Anjana Vasan & Mawaan Rizwan talk South Asian representation

True, authentic representation in the screen industries, as with anywhere else, is vital. The way that we portray communities and the stories that we tell has an impact and having open and honest conversations helps us understand that. As BAFTA’s head of programmes Mariayah Kaderbhai explains, it’s about asking “what are we doing, all of us, to make this space more honest, more inclusive and more representative of the world?”

It’s a big topic to tackle but one that We Are Lady Parts actor Anjana Vasan and Juice creator Mawaan Rizwan shined some light on while speaking at a special BAFTA One to One x The UKTV Asian Inclusion event on 22 July 2025. During an intimate one to one chat the multi-BAFTA nominated duo considered what South Asian representation has meant to them through the course of their careers…

Reflecting on the power of writing in the process of creating authentic representation on screen Vasan said: “It starts with the material. You know people can think you’re an amazing actor but if you don’t have the opportunity then you can’t play the role.” She also encouraged those who are able to write, to write “because I think that the imagination that you have for yourself is always going to be greater than what people can offer you.”

Meanwhile Rizwan drew on his own experience of writing the BAFTA-winning Juice which he says was born “out of necessity”. He said: “I always wanted to act but you know how it is, when you’re first starting out you feel like you just get sent up for stuff that is so reductive and sometimes you can’t always put a finger on it… the writing gives you an autonomy.”

Adding that the negative experiences can feed into the positive, he added: “If you know what limits you, and what reduces you, you get really clear about what sets you free and I think that’s been the sort of ammunition for the writing.”

Sharing their unique perspectives, Vasan’s as an Indian born Singaporean and Rizwan’s as a Pakistani born Brit, both actors commented that we need to embrace the fact that no-one is one-dimensional.

Rizwan said: “We’re always exposed to so many contradictions it’s really obvious when you get a one-dimensional character because you’re like well no one is as simple as this we’ve all got some weird things going on.”

The actor also addressed how other people’s perceptions can impact our own sense of self too particularly when it comes to our ethnicity. He said: “Sometimes I question how we as South Asian British people perceive ourselves because we are put in so many situations where you see the outsides perception of us which is so disorientating because we are not one thing… British Asian isn’t one thing yet we have certain things which are like ‘you’re all in this’ … so who am I? I don’t know, who do white people think I am? I don’t know.”

The actors also reflected on how the South Asian experience had shaped them, adding to their own multi-dimensionality and influencing their craft.

Vasan said: “I think immigrants have such a big imagination, the fact that you can see for yourself I’m going to like fly to another place and build an entire life for my family and for myself somewhere else involves a huge amount of imagination… it’s about world building and it’s about observing cultures…

“You’re on the side-lines observing a lot and absorbing a lot and that is what acting is when you’re stepping into someone’s shoes that are not yours.”

Similarly, Rizwan said: “You kind of always have an outside eye… so I think it gives you an amazing overview of human life and relationships and behaviour patterns that = surely has to inform our creativity.”

When thinking about the representation of different communities, South Asian and beyond, the two actors suggested focusing on our human universalities could be the key to change.

Vasan said: “I think it’s also not just about telling stories but how we tell the stories… It’s telling the story in your specific way, not trying to repeat something that’s happened before to make it palatable for an audience, to make it populist.”

She added: “You only reinvent the wheel by being specific I think. The more specific it is sometimes the more universal it is… we’re also not trying to make stories just for ourselves in an insular way I think we want stories to resonate on a completely universal level so it’s not minority stories, we are the global majority, its stories for everyone.”

While Rizwan gave us a vision of a better future. Saying: “If we lived in a world where it wasn’t a thing it literally wouldn’t be a thing. Sometimes you’re asked to write about the brown experience but ideally I could write about something interesting and then ok this character happens to be brown, and a bunch of things will happen that are interesting and brown experience related. But I think we all need the freedom to make more stuff that’s not quote on quote about that experience.”