Vikram Seth (Source: Renuka Puri) Vikram Seth (Source: Renuka Puri)

In late 2016, the eccentric musical impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber, known for his riveting musicals, made an important observation: British theatre had become “hideously white”. It lacked diversity, and Webber forewarned that the theatre’s survival was doomed unless it adapted an all-inclusive ideology. Webber felt that theatre was too white, middle-class driven.In British theatre, the blacks, Asians and other minority groups received roles primarily as peripheral characters, either as hookers or thugs.

In March 2017, the government-approved Office of Communications (known as Ofcom), echoed similar concerns. It observed that the BBC essentially released programmes that were tailored to woo white, middle-class, middle-aged viewers. It overlooked an important element: diversity. It’s head, Sharon White said that minorities could no longer be sidelined, if one desired a healthy viewership that catered to diverse sections of society.

BBC, it seems, has been paying attention. It is gearing up to release a television rendition of Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy – and it will feature an entirely non-white ensemble of actors – a first in BBC’s television history. The drama, scripted by Andrew Davies, will be broken down and presented in an eight-part series.

A Suitable Boy is set in post-colonial India. Sprawling across a period of one-and-a-half years, it tracks four families. Primarily, however, it revolves around the story of Lata, a young woman (reminiscent of an Austenesque heroine) whose mother is making tenacious efforts to find her a suitable man for marriage. The story navigates geographically through the trough and crests of Indian society, providing deep insight into its class, caste and cultural dynamics.

In terms of adaptation though, the question that arises is about authenticity. Aakriti Mandhwani, a PhD scholar at SOAS, UK, who also closely follows British television drama says, “The problem is authenticity. BBC recently did an adaptation of War & Peace and it’s ridiculous how each character has a British accent. They did Versailles with a British accent as well.”

Mandhwani believes that if a series is going to be based on an Indian novel, featuring Indian characters in an Indian milieu, the authenticity needs to be on point, which includes the accent.

BBC’s television adaptation of Tolstoy’s War & Peace, which is also a drama series and is scripted by Davies again, is littered with white, albeit non-Russian, actors. It’s central character Pierre Bezukhov, for instance, is played by the America actor Paul Dano, while another central figure – the spontaneous and spirited Natasha Rostova – is played by English actor Lily James. If you watch the series, the British accent is painstakingly prominent. “So the question really to ask in context of Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy is: how ‘brown’ is this pro-diversity, ‘brown’ series going to be?” says Mandhwani.

To have a book, penned by an Indian author be visually translated into a British television series and specifically inhabit non-white actors, is a breath of fresh air, primarily because it alters tradition and challenges the overwhelmingly white realm of British series. At the same time, it involves risk, because while BBC is catering to the minorities, there is a good possibility of sidelining the white majority.

BBC’s head of drama, Piers Wenger conveyed his apprehensions, noting the move to be a “deliberate gamble”. It’s a gamble, however, that they are willfully embracing. “We know that the biggest risks deliver the biggest hits and in a landscape which is so fast changing, ideas need to be well ahead of the curve,” he said.

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