KARACHI: British film and television productions rarely have South Asians or Muslims at the heart of their narrative, said a United Kingdom-based filmmaker of Pakistani descent on Friday while getting ready to launch the series called “Count Abdulla.”
Asim Abbasi, a British-Pakistani, made the feature film debut in his country of origin with “Cake” in 2018. It was followed by the acclaimed Pakistani web series “Churails,” which he produced in collaboration with ZEE5, an Indian streaming service.
It was “Churails” that gave Abbasi the opportunity to direct “Count Abdulla” as the writer Kaamil Shah recommended him to the production house working on the project after watching the web series. Produced by Fudge Park Productions, “Count Abdulla” will release on June 15 on UK’s streaming service, ITVX, followed by a release on a TV channel in the UK in the coming months.
“What is different about ‘Count Abdulla’ is that we’ve never had South Asians, we’ve never had Muslims at the forefront of a [British] narrative,” he told Arab News during a telephonic interview from the UK on Friday. “You usually get a supporting role or a side hero or a sidekick. Most of the shows in the west tend to be very white-centric.”
The upcoming, six-episode series, each 25 minutes long, is a British horror comedy, according to Abbasi, with a Muslim protagonist, Abdulla Khan, at the center of it. Most of the key characters are Muslims, played by British, Indian, and Iranian actors.
The cast includes Arian Nik, Jaime Winstone, Rishi Nair, Sia Alipour, and Mariska Ariya, among others.
“It was so exciting to work on a mainstream British show celebrating being brown and celebrating South Asians and our culture in a very lighthearted way with a lot of humor,” said Abbasi, who directed someone else’s script for the first time.
He said the story was based on a vampire narrative “with some very poignant themes about colonialism and racism that are inherently baked into [it].”
There were “British-Pakistani” references in the series, Abbasi continued, with the score of the show featuring Pakistani instruments.
“There are small elements from Pakistani culture and religion that audiences in Pakistan would definitely be able to relate to,” he added. “Audiences in the UK are going to be extremely excited. There’s such a huge brown population here. And it will be a really big moment for them to celebrate seeing themselves.”
Abbasi hoped the series would be made accessible to viewers in Pakistan after its initial release in the UK.
As part of its global distribution, the series is expected to be sold to channels and streaming services beyond the UK in the coming months.
