Often Meera Syal, 36, British born Indian writer and actress, is flooded with requests to be the spokeswoman for the entire Asian female community. A Himalayan task though, this just goes to show the trust and respect people have for her.
Meera is currently in India shooting 'Goodness Gracious Me' written by her for BBC2. The film is a comedy about displaced first generation Indians in Britain. The particular episode that Meera is shooting in the narrow lanes and by-lanes of Chandni Chowk and Kinari Bazaar of Delhi will place the script in a different perspective. The characters of the film will now be shown in the Indian space and their dealings with the 'Indian'. Meera is also acting in it.
Meera Syal grew up in Britain putting in a lot of hard work to earn a name. Her parents taught her that to be above discrimination she had to be twice as good as the people around her. For a migrant carving a niche posed obstacles.
She longed to be an actress but she saw only one British Asian on tele-screen mumbling inconsequential stuff in 'Mind Your Language'. That wasn't surely going to be her role model. In 1994, she wrote 'Bhaji On The Beach', which went on to become the first British feature film written and directed by an Asian.
The film received a lot of flak from Asian men who objected to the way Asian women were projected in the film. Despite everything, the film was successful. At last, there was somebody through whom these displaced women could speak out, with whom they could identify their identity.
Inspiration for young Meera continued in the form of her parents and the proud moment came when 'Anita and Me' was released in 1996. The novel won Meera the Betty Trask award.
Meera Syal married journalist Shekhar Bhatia and one small incident from her marriage prompted her to write another novel. "One of my wedding gifts had the name of somebody else on it, I realized that it was a recycled gift. That was the starting point. My novel is on recycled gifts", she says.
Meera is also working with Andrew Llyod Webber's next production 'Bombay Dreams', the music for which has been given by A R Rehman. Once she finishes shooting for 'Good Gracious Me', Meera will get back to her novel and 'Bombay Dreams', that is writing and acting.
Often Meera Syal, 36, British born Indian writer and actress, is flooded with requests to be the spokeswoman for the entire Asian female community. A Himalayan task though, this just goes to show the trust and respect people have for her.