Ace Bhatti on The Effects of Lying: We Asians have the same problems as the British

ACTOR Ace Bhatti said his new film, about unravelling family secrets, reflects the universal appeal of good drama, with audiences drawn to the plotline and not the characters’ ethnicity.

In The Effects of Lying, Bhatti plays Naveen, a “dutiful husband and loving father” whose life falls apart over a series of events taking place over the course of a day – including finding his wife in bed with his brother.

As the day unfolds, decades of secrets are finally exposed and Naveen is forced to face up to some home truths.

Bhatti, 53, told Eastern Eye, “It’s a comedy. It’s almost a farce. But behind that farce is utter pain. This man whose life is sort of plodding along, learns three devastating truths. But it’s about keeping face, which happens in all walks of life. It’s about keeping that family together, but eventually it just all falls apart. But in a weird way, it comes back together again.

“That was the challenge, to do that one and a half hours but also in the time that we had to film it.”

Though the cast has predominantly south Asian actors, such as Laila Rouass, Navin Chowdhury, Shaheen Khan, Bhasker Patel and newcomer Lauren Patel, the film is not specifically an Asian story, rather a drama that happens to be about an Asian family, said Bhatti.

Ace Bhatti with Laila Rouass

“Stories are universal,” he said. “Through my years as an actor I’ve realised people don’t care as long as the story is good.

Bhatti praised director Isher Sahota (Grace, Mcdonald & Dodds) and producer Jon Tarcy (Life in Black), for having “the courage” to make a film about a British brown family that he said may in the past have been “put on a shelf and forgotten about”.

“John and Isher said, ‘look, we don’t want to be waiting around, let’s just do it and make it’. I have to applaud that.

“We took a punt and we did it,” said Bhatti. “If something’s decent, no matter what background you’re from, if people are moved by it, they will watch it. That’s what’s great about drama, you can watch an American drama, an Indian drama, a Chinese drama – if you’re moved by it, people don’t care where it’s from.”

The film was shot in two weeks and Bhatti credited experienced actors Rouass and Chowdhury as a big reason why the film was wrapped up in such a short amount of time. “I’ve worked with Laila before in Life Isn’t All Haha Hehe and she was fantastic in that. When I read the script, I phoned her straight away as I knew she would be perfect in the role of (his on-screen wife) Sangeeta. And Navin is a very seasoned actor.

“At the beginning we did say, ‘can we do this?’ It was a case of just throwing yourself in the deep end and in a way that’s what helped us.

Ace Bhatti

“We knew we had to get it right first time. We rehearsed and rehearsed to get to the core of each scene because there’s a lot of history, a lot of pain in each scene. I really enjoyed it and I hope it shows in the performance.”

With his career spanning more than 30 years, Bhatti has seen the strides made by south Asian actors in the UK. He admitted to feeling “joyous” at the work done by the younger generation of Asian actors.

“When I first started acting, and this is something I’ve never spoken about before because I never wanted to use it as an excuse, but a very prominent actor used to openly say to me ‘P***s can’t act’.

“You hear it now and it’s shocking. But this was the 1970s and 1980s, it wasn’t safe to walk down the street.

“Now we’ve really established ourselves. I applaud the youngsters coming up behind me, saying, ‘we want more of this’ (like The Effects of Lying).

“We’re going to do great dramas. All I can do is just be overwhelmed and joyous about it because, before Art Malik there was no one else. And then it was me and my generation, but the parts weren’t that great. The parts still need to be improved, they’re still 40 years behind, but something like this (The Effects of Lying) is relevant and shows we (Asians) are British and have the same problems as everyone else,” he joked.

Bhatti is known for playing intimidating characters in shows like Silent Witness, Line of Duty and Baptiste.

The 53-year-old’s role in The Effects of Lying is a departure from his usual serious roles, but he said though the film is a comedy, the depth of his character of Naveen is what attracted him to the role.

“I feel awkward pointing it out, but I think it’s good if it gives people confidence, if it gives the next generation confidence to say, ‘that’s just a story, I can relate to that’. If someone on the street stops me – white, brown, black, whatever background they may be from – and says to me ‘I really enjoyed that’, end of story for me.”

Bhatti, who has helped break the glass ceiling by playing roles that weren’t written specifically for a south Asian actor, urged people to demand for change and see a wide variety of dramas relating to south Asian communities.

“Certain dramas get made and say certain things, but people need to recognise we have different aspects to our lives. We’re not terrorists. We’re not sexual deviants. We’re not wife beaters and killers. There’s a lot of those stories that happen all the time. There’s other stories.

“We’ve just got to keep demanding. We’ve got an Asian prime minister, for God’s sake, which shows how far we’ve come. Production companies now want these kinds of stories and the audience want these kinds of stories.”