TELEVISION STARS HINA KHAN AND HELLY SHAH SHINE BRIGHTLY AT FILM FESTIVAL
I HAD an interesting conversation with late actor Sushant Singh Rajput a few years before he passed away.
In the middle of an interview, he spoke eloquently about Indian TV actors being talented and how obstacles being put in their way prevented them from progressing smoothly into cinema. He told me: “There is a strong prejudice, and we actually get conditioned into thinking that maybe it’s true TV actors can’t make it in films.”
He also spoke about how much talent there was on Indian TV and that they needed to be respected for having more acting experience than most movie stars. What he explained about TV stars being held back from bigger Bollywood opportunities is true and why only a very few have made it into cinema, despite being far more experienced than newcomers being cast in films.
Like Shah Rukh Khan and Vidya Balan, Sushant Singh Rajput was one of the very few to make that leap from TV to films, but the floodgates have never opened despite their successes. This led to world-class performers on Indian television not getting bigger projects their hard work and talent deserve.
These popular TV stars having to fight an unfair tide of film prejudice is why my biggest two heroes from this year’s Cannes Film Festival were Hina Khan and Helly Shah. Instead of being deterred by an obviously unfair playing field, both shone brightly and broke ground for an entire fraternity.
The accomplished actresses showed they deserved to be on the same global platform as popular film stars like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, R Madhavan, Pooja Hegde, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tamannaah Bhatia and Deepika Padukone, who was on the judging jury.
Hina Khan followed up her unforgettable debut appearance in 2019 with a dazzling display on the red carpet and a series of fantastic photoshoots in the picturesque French Riviera town. She also unveiled the poster of her new Indo-English film, Country of Blind, which is based on a classic HG Wells short story.
The brave beauty admirably spoke up about not being invited to the opening Indian pavilion event at the festival, when other celebrities from her country were and highlighted an elitist system.
Hina Khan attends the screening of "Eo" during the 75th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 19, 2022 in Cannes, France (Photo by Joe Maher/Getty Images)
She said in an interview: “There is an elitist system, this elitist game, which still exists. There was an opening ceremony, which happened in the Indian pavilion. There was everyone, all the talents, my contemporaries, and not just from Bollywood. We had singers and many well-known talents.
It’s not that I envy them, I am so proud of them. But at the same time, it is a bit disheartening that why was I not there? I could have been there, probably in the audience, at least, cheering for them when they were doing the Ghoomar (dance). I loved the video, I felt so proud of my country.”
Not having that support didn’t stop Hina from garnering a lot of attention. In fact, she generated more hype across social media than most of the established Indian film stars present. She was a great ambassador for her country, the TV fraternity and acting talent. The same was the case with young actress Helly Shah, who was making her Cannes debut.
The 26-year-old became the first Indian TV star to be a brand ambassador for beauty giant L’Oréal and looked stunning on the red carpet in a Ziad Nakad creation. She generated more heat on social media that day at the Top Gun premiere than most Hollywood stars present, which showed how popular small-screen stars are. Helly also met Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and gained a lot of international media attention.
Like Hina, she looked stunning in a series of phenomenal photoshoots and successfully unveiled the poster of her own movie, Kaya Palat. Helly hopes this will be the start of a brand-new journey for her and is open to acting in international films. She also wants to see more Indian TV talents in film and on the Cannes red carpet. “I never imagined I could make it here and it’s a big deal for me. So, if I can make it, anybody can make it. It’s just your hard work, patience, and persistence that matters. I would love to see a lot more people from my industry coming here, it will be great,” said Helly.
That will now happen because Hina and Helly have opened the door for other TV stars to walk through. They have also shown that there are opportunities in meaningful movies, even if there still seems to be obstacles put up by commercial Indian cinema. Both looked amazing, had real star presence, and left a lasting impression. They can be proud of their Cannes appearances, and that’s why they are heroes.
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
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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