar explains the secret of his success to Tony Maycock.
The Villa Cross and Natraj cinemas both fell victim to the decline in cinema audiences during the 1980s and the huge growth in popularity of Asian films on home video.
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