Trouble ahead:
New twist emerges for Shortland Street sex-trafficking storyline.
When Nivi Summer moved to New Zealand from her native India 20 years ago, the last thing she expected was to find herself involved with a gang of human traffickers – even fictional ones.
Summer, who plays Shortland Street cardiologist Zara Chakraborty, admits she was shocked when the storyline came up, but a little research revealed there was nothing far-fetched about it.
“In India, you hear about those things all the time. It’s something you grow up with because, as a girl, your parents are constantly warning you not to go out after a certain time at night and, you know, not to wear certain types of clothes because that’s attracting the wrong kinds of attention,” she says.
“You grew up hearing about things that happened, and there are lots of Bollywood movies that are made about human trafficking as well.
“Obviously, there are bad sides to every country, but you don’t expect something as bad as human trafficking to exist in a country like New Zealand and that is why it was such a huge shock to me.” Summer, who moved here after falling for a Kiwi, says she revels in the freedom of New Zealand where she can wear a bikini on a beach without worry.
“New Zealand is such a safe place. Everyone wants to move here. We’re probably the safest country in the world at the moment. I love everything about this country. I feel very privileged to be here, to be honest.”
However, a quick Google search reveals a 2019 American State Department publication that describes
New Zealand as a hot spot for sexual exploitation, and other reports detailing how women are being enticed here from overseas to work in the sex industry under false pretences.
“I think there are a lot of people out there who are just like me and didn’t realise (human trafficking) exists here,” Summer says, adding she believes Shortland Street is doing the right thing in raising awareness of the issue.
“I think there are many people that need to be told that this is a thing that exists in New Zealand and, for young girls especially, it’s very important to know that despite growing up in New Zealand, that this is something that could happen to anybody.”
This week Zara – who, along with paramedic Theo (Chye-Ling Huang), has taken a very public stand against traffickers working in Ferndale – discovers that her opponents are even more dangerous than she thought.
When the doctor receives an alarming phone call from a human-trafficking victim desperate for her help, she is unable to ignore her pleas and lies to her husband Boyd (Sam Bunkall), telling him she is going to work, then heads off in search of the young woman.
Alone, Zara drives out to a remote location, only to find herself in a trap and outnumbered.
Summer is tight-lipped on what has happened to the doctor, but says there are several possible scenarios.
“She could have been kidnapped or she could have been killed,” she says. “Or she could even have been trafficked herself. Or she could have left because she may have had enough. She might have just decided to disappear.”
Whatever Zara’s fate, Summer says there is no way she would have been as courageous – or as foolhardy – as her character.
“She’s a strong-headed woman and she’s just hell-bent on finding a resolution to this problem, but it’s a very dangerous situation to put yourself in,” she says. “But while we wouldn’t do that personally in real life, Zara goes ahead with it.”
And not only does Zara defy her husband who wants her to have nothing to do with the traffickers, she also left her daughter Rani (Keisha Jayapuram) behind.
“Personally, I would never choose anything over my child. I just wouldn’t put myself in a dangerous situation, obviously,” says Summer who has a son, Jed, four.
“Even now, with the kind of job I have – and all the other actors would agree – we have to be quite careful about privacy issues. I don’t give out my address to just anyone. I am constantly careful about what I do online, and what I put up online about my family, and that is because I don’t want to get into trouble. And so in real life, I wouldn’t be a Zara.”
“Obviously, there are bad sides to every country, but you don’t expect something as bad as human trafficking to exist in a country like New Zealand and that is why it was such a huge shock to me.” – Nivi Summer