Series’ new cast set to feel the heat
THE SECOND instalment of Indian Summers is back on our screens and it has Rachel Griffiths, Art Malik, Sugandha Garg, Arjun Mathur and Blake Ritson joining the main cast.
The 47-year-old Australian Griffiths is, of course, synonymous with Six Feet Under and Brothers & Sisters.
In Indian Summers, where she also wears the hat of director for episode four of the 10-part series, Griffiths is cast as Sirene, the mistress of the perfidious yet influential Maharajah of Amritpur (played by Malik).
The storyline picks up three years later, in the summer of 1935, in Simla. It is also the viceroy’s last stint in office. Amid the brewing revolt, there are intense power struggles and troubled romances at play.
In the introductory episode, the viceroy suffers a heart attack after being the victim of a bomb scare. While he is out of commission, Ralph Whelan (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) holds down the fort. Meanwhile, Aafrin Dalal struggles to keep it together when almost outed as a nationalist spy.
On joining the cast and character, Griffiths says: “She is a chameleon. I like the idea of playing someone who has recreated herself. But she is so vulnerable within that.”
As for her character setting tongues wagging, she laughs: “Yes, but Sirene loves it. She loves the fact that she has escaped the mores of the bourgeoisie.”
As for being romantically paired with Malik, a seasoned Pakistani-born British actor, who will likely be remembered for starring in movies such as True Lies, The Wolfman and the TV series Borgias, she offers: “He is a very, very, very funny man despite being shockingly well read. We had a hoot. He was so creative and open.”
Although she wasn’t au fait with the series prior to bagging the role, Griffiths binge-watched season one after the status quo changed.
She comments: “I really enjoyed it and, having worked with Anand Tucker on Hilary and Jackie, I could totally feel his vision – with the moving camera and emotional tensions – in the pilot and the first season. It was grand and intimate at the same time. Paul Rutman (writer/ producer) is brilliant at getting the perfect balance between the personal and the political.”
Griffiths also admits to researching the British Raj era: “I wanted to find out what their lives were like. I did quite a bit of research on the generation of girls who, because of World War I, stayed and got married. Many made quite adventurous choices and with rural Australia hit quite badly during the Depression, a well-brought-up girl could find herself on hard times, with her brothers having fallen and the family finances dead.
“I imagined Sirene as having attended a good country girl’s boarding school outside Melbourne and being reluctant to be governess for any girls she might have known, so she took the opportunity to go to the colonies, where her fall in status might have been less noted. Being fluent in French and maths would have given her skills she could trade. I found many examples of such women all around the Pacific – some were missionaries, some governesses and some private secretaries.”
Griffiths was asked how she felt joining a cast boasting known Hollywood and Bollywood names á la Julie Walters as Cynthia Coffin and Lillete Dubey and Roshana Dalal.
She responds: “Having been on shows where the incoming talent has injected new colours into the palette, I was confident that the cast would welcome me. They are all smart and brilliantly read, which was somewhat intimidating. All of them seemed to have a least a first-class degree from a firstclass university. While I wasn’t nervous, I felt a bit colonial. As I get older, I love meeting young and antsy talent (antsy to make great work), as well as the chance of working with some actors I have known and deeply respected. Working with Art, whom I have always adored, Patrick Malahide and Roshan Seth, was a real treat, while the chance to go head-to-head with Julie Walters was a career highlight.”
To contextualise the rivalry between Walters and Griffiths’s respective characters, Sirene’s arrival steals the spotlight of resident Queen Bee of the Simla’s social scene.
In this political melting pot of revolt, love, betrayals and unbridled ambition, one lead character pays the ultimate price. Aside from the resplendent period backdrop, Indian Summers is bolstered by a gripping script and compelling performances. 1 Seamstress (5) 2 Promote to a better position (7) 3 Confounded, mystified (10) 4 From the subcontinent (6) 5 Stupid, witless (8) 6 Den (4) 7 Monster made up of parts of other animals (7) 8 Perturbed, roused (8) 13 Believing in nothing (10) 14 Pancake (8) 16 Treasured family possession (8) 18 Meet requirements (7) 20 Distressing, sore (7) 21 Rigorous, exacting (6) 24 Cloudless (5) 25 Unit of electric potential (4)
- 1 Globular. 2 Warm-heartedness. 3 Excoriated. 5 Ageless. 6 Pact. 7 Confidentiality. 8 Openly. 9 Hamlet. 14 Nova Scotia. 17 Unbroken. 19 Athwart. 20 Sweden. 21 Sapper. 24 Lion.
- 1 Shenyang. 2 Arrau. 4 Écarté. 5 Sheremetyevo. 6 Neutron. 7 Lost. 8 Greg Rusedski. 12 Bankhead. 14 Shorter. 16 Odense. 18 Osric. 19 Boys.
Indian Summers airs on BBC First (DStv channel 119) on Sundays at 9pm.