EXCITING NEWCOMER DISCUSSES HER PROJECTS SO FAR AND AMBITIOUS PLANS
TALENTED actress Medha Shankar is grateful for all the opportunities that have come her way.
The former model began her acting career with British historical drama television series Beecham House and was most recently seen in Bollywood film Shaadisthan. The film, which also features Kirti Kulhari, premiered directly on streaming media platform Disney+ Hotstar and received a good response.
Eastern Eye caught up with rising star Medha who is set to shine brighter, to talk about acting, her experience of working with Gurinder Chadha, the exciting opportunities for outsiders and how she spent her first paycheque.
You did your graduation from Delhi University and masters from NIFT (National School of Fashion Technology). How did your showbiz journey begin?
After my graduation, I got to audition for a short film and landed the part. I had no knowledge of acting and had never done it before. But when I landed that part, I loved working on that short film. It never released but made me realise I was not bad at it and really like doing it. It’s so fulfilling and such a beautiful experience. So, I decided to give it a try. I didn’t want to live with the regret that I didn’t try. I thought I would rather do it and see than not trying at all.
Did you face any resistance from your family?
I come from a very academically-inclined family, so my father got a huge shock when he came to know I wanted to pursue acting. He was like, ‘What’s wrong with you? You are good at so many other things, why don’t you try them?’ But I handled it very well. I said to him, ‘Papa, please let me do it. Give me some time’. Eventually, I had to complete my masters regardless. While I was pursuing my masters, I started doing modelling in Delhi. I also participated in the Miss India contest.
When did you land in Mumbai?
Once my masters got over, I moved to Mumbai in 2017. I joined a modelling agency and started auditioning. Within three months, I landed Beecham House, which was indeed a big thing because I had just started auditioning and got this huge project with Gurinder Chadha.
Medha Shankar in Beecham House
How was it to work with an internationally acclaimed filmmaker like Gurinder Chadha?
It was very overwhelming. First, I was very new and very naïve when I got that project. It was such a big project and everything was so organised. It had popular Indian actors such as Lara Dutta, Roshan Seth and Tisca Chopra and several other international actors there on the cast. And then there was Gurinder ma’am as the captain of the ship. I experienced a very different kind of learning as an actor, as to how focused and professional people can be. I was like, ‘oh, these people take their job so seriously, they are thorough professionals. They are always on time’. I tried to inculcate all of that in myself. I was like, ‘Okay, this is the kind of person I want to be. I want to reach this level of professionalism. Always be on time and learn my lines well’. It was great working with everyone. Gurinder ma’am brings an infectious energy to sets. It’s fun on sets with her. We two also had a lot a fun together.
What did you like about acting?
I never wanted to become an actor for the glamour or fame. I became an actor because I truly fell in love with the craft. After that my only goal was to achieve that level where I am a working actor, get decently paid for it and make a name for myself. You received a positive response for your performance in the recently released film Shaadisthan.
How did you get that film?
A few months after Beecham House, I got Shaadisthan through auditions. Shaadisthan was another level of experience altogether. Working on a feature film is very different. It was very commercial, a proper Hindi feature film. My character was also challenging.
Did you feel disappointed that your film Shaadisthan did not get a theatrical release and had its premiere on a streaming platform?
Not at all! All lines have blurred between what’s a theatrical release and what’s an OTT release. All theatrical releases are now releasing on streaming media platforms. And thanks to such platforms, they are not only getting a wider release but also gaining more traction and eyeballs. The lines have blurred so much that it does not really matter. As long as your film is getting the kind of audience it deserves, you are good to go. Our film released on a platform like Disney+ Hotstar. I don’t think it could have been better than this. It got such an amazing response. It was received so well. The numbers were really high.
How did you spend your first paycheque from an acting assignment?
I gave it to my dad. I put it in an envelope and went to him and said, ‘Dad, this is for you, for supporting me the way you have’. It was an emotional moment for me. Since I started my career as a model, my first paycheque came through modelling. That cheque also I gave to my parents. I did nothing fancy with it. I did not buy anything.
Do you feel it’s difficult for outsiders to make a mark in the industry?
I think that with the onset of streaming media platforms, there are so many opportunities for everyone. So much work is happening. So many web-shows are being announced every single day. So many new platforms are sprouting up. So, there is a lot of work for a lot of people. These streamers are ready to give a platform to young actors, new directors and writers. I feel it’s really a good time for new actors and people from the outside to try and make their mark. Maybe five years ago there were not many opportunities, but now they are there. I cannot complain because I have really gotten such good projects. So, yes, it is difficult but then nothing comes easy. A 9-5 job is not easy either. It’s a very cut-throat competitive world but if you leave no stone unturned, keep your head high, keep working on yourself and not lose focus, there is no way you won’t get work.
Tell us about your upcoming projects...
I am currently working on a project wherein I play a really interesting character. However, I cannot talk much about it at the moment.
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A seated Jain enlightened teacherAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ganesha from JavaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
A Chinese silk painting depicting the BuddhaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
ArdhanarishvaraAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Head of a grimacing yakshaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
NagaAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
The Bimaran casketAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Hunia Chawla
A still from rehearsal
Them performing liveNajmuddin Saifuddin Qawwal Group
The cast of Marriage Material in key moments from the play, including Avita Jay, Kiran Landa, Omar Malik, Irfan Shamji and Anoushka Deshmukh
Sathnam Sanghera’s 'Marriage Material' adapted into bold new play on conformity
The play Marriage Material at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre is Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti’s adaptation of Sathnam Sanghera’s novel of the same name, which first came out in 2013.
She is lucky to have Iqbal Khan direct Marriage Material. The play, a co-production with the Birmingham Rep, is set in the late 1960s. Mr and Mrs Bains (played by Jaz Singh Deol and Avita Jay) run a corner shop in Wolverhampton. Their younger daughter, Surinder (Anoushka Deshmukh), is 16, her sister Kamaljit (Kiran Landa) is just a bit older.
They have a neighbour, Patwant Dhanda (Irfan Shamji), who, as we shall soon see, is not a very pleasant man. In fact, he comes across just as racist as Enoch Powell, who represented Wolverhampton South West for the Tories from 1950 to 1974.
It will be recalled this was a time when Sikhs working on the buses were told they couldn’t wear a turban. That was a hard-fought battle that had to be won.
The Bains, meanwhile, simply want to get their girls married off.
Nothing new here, I thought.
What makes the tale different is that the plot twists and turns down the generations. Mr Dhanda, who has the makings of a paedophile, makes a pitch for one of the girls when Mr Bains dies early in the play. “A life with no man in the house is no life,” he informs the newly widowed Mrs Bains.
Mr Dhanda has a wife but she has returned to India so he considers himself to be a free man.
Surinder’s English teacher from school, Miss Flanagan (Celeste Dodwell), who is also head of the fifth form, tells Mrs Bains about her daughter: “I don’t want to embarrass you, but she is bright. Ridiculously bright.”
She adds: “Mrs Bains, I think it would be a pity if Surinder didn’t stay on at school.” The initial response from Mrs Bains is not encouraging: “Too much education makes people’s brains get mixed up, they don’t sleep at night…”
But she is finally persuaded that Surinder should be allowed to stay on for a while longer before being married off.
Mr Bains was very old school. When Surinder confides she would one day like to be “a somebody”, he is amused that “my daughter wants to be a somebody”.
“Like you,” she tells her father.
Mr Bains consoles his daughter: “We will find a somebody for you to marry.”
At the point of a possible marriage, however, Surinder is sweet-talked by chocolate salesman Jim Wilson (Tommy Belshaw) into running away with him. They share a love of literature, and he calls her “Sue Bains”. But the relationship does not end well.
Once she has left, Surinder is written off as “dead” by her family. The story that is circulated is that she was only 16 when she was killed in a car crash. That’s better than to let on that she ran off with a white man.
By the time she is reconciled with her sister towards the end of the play, a great deal has changed. Kamaljit married Tanvir Banga (Omar Malik), a young man who helped out in the Bains’ corner shop. When the two sisters meet again, Tanvir has also died. But he and Kamaljit had a son, Arjan Banga (Jaz Singh Deol doubles up for this role after the death of Mr Bains). He has come home after his father’s death to help his mother who is still running the family corner shop.
Meanwhile, Mr Dhanda’s business has prospered. He now has a son, Ranjit Dhanda (the role is taken by Omar Malik after Tanvir’s death), and he is nearly as unpleasant as his father.
Arjan has an English fiancée, Claire (Celeste Dodwell). In London, Arjan worked as a creative director. But after deciding to stay in Wolverhampton to help his mother, he decides he cannot marry Claire because she is white. In other words, Asians are not free of racism, either. Happily, at the end, the couple are reconciled.
As for Surinder, she parted company with Jim Wilson after realising he was all talk, depended on her for money and had failed to earn a penny from his literary pretensions. She had prospered, though, as a hotel owner and had been transformed in time into a well-groomed businesswoman. After being tracked down by Arjan, she decides to return to her roots in Wolverhampton and help Kamaljit run the family corner shop. Perhaps 50 years had passed during the passage of the play.
Being subjected to racism turned some Asians into racists themselves. The word goreh (white person) is repeatedly spat out with venom. Maybe it is worth remembering the play’s audience isn’t exclusively Asian – white folk are watching as well. And maybe some of the toilet humour ridiculing white people, which always makes me cringe, could be cut out.
In Sanghera’s novel, there is a quote from Enoch Powell’s speech in November 1968: “The West Indian or Asian does not, by being born in England, become an Englishman. In law he becomes a United Kingdom citizen by birth; in fact, he is a west Indian or an Asian still... he will by the very nature of things have lost one country without gaining another, lost one nationality without acquiring a new one. Time is running out against us and them. With the lapse of a generation or so we shall at last have succeeded – to the benefit of nobody – in reproducing ‘in England’s green and pleasant land’ the haunting tragedy of the US.”
In Marriage Material, where the acting is marvellous (apart from Mr Dhanda’s Indian mannerisms and accent being overdone) we do travel across a couple of generations.
There is a scene when Tanvir rejects Mr Dhanda’s vision of creating a little Punjab in Wolverhampton.
Mr Dhanda wants to take over the Bains’ corner shop and is putting pressure on Tanvir to sign the papers. He says: “In this country, money is the path to freedom.”
“Sign, please,” he instructs Tanvir. “We must make sure our children learn to behave nicely, according to our rules.”
He insists: “We maintain our identity so we can be ourselves.”
Tanvir disagrees: “We can be us here. With the goreh.”
Dhanda warns him: “Then we will be inviting chaos.”
Tanvir’s comment is telling: “You sound like Enoch.”
Kamaljit, who is expecting a baby with her husband Tanvir, says: “I would like my child to grow up knowing the history of the Gurus and to read the Granth Sahib. And to love their culture.”
Tanvir tells his wife: “I would like my child to go to the finest schools, to cheer for England in the World Cup and eat Yorkshire pudding on a Sunday.”
Kamaljit sets out a dream that has perhaps come to pass with many third and fourth generation British Asians: “Maybe our child can do both.” Much, much later, in a throwback to the past, we learn of Surinder’s O-level results: “Biology A, Chemistry A, English Language A, English Literature A, French A, History B, Latin A, Mathematics A, Physics A…”
Kamaljit tells her younger sister: “Never mind about the B.”
And that is quintessentially Asian. Their acting is outstanding.
Marriage Material is at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre until June 21, and at the Birmingham Rep from June 25-July 5