![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sepiamutiny.com\/sepia\/LifeIsntAll.jpg\")
<\/A>I’ve run across a few friends in the big city recently with dreams of writing a desi Sex and the City,<\/EM> something about our<\/EM> lives rather than visas, spices and weddings. As utterly compelling as immigrant stories are, they’ve been done, and done well; it’s odd to me that The Namesake <\/EM>and Brick Lane <\/EM>are about their authors’ parents. There’s a different story waiting to be written about impressionists<\/A> who cross seas with ease, The Talented Mr. Ripley<\/EM> minus the creepy criminality.<\/P>\nMeera Syal’s novel Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee<\/A> <\/EM>is like that. It’s one of the two prosaic, non-literary novels I’ve most closely identified with. (The other is Love, Stars and All That<\/A><\/EM> by Kirin Narayan<\/A>.) I’ve exchanged breathless words about this book with perfect strangers. Like hip-hop lit, it wasn’t the craftsmanship of the work I responded to, it was the familiarity; Syal was writing people I already knew.<\/P>\n As is usual in cultural matters, the UK is our Paris Hilton: those sods have not only done it, they’ve even filmed it, and soon they’ll post it on seedy sites all over the Internet. Syal has now filmed her novel<\/A> as a miniseries which is airing on BBC1, the main Beeb channel, the first week of April (via Desi Flavor<\/A>). It’s set in Ilford, an East London suburb which is the cultural equivalent of New Jersey.<\/P>\n Ayesha Dharker, the temptress in Bombay Dreams<\/EM> on Broadway, plays the simple, lovelorn protagonist, Chila. The ravishing Laila Rouass<\/A> (Bombay Dreams<\/EM> London) <\/EM>plays her friend Tania, an idealized vixen who’s stepped outside the bounds and bonds of Asian-ness. Syal herself plays the author’s voice, the progressive lawyer Sunita who’s stuck in an unfulfilling marriage to her college sweetheart.<\/P>\n This is a female bonding story; the peripheral male characters are played by Sanjeev Bhaskar<\/A>, Raza Jaffrey (Bombay Dreams <\/EM>London), Ahsen Bhatti<\/A> and comedian Inder Manocha<\/A>. Other members of the cast include Indira Joshi (The Kumars),<\/EM> Lalita Ahmed (Bhaji on the Beach)<\/EM> and Rani Singh.<\/P>\n Previous posts: 1<\/A>, 2<\/A>, 3<\/A>, 4<\/A><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve run across a few friends in the big city recently with dreams of writing a desi Sex and the City, something about our lives rather than visas, spices and weddings. As utterly compelling as immigrant stories are, they’ve been done, … Continue reading … [Meera Syal] was “pleased” that a drama featuring three Asian women characters in lead roles was getting primetime positioning on Britain’s most popular channel. That she said was “a real breakthrough.”<\/BLOCKQUOTE>\n