A trip to Beijing in 2006 affected Rajesh Hardwani (r-H) in a big way. While there, he decided that Beijing would be the featured city of his CD inlay travelogue in Black Asia Volume 2. Little did he know that, 2 years down the road, his music from Black Asia Volumes 1 and 2 would be used in a feature documentary, Mad About English.

"I was in Beijing on a Cultural Exchange Programme by the Asia-Europe Foundation. It (trip ) was one of those experiences you never forget. When I got home and continued work on Volume 2, I couldn't escape Beijing. It felt like I was there as I worked on the photographs and the CD inlay. And some time later I get call from a film maker asking if I was interested in working on music that concerned Beijing!", says r-H when asked about his involvement in Mad About English.

Tim Sum Vindaloo from Black Asia Volume 1 and An Indian Lost In Beijing from Black Asia Volume 2 are featured as the theme music in elements and as wholes in this feature release, which have begun screenings in China and Canada and will be released throughout Singapore in August.

Mad About English reveals the frenzy as English fever spreads to policemen, taxi drivers, waiters, official dignitaries, even elderly matrons involved in community services. Textbooks can be found in bookstores across Beijing, and each morning audio lessons of conversational English can be heard at the city's supermarkets. Parents send their children to special boot camp-style English training programs where, in a unique teaching method, instructors encourage their pupils to scream out their English lessons at the top of their lungs.

Mad About English is produced and directed by Lian Pek (Journey Pictures, Singapore).