BAFTA‘s London headquarters played host to an intimate and revealing conversation between two of Britain’s most compelling South Asian performers on Tuesday evening.
Anjana Vasan, the Singapore-raised Indian origin actor behind Channel 4’s breakout hit “We Are Lady Parts” and Netflix’s “Black Mirror: Demon 79,” sat down with British Pakistani comedian-writer Mawaan Rizwan, creator of BBC Three’s surreal family comedy “Juice,” for a wide-ranging discussion about identity, creativity, and the challenges facing Asian talent in the U.K. industry.
The conversation, part of BAFTA’s One to One series in partnership with the UKTV Asian Inclusion Event, saw both performers reflect on their journeys from the margins to mainstream recognition. Rizwan, who won the 2024 BAFTA TV Award for Male Performance in a Comedy for “Juice,” joked about keeping his award in his bathroom because “it stares at me, and I think it’s adding pressure,” adding with a laugh that he should probably give it to his mother because “she would enjoy the showing off a lot more.”
The discussion touched on the power of writing to create opportunities that don’t traditionally exist for South Asian performers. Vasan praised Rizwan’s creative vision, noting the similarities between “Juice” and “We Are Lady Parts” in their innovative approaches to representing Asian and Muslim experiences.
“I think that the imagination that you have for yourself is always going to be greater than what people can offer you,” Vasan told Rizwan, explaining why she encourages young actors to develop writing skills.
Rizwan, who transitioned to writing after experiencing the limitations of available roles, described his motivation bluntly: “The writing was out of necessity, really, because I always wanted to act but then, you know how it is like, when you’re starting out… you just get sent up for stuff that’s so reductive.”
He explained how early rejection shaped his creative voice: “When you know what limits you and what reduces you, you get really clear about what sets you free. And I think that’s been the sort of ammo for the writing.”
Both performers addressed the persistent pressure to represent entire communities through their work, a burden that often overshadows discussions of their craft. Vasan described the frustration of being asked about racism and representation in brief interview windows: “Sometimes I feel like, okay, it’s, you know, 2:30pm on a Tuesday, and a journalist is like, asking you lots of questions, and just before the interview ends, so just before we end ‘racism, have you ever?’ okay, well, that’s actually a really big question.”
She contrasted this with coverage of white performers: “I will read a long article at the Guardian or Vanity Fair, something about a brilliant actor, often white or posh, and they will be talking about talking about their love of gardening and how it informs acting and meditation… And often I feel like I don’t think you’re genuinely curious about why I am an actor. I think you’re curious about how I managed to do it, and that’s a problem for me, because why is it so surprising to you that I’ve managed to do it?”
Rizwan was equally direct about rejecting the representative role: “You just can’t create from a place of, I’m going to represent the community… I ain’t representing anyone but myself… I can’t wait on representing an entire community. I can barely wake up to my alarm clock.”
Both performers, who left their birth countries in early childhood (Vasan from India to Singapore, Rizwan from Pakistan to the U.K.), discussed how their immigrant experiences shaped their creative perspectives. Vasan argued that “immigrants have such a big imagination” because “the fact that you can conceive for yourself, I’m going to fly to another place and build an entire life for my family and for myself somewhere else involves a huge amount of imagination.”
She described her multiple minority experiences as formative: “Coming from South India and going to Singapore, where I was a minority, and then coming here, where I’m another kind of minority. Those two minority experiences are very specific and different. So you’re on the sidelines, observing a lot and absorbing a lot of information, and that is what acting is when you’re stepping into someone’s shoes that’s not yours.”
Vasan revealed a surprising detail about her “Black Mirror” appearances, noting that she almost didn’t audition for her BAFTA nominated role in “Demon 79” because she had already appeared in the anthology series. “I feel like many people don’t know that I actually did two ‘Black Mirror’ episodes,” she said, explaining that her first appearance in “Nosedive” was largely unrecognizable because she was “covered completely in silver.”
Looking forward, both performers expressed optimism while acknowledging ongoing challenges. Vasan, whose Olivier Award-winning theater work has been a cornerstone of her career, reflected on her journey through different mediums. “I feel like I started off doing a lot of theater, which is something I still go back to and I think that is been like a strong foundation for me,” she said. “And actually, weirdly enough, some connections to screen work have come from theater, from people seeing me on stage. And theater offered me a chance to play, a bigger breadth of roles, bigger emotional range.” She credited the emergence of South Asian writers like Nida Manzoor (“We Are Lady Parts”) and Bisha K. Ali (“Black Mirror: Demon 79”) with creating new opportunities.
Rizwan, meanwhile, is ready to expand beyond comedy: “Listen, I’m ready for my drama era. I’m ready for my villain era. I’m ready for my vampire era.”
When asked about advice for young Asian creatives, both emphasized authenticity over representation. “The more specific we are, sometimes the more universal it is,” Vasan observed, citing messages from unlikely audiences who connected with “We Are Lady Parts” despite its specificity.
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