Gurinder Chadha meets Barack Obama

Gurinder Chadha may be in the midst of directing her next English-Punjabi comic feature, but that hasn't deterred her from attending a girls' night out organised by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's wife, Sarah. The venue was 10, Downing Street in London the official residence of the Browns. The special guests were US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, whom Gurinder met.

Says a source close to Gurinder, "The power dinner was attended by top-of-the-line glitterati including supermodel Naomi Campbell, J K Rowling (creator of the Harry Potter series) and Gursharan Kaur (wife of Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh). Also present were top businesswomen and first ladies of various countries."

Gurinder confirmed the news saying, "I was delighted to meet President Obama and Michelle at dinner. I took my twins (Ronak Singh and Sumiko) too, but not literally! (Laughs) I had my Mothers' Day gift handbag, which has their photograph! The Prez was very cool and I told him how hard we partied on the night he won! He laughed and said that I should continue partying!

Michelle was shocked to learn that I was the only woman movie director of colour in the UK. They were both so easy to talk to! We had a lovely chat about our children." Currently Gurinder is in West London shooting It's A Wonderful Afterlife, produced by The Indian Film Company and Studio 18, which stars Shabana Azmi.

About the film, Gurinder says, "I'm glad to have found an Indian partner in Studio 18 and look forward to a long-term relationship with them. We have done a week of shooting already. It is looking brilliant!" The shooting of It's A Wonderful Afterlife wraps up in mid-May this year.