THE 2023 BAFTA Awards held on February 19 was one of the last major assignments of Krishnendu Majumdar, the outgoing chairman of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
He bids farewell to his post after three years in the role with a sense of accomplishment at the breadth of films to make the 2023 nominations list. This year, the BAFTA saw nominations for actors from Australia, Cuba, Germany, Ireland, Malaysia and the Philippines, along with the UK and US.
Majumdar felt proud that a diverse range of nationalities was represented in this year’s nominations list.
“I’m feeling really proud of the work we’ve done, with the progress we’ve made as an academy and, hopefully, the influence we’ve had on the industry and society,” an elated Majumdar says.
Majumdar is due to step down from one of the most important jobs in the arts world in 2023, following the end of his three-year term. He was selected as chair of BAFTA in June 2020. Leading UK agent Sara Putt has been selected as the new chair of the academy.
Majumdar, was the youngest chairman and the first non-white person to hold the post in the entire 75-year history of Bafta.
When he started his job in BAFTA, he has warned British production companies that they won’t be eligible to win BAFTA’s glittering prizes unless they can demonstrate diversity either in front or behind the camera, and by diversity he plainly meant race. Unarguably, he has succeeded in expanding the diversity in the industry to a great extent during his three-year term.
A TV producer and director, Majumdar has long been part of BAFTA and risen up the ranks over 16 years. His company, Me+You Productions, won an Emmy for co-creating HoffThe Record, a British television comedy show starring David Hasselhoff. It follows a mockumentary fly-on-the-wall format with Hasselhoff playing a fictionalised version of himself in the autumn of his career, relocating to the UK to seek new opportunities.
He has been chair of BAFTA’s learning and new talent committee (2006-2010), chair of the television committee (2015-2019), deputy chair before being elected chair and a member of the board of trustees for nine years. He has been a long-time supporter of greater diversity on and off screen throughout his career and has also been on the Board of Directors UK and also on the PACT (Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television) council.
He has extended BFTA’s 8,000-strong membership by a thousand from “under-represented groups”, such as Asians.
Majumdar was born and brought up in Wales. His father, like his mother, came from a Bengali family in Calcutta. Majumdar says he is influenced by the work ethic of his late father, Dr Rupendra Kumar Majumdar, a GP who worked for the NHS for 40 years. His mother, Jharna, who worked as a community link worker and helped Bangladeshi women with interpreting and other services, for example, looked after her two sons and was notable for her compassion.
He has been living in London for the past two decades.