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Love hot ina very climate
A young girl seeks her true match amid the explosive tension of post-partition India in Andrew Davies’s TV adaptation of Vikram Seth’s novel A Suitable Boy...
Having already tackled War And Peace and Les Misérables, two of the most epic novels ever written, screenwriter Andrew Davies is clearly still up for a challenge. A Suitable Boy, which runs to 1,349 pages, is one of the longest books in the English language, a sprawling and ambitious story set in post-colonial India as it discovers its true identity.
Written by Indian author Vikram Seth and published in 1993, it follows the fortunes of a young girl called Lata Mehra, who’s attempting to find a suitable boy to marry as her country, still bearing the scars of Partition and Empire, matures.
‘Lata’s trials of the heart speak as loudly to me now as when I first read Vikram’s epic novel two decades ago,’ says Andrew, who has condensed the novel into a magical sixepisode BBC1 series. ‘She’s a great literary heroine in the tradition of Jane Austen and George Eliot. But behind her stands a massive supporting cast of funny, irrepressible characters and a vision of India in the 1950s no reader will ever forget.’
Directed by Mira Nair, who made the award-winning 2001 film Monsoon Wedding, it is the BBC’S first drama production with an all-indian cast and the first filmed entirely in India. At its heart is newcomer Tanya Maniktala, 23, who plays studious Lata. Tanya was contemplating giving up her fledgling acting career to study for a Masters degree in media studies in Australia where her sister lives when she was asked to audition. ‘I was all set to go to Melbourne when a friend who’s a casting agent kept calling me to audition for a role,’ she recalls. ‘He didn’t tell me what the role was, but when I learned it was Lata I was quite overwhelmed.’
The auditioning process was long and drawn out, but watching the show it’s immediately obvious why the producers fell in love with her. Like Lata she’s lively, engaging and charismatic, a worthy new star for this huge role. ‘She’s a very colourful character,’ says Tanya. ‘She’s openminded, which is something I can relate to, but she’s not afraid to make mistakes. I hope I’ve done justice to her, because she has to be seen in all her glory.’
The series starts with book-loving university student Lata, who’s 19, attending her big sister’s wedding – an arranged marriage. The family are upper middle class and her mother decides it’s now time to find Lata ‘a suitable boy’. Lata though wants to marry for love, and over the course of the story three boys, whose suitability varies, become the focus of her attentions.
‘Lata’s mother is very clear about what kind of boy she wants for her daughter,’ says Tanya. ‘He has to be from the right caste, the right place and the right religion. But Lata just wants to go with what her heart says – she cares more that the boy should truly understand and love her.’
She first loses her heart to a fellow university student called Kabir. ‘She’s very passionate about him and wants to run away with him,’ says Tanya. But there’s a problem – he’s Muslim and therefore not suitable for her Hindu family.’
Next on the list is Amit, the brother of Lata’s sister-in-law. ‘He’s a great poet and author and he and Lata have an intellectual connection. He shares her passion for books,’ says Tanya. The problem here is that Lata isn’t sure she loves him. The final contender is Haresh, a humble shoe factory foreman who shares ‘a vulnerability’ with Lata.
The story is set against the backdrop of rising tension between Hindus and Muslims as the repercussions of Partition in 1947, when British India was divided into two
‘Lata wants to go with what her heart says’
states, predominantly Muslim Pakistan and Hindu India, take hold. An estimated one million people died in the violence that followed.
‘Lata’s life, in fact life for all of them, is affected by the political situation,’ says Tanya. ‘It still affects us in India today. I grew up with stories from my grandfather who is originally from Lahore, which is now in
Pakistan, and he still wants to go back there. After making this show I spoke to him about Partition and tears rolled down his face as he talked about how he almost lost his
Lata’s suitors (from left) Amit,
Haresh and Kabir, with Lata’s mother Rupa life moving from Lahore to India. But they go on very different His brother was stopped by Muslims paths. Maan is a victim of his own as they were moving and they desires and habits.’ demanded to know whether he was Author Vikram Seth regularly Muslim. They had knives and were appeared on set as the cast filmed all ready to kill him. Thankfully a Muslim over India. ‘He’s a very friendly personality family took pity on him and said and almost neurotically he was with them and he escaped smart,’ says Ishaan. ‘It was wonderful unharmed. Trains full of Hindus to have him there.’ were burned, people would try and Each morning would start with a murder everyone. A lot of humanity yoga session for the cast and crew was lost at that time. before a full day of work. ‘We filmed
‘It’s hard to imagine what they in villages that no one’s ever filmed went through but there was one scene in before, and sometimes the villagers where we filmed a riot and I was genuinely would become extras,’ says shaken by it. I shiver just thinking Ishaan. ‘It was very special.’ about it because it felt so real.’ While the history of Partition is
Running alongside Lata’s storyline more familiar to the actors than it is another love story, but a very will be to the British audience unsuitable one. Maan Kapoor, whose watching the series, Ishaan believes brother is married to Lata’s sister, is it will also have a message for modern the son of a high-ranking government India, especially the younger minister but he’s lazy and generation who can’t imagine what unsettled until he falls madly in love it would have been like. with a Muslim courtesan and his ‘My grandparents were freedom world starts to spiral out of control. fighters and I’ve grown up hearing
‘He has a rebellious streak, and these stories, but it’s very different like Lata he doesn’t believe in the for my generation,’ he says. ‘People concept of arranged marriage – he of my age have grown up in a would prefer to follow his heart,’ says time when there’s no need to revolt Ishaan Khattar, 24, who plays Maan. about anything, we’ve never had to ‘He’s free-spirited and lets his passions fight for a cause. guide him, but that can ‘The interesting thing about it land him in a lot of trouble. being on British television is that He’s overly sensitive and it’s not about the British,’ sometimes explosive. he adds. ‘The British
‘Both Maan and Lata influence is huge but are on a journey of selfdiscovery, this is about what and their happened next. It’s stories sometimes about these people intertwine. and who they are, what they went through. It’s a journey of selfdiscovery as the country became an independent nation.’