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Episode details

World Service,20 Feb 2015,49 mins

Amitabh and Me: Meeting a Bollywood Star

The Fifth Floor

Available for over a year

Amitabh Bachchan is regarded as the best and most influential actor in Indian cinema history. He's starred in over 180 films spanning over 40 years. One of his many fans is BBC Urdu's Dino Ali, who got the chance to interview the actor when he came to the UK recently. So how did it go? Keeping the Somali Language Alive In the run-up to a summit in Mogadishu to discuss protecting the nation's language, BBC Arabic's Abdirahim Saeed gives a guide to his mother tongue - Somali. From learning the language in exile to embracing its poetry to teaching his newborn child. Questioning the Legend of Pancho Villa Some describe him as Mexico's Robin Hood, others say he was a common bandit. For many Mexicans Pancho Villa has been a much loved revolutionary hero. But a new book about his life reveals a dark side and uncovers an age-old family feud. BBC Mundo's Juan Carlos Perez Salazar and Mexican journalist Lourdes Heredia discuss the myths and legends around Pancho Villa. Asylum Seekers in Papua New Guinea For two years, Persian TV's Fariba Sahraei has been following the stories of asylum seekers from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan trying to get to Australia via Indonesia. But since Australia toughened its immigration policy, boats have been intercepted and asylum seekers either turned away by the coastguard or put into a detention camp in Papua New Guinea. Fariba has been to remote Manus Island to investigate the lives of these detainees. In Praise of Coffee Two very different perspectives on coffee from BBC Hindi's Shalu Yadav and BBC Arabic's Shahdi Alkashif. Shalu hates coffee but has had to drink an awful lot of it in the course of investigating why young middle class Indians have switched their loyalties from tea to coffee. Shahdi is based in Istanbul, and has been looking into the mysteries of Turkish coffee. It's familiar across the world and pervades every aspect of Turkish life - but it doesn't come from Turkey! (Photo: Amitabh Bachchan poses at a photocall for the film Shamitabh in London in Janurary 2015. Credit: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images)

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