By Prasun Sonwalkar, IANS

Prominent filmmaker Gurinder Chadha will trace her roots in India in the forthcoming episode of the popular BBC series, "Who Do You Think You Are?"

The series has featured prominent British individuals including the feisty BBC presenter-writer Jeremy Paxman.

During a two-week shoot for the episode, Chadha journeyed from Kenya to India and Pakistan, tracing her ancestors back 4,000 years to the plains where Alexander the Great fought one of his last battles.

Chadha was brought up in Southall, London, the daughter of a shopkeeper father who changed jobs several times.

Her father came to England from Kenya in 1961 but found he had to shave off his beard and remove his turban to become a postman. "Sikhism is in my heart, not my hair," he declared in the face of the hostility and racism he encountered.

Chadha, who now divides her life between London and Los Angeles, said: "As far as I was concerned, I always knew when to be Indian at home or English when with my friends or down the street.

"But when I go to India it makes me realise how English I am. To me it's a foreign land and I've never found a part of India that I feel I really belong to."

The episode featuring Chadha will be telecast on BBC2 Feb 15.