• Friday, March 29, 2024

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Asian actors and directors raise concerns about ITV depiction of ‘Honour’

FILE PHOTO: Dr Aisha Gill is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Roehampton University. Pictured at Roehampton University, London, UK, May. 13, 2011. Photographer: Jason Alden

By: Pramod Thomas

LEADING British Asians from the arts, film and television industries have raised their concerns about race and the perceptions about minority communities in relation to a recent drama about honour killing shown on ITV.

Honour, shown on ITV on September 28 and 29, was based on the 2006 murder of Banaz Mahmod, a 20-year-old Iraqi woman from London. She was killed by her family as they disapproved of her relationship with her lover.

In an open letter to the broadcaster on Tuesday (13), academic professor Aisha K Gill, actors Indira Varma, Anjli Mohindra, Sacha Dhawan; Kiln artistic director Indhu Rubasingham, and playwright Tanika Gupta said, “We believe this programme was a missed opportunity, as it plays into the “white saviour” narrative: white women “saving” brown women from “dangerous” brown men and reinforcing racialised tropes surrounding the term “honour killing”.

Iraqi Kurdistan was “presented as having barbaric values, as if the issue of honour-based violence had never been addressed there, whereas the UK as depicted as enlightened,” according to more than 130 signatories to the letter.

They also noted that the team behind Honour – producer Liza Marshall, writer Gwyneth Hughes and director Richard Laxton – all white – “missed an important opportunity to gain expert perspective from the many women of colour who have worked tirelessly in television and on this issue for decades”.

“Many of us who have signed this letter work in television, film and theatre, and continually face barriers when it comes to accessing the prime-time privileged roles that working on such a drama would have brought,” they said.

“Our voices would have and could have brought much to its making.

“For years, many of us have been providing critical support services for these women and girls; we have also been involved in assisting prosecutions, training and advising the police, and engaging in action-based research to address systemic and structural intersectional forms of inequalities in society and the criminal justice system.

“We hope that, in drawing this to your attention, we can spark a constructive conversation about the ways in which such issues are handled in the future.”

The list of signatories includes:

1. Indira Varma, Actor

2. Anjli Mohindra, Actor, Writer

3. Sacha Dhawan, Actor

4. Preti Taneja, Writer and Lecturer in Prose Fiction, Newcastle University

5. Pooja Ghai, Freelance Director

6. Indhu Rubasingham, Artistic Director, Kiln Theatre

7. Tanika Gupta MBE FRSL, Writer, Playwright, Director

8. Mina Anwar, Actress, Director

9. Prasanna Puwanarajah, Actor, Writer, Director

10. Stephanie Street, Actor, Writer, Director, Chair of Act for Change

11. Rafia Hussain, Producer

12. Jassa Ahluwalia, Actor, Writer, Filmmaker

13. Mona Arshi, Poet, Honorary Professor in English and Law, University of Liverpool

14. Sweety Kapoor, Creative Producer, Curator, Freelance

15. Ghizela Rowe, Managing Director at Audio Book Radio

16. Nikita Gill, Poet and Writer

17. Emteaz Hussain, Playwright and Poet

18. Suki Dhanda, Photographer

19. Paul Bazely, Actor

20. Shobna Gulati, Actor, Author, Choreographer

21. Shaheen Khan, Actor/Writer

22. Yasmin Wilde, Actor

23. Vineeta Rishi, Actor

24. Kobna HoldBrook-Smith, Actor

25. Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, Playwright and Screenwriter

26. Dr Shehnaz Suterwalla, Writer, Critic, Cultural Theorist, School of Arts and Humanities, Royal College of Art

27. Chetna Pandya, Actress, Director, Producer and Creative Advocate

28. Tina Gharavi, BAFTA, Sundance nominated Director and Screenwriter

29. Hannah Khalil, Playwright and Screenwriter

30. Jo Tyabji, Freelance Director

31. Goldy Notay, Actress

32. Rani Moorthy, Artistic Director, Rasa Productions Ltd

33. Ishi Khan, Performer, Writer

34. Zlakha Ahmed MBE, Chief Executive, Apna Haq

35. Gurpreet Virdee, Director of Operations and Development, Women and Girls Network

36. Umme Imam, Executive Director of the Angelou Centre

37. Ms Nadifa Mohamed, Lecturer in Creative Writing, Royal Holloway, University of London

38. Dr Nazand Begikhani, Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Bristol

39. Dr Geetanjali Gangoli, Associate Professor, Durham University

40. Dr Pragya Agarwal, Behavioural Scientist, Writer, CEO of ‘The 50 Percent Project’

41. Yasmin Khan, Director, Halo Project

42. Angelina Rodriques, Executive Director and Co-Founder, A & B Rodriques Consultancy

43. Professor Orla O’Loughlin, Vice-Principal and Director of Drama, Guildhall School of Music & Drama

44. Neil D’Souza, Actor, Writer

45. Tony Jayawardena, Actor

46. Gurjeet Singh, Actor

47. Seeta Patel, Choreographer and Artistic Director of Seeta Patel Dance Ltd

48. Professor Avtar Brah, Birkbeck, University of London

49. Dr Samia Bano, Reader in Law, SOAS, University of London

50. Saika Alam, Lawyer, Huggins and Foskett

51. Kuljit Kaur Mann

52. Mutale Merril, CEO, BAWSO Women’s Aid,

53. Shahien Taj, CEO, Henna Foundation,

54. Shavanah Taj, President of the General Secretary of the Welsh TUC

55. Maria Constanza Mesa, CEO, Women Connect First / Menywod Gysylltu’n Gyntaf

56. Huda Jawad, Faith/VAWG Coalition and Standing Together

57. Alishya Dhir, PhD Researcher, Durham University

58. Rajinder Kaur, PhD Candidate, Liverpool Hope University

59. Monica Majumdar, PhD Candidate, Queen Mary University of London

60. Vinny Kapoor, Dentist

61. Karen Kapoor, Financial Advisor

62. Shreya Hyde-Smith, Director, Invista Ltd.

63. Dr Sanah Ahsan, Poet and Community Psychologist, Salamons Institute of Applied Psychology

64. Steve Chandra Savale, Music Artist, Co-Founder Asian Dub Foundation

65. Ishani Chakravarty, Singer, Songwriter, Producer

66. Dr Rakhshan Rizwan, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Comparative Literature, Utrecht University

67. Dr Pathik Pathak, Faculty Director of Social Entrepreneurship and Director, University of Southampton

68. Wendy Scazzaro, Agent, Felix de Wolfe

69. Yasmin Whittaker-Khan, Playwright and Co-Founder of Insaan Club Culture

70. Anu Kapoor, Immigration Lawyer

71. Nicola McCartney, Reader, Writing for Theatre and Performance, English Literature, University of Edinburgh

72. Sarah Green, Director, End Violence Against Women Coalition

73. Sara Kirkpatrick, Chief Executive, Welsh Women’s Aid

74. Nicki Norman, Acting CEO, Women’s Aid

75. Professor Liz Kelly, Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit, London Metropolitan University

76. Professor Emerita Gill Hague CBE, Professor of Violence Against Women Studies University of Bristol

77. Professor Pamela Cox, Head of Department, Department of Sociology

University of Essex

78. Dr Fiona Vera-Gray, Assistant Professor, Durham University

79. Dr Miranda Horvath, Reader & Associate Professor in Forensic Psychology, Middlesex University

80. Lorraine Radford, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy and Social Work, UCLAN

81. Professor Jo Aldridge, Professor of Social Policy and Criminology, Loughborough University

82. Dr Olivia Smith, Lecturer in Criminology & Social Policy, Loughborough University

83. Dr Helen Monk, Liverpool John Moores University

84. Dr Emma Katz, Senior Lecturer in Childhood and Youth, Liverpool Hope University

85. Heather Cole, PhD Candidate, De Montfort University

86. Dr Louise Livesey, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, University of Gloucestershire & Co-Convenor British Sociological Association Violence Against Women Study Group

87. Anna Bull

88. Dr Julia Downes, Lecturer in Criminology The Open University

89. Dr Charlotte Bishop, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Exeter

90. Prof Catherine Donovan, Head of Department, Department of Sociology, Durham University

91. Dr Josie Phillips, Assistant Professor, Durham University

92. Dr Kelly Johnson, Assistant Professor, Durham University

93. Dr Hannah King, Assistant Professor, University of Durham

94. Dr Michaela Rogers, Senior Lecturer in Social Work, University of Sheffield

95. Victoria Holt, PhD Candidate, University of Roehampton

96. Colleen Moore, Deputy Head of School of Humanities & Social Sciences Anglia Ruskin University

97. Dr Jo Woodiwiss, Reader in Sociology, University of Huddersfield

98. Dr Lula Mecinska, Lecturer in Criminology and Policing, University of Cumbria

99. Clare Walker, Domestic Abuse Consultant, Clare Walker Consulting

100. Dr Jamie Bird, Deputy Head of Centre for Health and Social Care Research

101. Margaret Pope, Director, Crossfit, Shoreditch

102. Ollie Britton, Fashion Designer

103. Leigh Morrison, Designer

104. Craig Robertson, Sculpturer

105. Sarah Litton, Yoga Teacher

106. Dr Kathryn Dyt, Environmental and Cultural Historian, Institute of Historical Research

107. Jessica Brewster, Director, Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury. Founder of Theatre Deli

108. Ailin Conant, Artistic Director Theatre Témoin

109. Helen Jeffreys, Executive Director and Joint CEO, Tara Arts

110. Min Clifford, Minamon Film, Creative Producer and CEO

111. Mark Price, Agent, AHA Talent Ltd

112. Will McGowan, Lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University

113. Joshua Davidson, Writer, MD Night Zookeeper (Sky)

114. Dr Susie Jacobs, Reader (Emerita) in Comparative Sociology/Hon. Research Fellow, Manchester Metropolitan University

115. Susan Edwards, Professor in Law, Professor Emeritus, Barrister, Expert Witness (MEWI)

116. Shelly King

117. Dr Tom Cornford, Senior Lecturer in Theatre & Performance, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London

118. Laura Kressly, PhD candidate, RCSSD

119. Rebecca Boey, Actor, Writer

120. Aaron Lee Lambert, Actor, Agent, Creative

121. Chris Fung, Actor

122. Raj Ghatak, Actor

123. Lucy Sheen, Actor, Writer and AD of Foundling Productions

124. Nyla Levy, Writer, Actor

125. Mark Ota, Actor

126. Matt Lim, Actor, Writer

127. David Rapp Supporting Artist Representative Equity Screen and New Media Committee

128. Siu-see Hung, Actor

129. Daniel York Loh, Writer, Actor

130. BEATS, Advocacy group for British East & Southeast Asians in the Screen & Stage Industries

131. Mingyu Lin, Director

132. Ali Zaidi, Writer

133. Cindy-Jane Armbruster, member and former Vice Chair Equity Deaf and Disabled Members Committee

134. Jay Oliver Yip, Actor, Director, Writer, Producer

135. Nyla Levy, Writer, Actor

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