Sex and the City of London

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Photos of the Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee three-part TV series are now up (thanks, Sapna). The first part will be broadcast in the UK tonight, lucky sods.

Here’s a roundup of the characters: the author’s voice Sunita, played by… the author. (Nobody said Meera Syal was big on subtlety.) Her husband Akaash, played by… her husband Sanjeev Bhaskar. The bad girl Tania, played by Moroccan-Indian actress Laila Rouass. The naïf Chila, played by Queen of Naboo Ayesha Dharker. And the playa from the Himalaya Deepak, played by Ace Bhatti. That cast reads like the Bombay Dreams unemployment list.

Watch the clip of Tania getting hassled by clucking aunties. It’s pretty choppy — can’t the Beeb afford bandwidth these days?

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48 thoughts on “Sex and the City of London”

  1. Does anyone know when/if this will be airing on bbc america? Did it already air in the UK?

  3. “moonshine”:

    what is your point?

    and as for this bit of delusion:

    I don’t meet very many “creative” Indians here – artists, musicians, etc. Most seem to be doing exactly what Mommy and Daddy sent them over here to do or what Mommy and Daddy themselves have done. In other words, I don’t see much rebellion or out of the box thinking in young American Desis

    maybe by your (?) standards, but for the rest of us who’ve been to Artwallah, seven.11 or even a rather random concert…you’re ridiculously WRONG. just because YOU haven’t met us, it doesn’t mean we don’t exist. sheesh.

  4. In other words, I don’t see much rebellion or out of the box thinking in young American Desis

    Absolute rubbish. You’ve made a NUMBER of ignorant comments already on other posts that I didn’t have the patience to engage, but I wasn’t going to let this one slide. Your limited perspective on a variety of issues has led you to make many snap judgements about both Indians and Indian Americans. Hopefully reading SM and seeing some “rebellion” on a daily basis will help you see reality.

  5. Your limited perspective on a variety of issues has led you to make many snap judgements about both Indians and Indian Americans. Hopefully reading SM and seeing some “rebellion” on a daily basis will help you see reality.

    Abhi, exactly…I’m amazed that such comments are being vomited HERE of all places–a blog called “Sepia Mutiny”.

  6. back on topic… 🙂

    Watch the clip of Tania getting hassled by clucking aunties. It’s pretty choppy — can’t the Beeb afford bandwidth these days

    AMEN. it was atrociously difficult to watch…are there any lurking londoners who might later want to post torrents of this online, for us syal-philes across the pond? 😀

  9. To come to moonshine’s defense a bit….Certainly there is a lot of desi art/politics going on in the US, which is why I come to sepia mutiny in the first place. I think his/her comments were incorrect and would have been more approrpriate about 7-8 years ago, its getting better now. All the same, I don’t think desis have pervaded pop and mainstream culture yet to the extent that they have in the UK, although it is getting really close. Not that they aren’t trying, its just that the relative concentration isn’t here yet. Maybe that was his/her point?

  10. To come to moonshine’s defense a bit…Maybe that was his/her point?

    gosh, vurdlife…are you as generous with your funds? if so, hook a brown artist up. 😉

  11. Umm…Why is there always an implicit assumption that “artists” are higher forms of life? I can understand that it is no fun if Junior is studying something just because the parental units want him too, but if his/her inner nerd wants to be an engineer/doctor, so be it. On a somewhat related note, how come all “intellectuals” are writers/”thinkers”? Reminds me of a quote from “The Two Cultures” by C. P. Snow: “Two polar groups: at one pole we have the literary intellectuals, who incidentally while no one was looking took to referring to themselves as ‘intellectuals’ as though there were no others. I remember G. H. Hardy once remarking to me in mild puzzlement, some time in the 1930’s: ‘Have you noticed how the word “intellectual” is used nowadays? There seems to be a new definition which certainly doesn’t include Rutherford or Eddington or Dirac or Adrian or me. It does seem rather odd, don’t y’ know.”

  13. All this baatcheet about silly ABCDs and NRIs not being artistic and all, while we are allowing a grave injustice to transpire: not recognising Laila Rouass for the hottie that she is. This really should be the main topic of this thread, people. Get with the program!

    Sepia Mutiny: The thinking brown person’s forum for the evergreen topic ‘hot or not.’

  14. Timepass, the stock response to that would be “chee chee, kaise batey karte hon…ghar pe ma bahein nahin hai kya” 🙂

  15. I can understand that it is no fun if Junior is studying something just because the parental units want him too, but if his/her inner nerd wants to be an engineer/doctor, so be it.

    oooh, preferably the former! yum. 😉

  17. Woohoo I thought this book was brilliant (as the brits might say)

    please someone bit torrent it

  18. So, I saw the first episode last night. I don’t know where to start. Tania aka Laila R is simply wonderful. She also plays Amber Gates, psycho housewife of major football player (soccer to you guys) in a terrible show called “Footballers Wives”. Tania was the most realistic character of the group, sexy, savvy and independent. As usual, Meera Syal (who in my opinion is not as cultured as everyone believes, she opened the doors for Brit Asians, but is certainly not top of her game) pronounced everything incorrectly, down to her own husband’s name. Bet her Hindi is absymal. Then we have Chila. She is so not gorgeous, she has crater eyes, each one as big as her Grand Canyon gob. It is disproportionate beauty. Ugh, she agigated me in Bombay Dreams. Her character was very much Charlotte from Sex and the City. Naive, hopeful and optimistic. All very tongue in cheek. So anyway, despite all this and the fact that a lot of it is run of the mill “Brit Asians, Brit Asians” (See Second Generation and White Teeth), I am still hooked. We gotta fly the flag. Support what we’ve got. All this is about bloody time.

  19. I thought Tania was a bitch. I dont think she was the best thing about it at all. She is a big time coconut, cursing the fact that she is brown and has to be associated with those horrid Indian people. Wannabe white girl.

    If this was a series about three white thirtysomething women stressing about their lives and marriage it wouldnt have been produced. The BBC has to fill out its ethnic minority quota and also help the opressed Asian women get represented, and also fulfill the white liberal’s annual Asian man bashing schema(impotent, useless, wife beating scum)

    Meera Syal’s work fulfills all these criteria, thats why she gets on the BBC.

  20. Tania was indeed a bitch, that was the point. Did you read the book? I don’t think she was a coconut, she very much represents the stream of thirtysomething, well-educated, successful British Asian women of today. At no point did she condemn Indian culture, her two best friends were Indian after all. You didn’t see her in a cocktail dress at the movie premiere, she was in Indian attire. A white boyfriend does not turn you into a coconut. There are numerous programmes about “white” men and women stressing about their lives. But yes, it does fill a certain quota and thats why Meera gets the glory. As for opressed Indian women – please, times are changing, especially for us British Asians in the UK. Wake up and smell Jalebi Junction’s jalebis, Southall Rioter.

    PS: Me – Indian, late 20s, from Southall, no coconut and am very far from oppression.

  21. Southall Rioter

    I think it is a bit reductive to call Tania a coconut, she is more complex than that. I think she is a lost soul.

    Me

    Tania was the most realistic character of the group, sexy, savvy and independent

    By that you imply the other characters are unrealistic. Damn them as having no realism, not even in their own terms, and relegate their truth. Seems to me that is as narrow a definition of what reality is for Asian women in Britain today as anything else. After all, Tania

    very much represents the stream of thirtysomething, well-educated, successful British Asian women of today

    Does that mean all other representations are ‘unrealistic’? Presumably including Meera’s character with her fretting, self harm and worry. Or is that just wishful thinking?

    Seems to me you want the TV series to be as much a PR job and ‘fair representation’ as Southall Rioter does, except you want it to represent how groovy and independent and chi-chi thirtysomething Asian women are, and anything less than that is contemptible;

    As for oppressed Indian women – please, times are changing, especially for us British Asians in the UK

    I think you miss the point about Tania completely, her loneliness, doubt, confliction, drift. If you think she is a cardboard representation of ‘The New Breed of Asian Woman: Independent, Brave, Outspoken, Slinky’ etc etc etc you read the piece as simplistically and polemically as one who screams ‘Coconut!’

    Tania was the most realistic character of the group, sexy, savvy and independent.

    I think you have as skewed an interpretation of the programme as Southall Rioter.

    As usual, Meera Syal (who in my opinion is not as cultured as everyone believes, she opened the doors for Brit Asians, but is certainly not top of her game) pronounced everything incorrectly, down to her own husband’s name. Bet her Hindi is absymal

    Ouch, what a catty snob you are. Did it cross your mind that perhaps her pronunciation was purposefully false to suggest the lingusitic hesitancy of the character? (Hint, its called ‘acting’)

    Tell me, what is the ‘culture’ that Meera Syal lacks? Presumably you must be in possession of such cultural riches and superiority, being able as you are to discern this inadequacy of hers.

  22. Punjabi Boy,

    Not everything has to be personal, sweety. Check your tone, calm down and maybe I’ll respond.

    Me.

  23. Me

    Hello. I wasnt being personal, dont be paranoid. Besides, being personal is your style, and I’m not really bothered if you dont respond. But do feel free if you want to, not least because I love the silliness and tang of your condescension 😉

  24. Oh what the heck, let’s call a truce and be done with it. I’ll be honest, although I shouldn’t on a blog, I just like to stir things up a little and a get a rise out lads like you…

  25. just seems like a few viewers didn’t read the book and made snap judgements without knowing the backstory…

  26. a get a rise out lads like you…

    Oh, you’re one of those types, how common and vulgar 😉

    You are so boring. I was in the mood to tickle someone. Oh well…

  32. I’d never deprive ANNA the opportunity for some Punjabi Boy affection 🙂

  33. I heard this was a multi-part series

    in the book Tania is complex and I agree, a bit of a lost soul. The denoumout (how its spelled) is appropriate to the way these three are

    its not a desi man bashing book at all

    Wtf is Punjabi boy’s appeal (Raju says a little jealously)

  36. If Microsoft invented some Tickling Software for Windows Media Player or something like that, we could do it right now, and nobody would feel left out.

    Arent there any programming nerds here who can help us out?

  37. That settles it – I need to replace my lost Mr. Men collection (my favorite is Mr. Clumsy) and move somewhere that has instant access to Brit shows.

    Go to the Mr. Men website and make your very own Mr. Man or Little Ms.!

    ===

    Me: Aren’t you being a bit harsh on Meera Syal, who has shown us that she can pronounce Hindi words (with a slight Brit accent) in Kumars At No. 42? Additionally, what you describe is probably the Brit-Indian linguistic/cultural identity she wishes to portray in Sunita.

  39. Thanks for the heads-up – I had no idea this was being made into a series!

    This is being bit torrented (just started d/ling episode 1). Not sure if it’s okay to post the link, but fans of UK TV might know where to start looking… 🙂

    -p37-

  40. Didn’t mean to be harsh, Maitri. That is very much how she speaks, not just when she is acting. If she is flying the flag for Indians in the UK, then shouldn’t she pronounce Hindi/Punjabi words properly? Respect to her that she has been a pioneer in her field, you can’t knock her for that.

  41. If she is flying the flag for Indians in the UK, then shouldn’t she pronounce Hindi/Punjabi words properly?

    See, I never could tell if she champions Indians in the UK per se as much as Brits of desi descent. From the interviews I’ve read, she identifies with the fusion more so than the individual parts. Anywhere-else-born desis are a breed to ourselves, aren’t we?

    Incidentally, there are Indians living in India, who consider themselves very much Indian and don’t speak their native tongue, much less pronounce Hindi/Punjabi/insert Indian language here words properly.

    Ayesha Dharker is so pretty, especially in wedding garb. Not to detract from her stunning queen of Naboo … wow, those eyes.

  42. Ayesha’s alright, but where’s the love for me? Aren’t my eyes deep, dark, full of sensitivity? Don’t you dig the subtle highlights in my hair? All I ever hear is Ayesha this and Bollywood Dreams that. Sigh.

  44. “You’re unfulfilled, you’re depressed….and you’re really quite fat.”

    Ah yes, nothing like a desi catfight.

  45. They can get really ugly sometimes. Lots of hair pulling, knuckle-dusting and baseball bats in my day. Oh how I enjoyed egging them on.