Actor Art Malik on his charity efforts and boosting diversity in cinema

by LAUREN CODLING

A VETERAN actor who is hosting gala dinners to raise funds for a Pakistan-based charity has revealed the reasons behind working for the cause.

Film and TV star Art Malik is hosting two Ramadan dinners in aid of the Graham Layton Trust (GLT), a charity that provides free treatment for curable blindness and visual impairment in his native Pakistan.

The first dinner took place at the Grand Sapphire Hotel, Croydon, last weekend, while the second is set to be held on Saturday (12) at Manchester’s Vermilion.

The 65-year-old, who has been a trustee of GLT since last year, explained that collaborating with the charity appealed to him because it aims to cure blindness, which 80

per cent of the time is treatable.

“No one should go blind just because they can’t afford treatment,” Malik told Eastern Eye. His father had previously worked for the charity in the 1980s, the Jewel in the Crown actor added.

“My father came the UK to perfect his desire to be an eye surgeon and then went back to Pakistan in his retirement,” he said.

“I asked what he did with his days and he replied that he did some charity work and some teaching, but it never occurred to me what charity work he was doing.”

Since its launch in 1984, GLT and its sister charity Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust (LRBT) have worked to treat more than 37 million cases of curable blindness and visual impairment. It has since developed a network of 19 hospitals and 56 clinics and outreach centres across Pakistan.

“I went to visit one hospital in Pakistan and 1,200 people had turned up who were all seen by 2pm. Those people’s lives were transformed,” the Pakistani born actor recalled.

“It was such a humbling and enlightening experience.” Malik moved to the UK with his family in 1955 when he was three years old, growing up in Tooting, south London, in a Muslim family.

Although not a practising member of the faith today, he fondly remembers Ramadan celebrations in the community.

“Ramadan was extraordinary,” he recalled. “We would have people over to us or we would go to others. It was important for us to invite people in the street – it was the whole idea of using it as a moment to reflect and get to know your neighbour.”

He noted how when London’s population grew with individuals from the subcontinent, it became a time to catch up and travel to people’s homes across the capital.

“We had the most amazing dinners,” he said. “You really got to know good cooking.” Malik lives in Devon currently and although he says he does not miss living in London, he still loves to visit the “fabulous” city.

Nothing, he claimed, beats the view from Westminster bridge on a sunny day.

“I love the skyline,” he said. “And I say to people, ‘please walk around, but always remember to look up.’”

Having appeared in more than 100 films and television shows, including Cold Feet and Bancroft, the successful actor is currently starring in the BBC drama The Woman in White.

However, Malik is aware of Asian actors being typecast, and said individuals can still be tarnished with a particular brush.

“That brush for young actors is very much, would you like to play this part? Well guess what, it is a terrorist or part of a gang,” he said. “We dealt with it in True Lies [when Malik played an Islamist jihadist in the 1994 action film alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger] and that was more than 25 years ago.”

Malik graduated from the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London 42 years ago, and he acknowledged that though the entertainment industry has progressed “hugely” since he started working as an actor, it still has some way to go.

“The industry hasn’t caught onto where the public is,” he said. “The public don’t see a divided Britain. They don’t wake up on a morning, sit on the bus and say, ‘oh my god, I’m sitting next to a person from this tribe.’ They just get on with it.

“Britain has to wake up and see we have the greatest mix of people on the planet.”