A BIG highlight of this year’s London Indian Film Festival is the world premiere of Little English.
The British Asian comedy based on hit play There’s Something About Simmy marks the directorial debut of acclaimed theatre maestro Pravesh Kumar and sees rising star Rameet Rauli take on the challenging lead role. Best known as Anya Patel in Nickelodeon’s popular teen series Ride (2018), the naturally gifted actress plays Simmy, a newly arrived girl from India who has come to marry the eldest son of a London-based family. But after he runs away, Simmy is left with a dysfunctional Punjabi family ruled by a domineering mother-in-law and must use her smart nature to survive in the hostile new world she finds herself in.
Eastern Eye caught up with Rameet to discuss the experience of taking on a lead role in Little English and what audiences can expect. She also revealed her acting heroes and what it was like shooting during a pandemic.
How did you feel being cast in the film?
Ecstatic, happy, grateful for the opportunity and then there were definitely some tears! I’ve grown up watching Pravesh’s work and now had the chance to work with him on his first feature film. A big deal and blessings for the little girl who went to see his plays and realised I could do that one day too.
Tell us about the film and character you play?
(Laughs) Not sure how much I can tell you. But Little English is a film about a very interesting family. It’s an uplifting romantic-comedy with a heart-warming story and an all-British Asian cast. I play the role of Simmy, who is a young bride, arriving from India to start her new life in UK. But this new life isn’t as she expected, and things don’t go according to plan! Cut to some unexpected turn of events and hilarious characters. For the rest you will have to watch the film.
Rameet Rauli in Little English
What is your own favourite moment in the movie?
The Bollywood moment! Simmy has a ‘running in the field’ scene, in a Punjabi suit where her chunni grazes the grass, maybe in slow-mo, who knows! But I had dreamt of that sequence for a long time and am so blessed that I got to do it in reality. Viraj Juneja (who plays Harry) and I had so much fun filming that day. We were so lucky to have the talented Andy Kumar help choreograph that running sequence.
Which other moments did you enjoy?
The big family scenes were also special because all the cast would be together, and I don’t know if you know but there are some legends of British Asian film and TV in this movie.
What kind of audience are you hoping connects with this film?
I’d like to think that there’s something for everyone in this movie. It is a family film, and we will all recognise these characters from our own relatives. We all have that one ‘merry’ uncle, snobbish sister-in-law, aunts with top detective skills. I also hope this film speaks to women, especially young Indian women. Typically, Indian women in cinema are portrayed as not having much of a voice, and I think we have flipped the narrative here. Simmy is not a damsel in distress waiting to be rescued. She is her own hero, who finds her own feet and paves her own way.
What was it like shooting for a film during the Covid pandemic?
The filming process was a strange one for all. Lots of new procedures to follow and no hugs! We tried to stay in our shoot bubbles and restricted any social mixing during the shoot. We heard lots of productions had to shut down due to outbreaks, so we were really careful about testing and not mixing. We became a tight unit, cast and crew, which was helpful to battle Covid, as well as in the working process of making the film. We were really lucky that we managed to make it through the schedule without an outbreak.
A still from Little English
How do you feel about the film premiering at London Indian Film Festival?
I am absolutely ecstatic but also very nervous! It’s an honour to have our film premiere at The London Indian Film Festival. It’s a huge festival and a great opportunity for our audience to see the film. As well as the prestigious BFI screening, we also have the opportunity for the film to travel to Manchester, Birmingham, and another London venue. I feel it’s the perfect start to the film's journey.
What are the kind of movies that you enjoy watching?
I love using movies to help me escape into other worlds. It really depends on how I’m feeling in the moment. I get really affected by what I watch, so select accordingly. On a difficult day, I love to watch comedy. On other days, I love a good thriller. But cheesy romantic movies are my current go-to, especially after a long shoot day.
Who is your own acting hero?
Ahh, so many and too many to list! But from the top of my head Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Dharmendra, Vidya Balan, Sridevi, Kathy Bates, Emily Blunt, and Priyanka Chopra. Can I go on?
What inspires you as an actress?
Strong female leads.
Why do you think we should all watch Little English?
This film celebrates British south Asian cinema. I think everyone watching will be able to see a version of themselves or their family in a story that reflects living in the UK. At the film’s heart, we have a family with problems, trials, and tribulations, which a lot of people will relate to. We have some absolute OGs of British Asian film and TV. Ameet Channa, Goldy Notay, Shin (DCS) and so many more. It will leave you crying, laughing, and wanting some diet cola.
Little English is set to be screened at the London Indian Film Festival next Friday (24, BFI Southbank) and June 30 (Picturehouse Central).
Visit www.londonindianfilmfestival.co.uk for more.
The actor’s evolving style from youth to maturity getty images
Aamir Khan embracing vintage looks with classic charmgetty images
Bold and dramatic changes defining Aamir Khan’s careergetty images
From rugged to refined Aamir Khan’s versatile appearancesgetty images
Memorable film moments showcasing Aamir Khan’s unique stylegetty images
Aamir Khan’s blend of classic and contemporary fashiongetty images
Aamir Khan’s dedication to authentic character portrayals getty images
Cinematic milestones reflected in Aamir Khan’s on-screen imagegetty images
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