September 5, 2004

Asian actors have never before had such a high profile in the British media. Last year saw numerous productions: theatre, television and radio by Asian writers or starring Asian cast members. On the airwaves, BBC’s Asian Network — an offshoot of BBC radio and Online that cater specifically to the British Asian Community in English and regional languages — got a glamorous relaunch. It now boasts a 24-hour digital output with trendy young Asian DJs hosting live request and talk shows. Silver Street, the first-ever radio soap about an Asian family in Northern England with a mostly Asian cast, was launched through this network.

Television saw a sprinkling of Asian actors in popular British soaps like East Enders and Holby City (starring Art Malik) while West End Theatre production Bombay Dreams, produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber with music by A.R. Rehman and dialogue by Meera Syal, proved to be the first major play to grace London’s stage with an all-Asian star cast. Having proved its popularity in London, it is now enjoying a run at Broadway. Bombay Dreams paved the way for other Asian-centred theatre productions.

Another popular writer, Hanif Kureishi, who already has TV productions like My Beautiful Laundrette and My Son the Fundamentalist to his credit, saw one of his most popular books, The Buddha of Suburbia, adapted for a stage play, which is also touring the UK. Lingering Voices is the latest in the line of thought-provoking new plays with an all-Asian cast and is based on Saman Shad’s short play, The Call of the Wind. It draws on the writer’s personal experiences of growing up in Pakistan and the Middle East.

Tamasha is a London-based Asian theatre company which provided a platform to Asian actors and scriptwriters through its fringe productions and is partly responsible for the boom. It launched a new musical titled Strictly Dandia last year at the Edinburgh International Festival. But before Strictly Dandia taught Londoners the garba, Tamasha did a reproduction of Bollywood blockbuster Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, aptly titled Fourteen Songs, Two Weddings and a Funeral. The production was the launch pad of actress Parminder Nagra who went on to do Bend it like Beckham and is currently starring in the hit US TV show ER. A career chart hardly possible for an Asian actor a few years ago when Asians were limited to the portrayal of corner-shop owners or Middle Eastern villains.

 

Given the deep-rooted prejudices in British society, it will take many years before Asian actors are meaningfully integrated into the performing arts. As Art Malik said in a recent telephone conversation: ‘There are no performing arts governing bodies with Asians on the board’

 

“Two major West End productions with all-Asian casts wouldn’t have happened even five years ago,” says Meera Syal, who wrote the script for Bombay Dreams. But while the breakthrough is real, Syal worries about typecasting. It’s fine to have Asian actors playing Asians, but few are seen in plays that have no subcontinental themes.

Take Ayub Khan-Din, star of Hanif Kureishi’s Sammy and Rosie Get Laid and playwright of East is East: he turned to writing out of frustration because of the parts that were being offered to him. He kept being picked as a “professional Asian” rather than as a pivotal character. Sameena Zehra, who starred in Midnight’s Children, feels she is always typecast as Asian. “If this was a regular RSC production,” she complains, “I’d be spear-carrier.”

Jay Kiyani, a new Asian face on British stage plays Haroon in The Buddha of Suburbia. He hails from the north-west of England where he participated in amateur boxing for over 10 years before deciding to formally train as an actor at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts. He feels that growing up in the north of England where some people’s attitudes towards ethnicity and culture are still in the dark ages, things were difficult for him in the early stages of life.

“With regards to my colour and my acting career, I have to say the only roles I have been put up for so far are Asian characters. I would love to play more diverse roles where ethnicity is not seen as a hurdle. Whether that happens only time will tell.”

Having said that, Kiyani goes on to say that there are a lot more roles for Asian characters at the moment. “I think we as a race are quite fashionable and the time is probably right for Asian actors to be much employed. I am glad to say that I think at the moment being Asian is more helpful than a hindrance!”

Kiyani’s view is shared by Gurinder Chadha, director of the hit British-Asian film Bend it Like Beckham. She suggests that times have changed since Hanif Kureishi’s My Beautiful Laundrette, which in 1985 propelled Daniel Day-Lewis to stardom and left his Asian co-star, Gordon Warnecke, in the shadows.

Chadha found that many of the cast of her 1993 film Bhaji on the Beach “didn’t work for ages” afterwards. She feared that the same would happen to Parminder Nagra after Bend it Like Beckham, that Keira Knightley would get job offers while her Asian co-star, Nagra, would not. It is true that Keira has gone on to woo Hollywood, starring opposite Johnny Depp in the epic adventure Pirates of the Caribbean, but Parminder has had her fair share of fame and fortune.

“Parminder’s been in a Miramax film, a Shakespeare play and a television series. She hasn’t stopped working,” Chadha said in a recent interview. “I was ecstatic to see both their careers take off.”

This sudden explosion of Asian talent has got many critics thinking. Although most of the credit for creating the opportunity goes to Asian writers creating interesting copy about Asian culture and integration, and casting directors who are willing to take on actors for their skill rather than colour, the sudden appearance of Asians on the performing front has changed a lot of misconceptions. Lloyd Webber’s anxiety about Bombay Dreams, that not enough British Asian actors had the skills to carry a musical, was unfounded. Tamasha’s artistic director, Kristine Landon-Smith, agrees that he was proved wrong.

“Just as Goodness Gracious Me changed the preconception that Asians weren’t funny, he did find Asian actors who could sing and dance,” she said in an interview.

Despite the high profile Asian writers and performers are enjoying these days, there are still racial barriers in theatre, a recent British Arts Council report found. Very few Black and Asian actors have starred in classical theatre. Some who have, faced unfriendly criticism from drama critics, though audiences remain mostly colourblind.

Television, on the other hand, seems more flexible when it comes to casting according to type rather than colour. One rarely sees an all-white production nowadays. As a teenager watching BBC teatime classics, Raza Jaffrey, the 28-year-old star of Bombay Dreams, used to wonder if he would ever act in a Jane Austen serial. Setting aside a rewrite of Pride and Prejudice for modern-day British Asians that ITV 1 already has in the works, it is no longer far-fetched to picture Jaffrey in a colour-blind version as the next Mr Darcy.

Despite the encouraging attitude towards diversity that TV seems to promote, theatre remains out of bounds for strictly classical productions, although new writers and directors are open to experimentation as far as contemporary productions go.

Jaffrey feels “phenomenally lucky” to have left drama school just as East is East came out. He feels that the new breed of directors are more interested in the performances they can draw out of actors.

His fellow actor, 29-year-old Raj Ghatak, says: “Now most characters are attainable.” For Ghatak, an Asian character “doesn’t only have to live an Asian lifestyle: British Asians of my age group live both lives.”

Given the deep-rooted prejudices in British society, it will take many years before Asian actors are meaningfully integrated into the British performing arts. As Art Malik said in a recent telephone conversation: “There are no performing arts governing bodies with Asians on the board.” It will also take greater unity on part of the Asian performing community. “At present, things can get tricky because we are all fighting for the same piece of cake,” says Meera Syal. Added to the fact, the term is used loosely to denote people of colour whether they are of Indian, Pakistani, Turkish or Chinese origin creating immense competition for any audition that has the term Asian in it.

Most of the Asians in the media scene are of Indian or Indian-African origin, although the scene is slowly shifting as second-generation Pakistanis and Bangladeshis enter the arena, trying to make a place for themselves. A lot of young Pakistani and Bangladeshi actors find it hard to make the breakthrough as culturally arts and music is discouraged in the Muslim communities. Lack of role models in the media adds to the disinterest. But with the younger Pakistani generation showing an interest towards creative arts, all that may change very soon. Next Art Malik anyone?—By arrangement with the British Council