In Conversation with Meera Syal

01 April 08

Supported by The Farm Group.

As part of BAFTA’s association with the tenth annual Asian Women’s Film Festival, Tongues on Fire , Meera Syal CBE joined playwright and critic Bonnie Greer onstage at Academy headquarters.

The Actress and Comedienne talks about her start in writing and performing whilst growing up in an Indian family in the Midlands: "In the house I was very respectful and I did my homework, and then I would walk out into this Black Country mining village and I would be with my mates and on my bike."

Her upbringing, she says, also formed much of her work: "As anybody with a large Indian family knows, they are a constant source of comedy, which I have shamelessly exploited."

So many of my generation went into the creative arts because we had a really good grounding in changing masks all the time...

Syal also discusses her first television appearances, on the groundbreaking comedy The Real McCoy, and her portrayals of issues like arranged marriages from the thriller My Sister-Wife to sketches in Goodness Gracious Me. Other works covered include Bhaji on the Beach, the autobiographical Anita and Me, and The Kumars at No 42.

• Meera Syal on IMDB

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