“Well, I suppose overall it was an enjoyable film,” I said, as we wandered past the pop-corn. “I loved Ashkay Kumar’s shirts, I would like some like that. And he got the girl in the end.”
But there was a ‘but’.
“But I have to say, I did feel all the English characters were ludicrous stereotypes. The film portrayed the England as full of nothing but obnoxious, race obsessed toffs who live in huge Georgian estates. It was a wholly negative and false portrayal of my country and culture.”
My Pakistani friend shrugged and chuckled. “Now you know how we feel all the time.”
2 Replies to “Namastey London”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Amen to your Pakistani friend — that’s the default mode for how Asians are depicted, even by the liberal end of the mainstream media. Now, multiply that to the overwhelming majority of the depictions of you, as a minority group, in this society, and you get a sense of why Asians feel hatred and demonisation of them is growing all the time.