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HBO's The Night Of

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big_pappa_cricket99

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Is anyone watching this gem of a tv show? cracking viewing similar to the wire but more intense in some ways. Lead actor is Riz ahmed british pakistani actor from four lions and road to guantanamo etc.

Top tv:)
 
Heard its amazing! Can't wait to watch it. Will probably start tonight just have to watch 2 more episodes of "Stranger Things" I always prioritise mini series anyway
 
aliasad1998 said:
Heard its amazing! Can't wait to watch it. Will probably start tonight just have to watch 2 more episodes of "Stranger Things" I always prioritise mini series anyway
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what are you watching it on? its cracking tv if your into this true crime / law genre....i am actually suprised by myself as i usualy go for fantasy/adventure (g.o.t , vikings ) or shows such as spartacus and rome and now this has got me hooked. Put the feet up after work and bang on the ol'telly :)
 
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big_pappa_cricket99 said:
what are you watching it on? its cracking tv if your into this true crime / law genre....i am actually suprised by myself as i usualy go for fantasy/adventure (g.o.t , vikings ) or shows such as spartacus and rome and now this has got me hooked. Put the feet up after work and bang on the ol'telly :)
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Stranger Things? Im watching it in my PS4 in netflix. If you were asking about the night of then I have already downloaded the first episode in HD using torrent. Btw youve seen Rome? I think it is the best fantasy show of all time after GOT. In my opinion if Rome wasnt just 2 seasons long it would be better than GOT. The sets in that show are like fricking "Gladiator"! The reason HBO cancelled it was because it was too expensive.
 
Not really into TV shows but I'll check it out. It looks interesting.
 
Yes indeed Rome was intense ! the guy who played lucius vurenus is an awesome actor. Shame it only lasted 2 seasons. I recommend an app called showbox has all the latest shows HD if you have android that is.
 
big_pappa_cricket99 said:
Yes indeed Rome was intense ! the guy who played lucius vurenus is an awesome actor. Shame it only lasted 2 seasons. I recommend an app called showbox has all the latest shows HD if you have android that is.
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I dont like watching shows and movies on anything but a TV. If I have to then I watch them on my laptop. If it isnt on netflix or is an ongoing series then I download the HD torrent and watch it on my TV. If Im travelling or I really have to then I watch it on a laptop. Smaller phone or tablet screens just dont work for me like they do for some people.
 
aliasad1998 said:
I dont like watching shows and movies on anything but a TV. If I have to then I watch them on my laptop. If it isnt on netflix or is an ongoing series then I download the HD torrent and watch it on my TV. If Im travelling or I really have to then I watch it on a laptop. Smaller phone or tablet screens just dont work for me like they do for some people.
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I agree . Have a device called chromecast which casts 1080p showbox content to my 50 inch telly.
 
They used to play the trailer for this series on HBO right before Game of Thrones aired, so they had maximum number of eyes watching the trailer. Got me interested too. I'll check it out soon when I get the time.


Also, they did something very interesting with the trailer. They did not show it completely in the first go, they increased it in ten increments (over the course of the Game of Thrones season) and by the finale they completed the trailer and it seemed AMAZING.
 
Syed1 said:
It sucks that HBO series are not available on Netflix
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True but it's not like downloading he episodes takes much time. Just do whole seasons at once overnight if you're gonna binge watch
 
I stumbled onto the first episode of this and watched out of curiosity.I am hooked and have seen all 4 episodes released.The plot is a whodunnit with riz ahmed being falsely accused (or is he?) , but the characters are very well done and believable.Great HBO drama so far.
 
watched the first episode on Saturday only because I had a few friends over and one of them said "there's no way you won't watch it after watching the first episode" it was pretty intense tbh...anyone who prefers tv show should watch it.
 
Watched it as soon as it released, wait eagerly for the new episodes to release. My one major gripe was that they used an Iranian actor to play Naz's father. He doesn't even sound Pakistani, has a typical Iranian accent.
 
MABA said:
Watched it as soon as it released, wait eagerly for the new episodes to release. My one major gripe was that they used an Iranian actor to play Naz's father. He doesn't even sound Pakistani, has a typical Iranian accent.
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Yes the father has a heavy Persian accent.

Also the mother I believe is Indian in real life.
 
MABA said:
Watched it as soon as it released, wait eagerly for the new episodes to release. My one major gripe was that they used an Iranian actor to play Naz's father. He doesn't even sound Pakistani, has a typical Iranian accent.
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What is the story, typical dragging Pakistan through the mud? If so, then I won't be very interested in watching it.
 
Syed1 said:
What is the story, typical dragging Pakistan through the mud? If so, then I won't be very interested in watching it.
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None of that.

Its a murder mystery where the main suspect just happens to be Pakistani.

He could have done it, but he could have also been framed.
 
Syed1 said:
What is the story, typical dragging Pakistan through the mud? If so, then I won't be very interested in watching it.
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No the show actually does a good job at portraying them as normal people.
 
does it show Pakistanis in bad light?
 
Started watching it after reading this thread- watched 1st episode, looks pretty promising.
 
Just saw the penultimate episode.I've come to the conclusion that Naz's father is the killer.You heard it here first.
 
The cat is the killer. Those scratches no human is capable of those.
 
Where do you guys watch it? Back in the day everything was available on youtube but that isn't the case anymore.
 
The_KING said:
Where do you guys watch it? Back in the day everything was available on youtube but that isn't the case anymore.
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Back in what day? Youtube never really had full length episodes of most series. Just tiny snippets from here or there..
 
shah_1 said:
red herring
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if the british cirminal justice series on which this is based on, is any indicator then I guess it will be someone who hasnt been depicted in the show yet...

there was one more murder that happened after Nas was banged up in Riker
 
*Might contain spoilers*

Wow. What an ending. Until very last moment I was expecting them to blow it but wow, they nailed it.

Naz is a changed man now, his life, his relationship with his family and friends is destroyed. Drugs aside, he is stronger now.
 
WhenSultansBowled said:
*Might contain spoilers*

Wow. What an ending. Until very last moment I was expecting them to blow it but wow, they nailed it.

Naz is a changed man now, his life, his relationship with his family and friends is destroyed. Drugs aside, he is stronger now.
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Havent watched it , but would have thought his previous life is gone dead and buried, no going back to it
 
Personally found it very contrived ... Fairly sure the storyline been done over naby times. A suicidal whodunnit but with the Muslim edge thrown in ..
 
Happy for Riz Ahmed. Good talented guy :uakmal

Nailed his role in Nightcrawler and has gotten a lot of opportunities lately first this show and in the new Bourne movie.
 
Anyone watched the BBC criminal justice? This is based on same.
 
overrated. really liked john tuturro but the ending was pretty weak imo. they really messed up the indian lawyer character too.
 
Amazing stuff.

Only off note was the dad.

But basically keep away from drugs is the general lesson here kids.
 
Crap ending, didn't even show the accountant getting trialled. Enjoyed the first nine episodes though
 
Final episode was a huge disappointment..some lazy scriptwriting at the end there.It had a good run of 7 episodes and then oof.Come to think of it , most HBO shows end with a flop finale.
 
I avoided this thread after reading the first few posts because I could see there were going to be spoilers which would kind of ruin a detective/crime story. I watched the whole first series over the last week or so since it appeared on Sky, and got to say I was hooked.

This is a quality tv show, it will be interesting to see what they do with the next series coming up. I imagine it will be like True Detective where there will be a whole new cast and storyline. Will it reach the same heights as this one where the main characters were pretty outstanding.
 
Cpt. Rishwat said:
I avoided this thread after reading the first few posts because I could see there were going to be spoilers which would kind of ruin a detective/crime story. I watched the whole first series over the last week or so since it appeared on Sky, and got to say I was hooked.

This is a quality tv show, it will be interesting to see what they do with the next series coming up. I imagine it will be like True Detective where there will be a whole new cast and storyline. Will it reach the same heights as this one where the main characters were pretty outstanding.
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there is no need to continue with this story line at all and i hope they don't, captain. the murder was only really a part of the story; it was more of a character study.
 
anuk said:
there is no need to continue with this story line at all and i hope they don't, captain. the murder was only really a part of the story; it was more of a character study.
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**SPOILERS**

I think they have to continue it; there are way too many mysterious individuals surrounding the murder (the undertaker, duane reed, step father, financial advisor etc). Im also curious to see where Nas goes from here, his whole demeanor/behavior changes (a 180deg turn).

I was kind of let down by the finale. The court room scenes were unrealistic at times. Also, Kapoor's character (the young desi lawyer) was such a joke. I still cant believe how they ruined her character, she had potential. I mean, NO lawyer would ever smuggle in coke inside a prison (not to mention kiss their own clients who they barely know), especially when there are cameras everywhere these days- that's getting disbarred 101.

The show in general was misogynistic (all major female characters were shown in a bad light). First, all female lawyers from both sides were unethical- Kapoor (for being stupid), the state prosecutor (for choosing not to turn in new evidence, the one with photos of the financial advisor, at the end), Nas' second lawyer (for lying to/forcing Nas to take the plea deal). We are also constantly reminded of how Andrea was so much in to sex/party/drugs and how she drugged Nas that night which pretty much led to the whole mess. And then we see how Nas' mom doesn't trust his own son at trial. We also see Nas' first male attorney using his own clients to hook up, etc etc.

But on the plus side, Riz Ahmed was very, very good. Im glad his talents and potential are finally getting noticed in America. It was still a good show by TV standards, just could have been better.
 
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SAF said:
**SPOILERS**

I think they have to continue it; there are way too many mysterious individuals surrounding the murder (the undertaker, duane reed, step father, financial advisor etc). Im also curious to see where Nas goes from here, his whole demeanor/behavior changes (a 180deg turn).

I was kind of let down by the finale. The court room scenes were unrealistic at times. Also, Kapoor's character (the young desi lawyer) was such a joke. I still cant believe how they ruined her character, she had potential. I mean, NO lawyer would ever smuggle in coke inside a prison (not to mention kiss their own clients who they barely know), especially when there are cameras everywhere these days- that's getting disbarred 101.

The show in general was misogynistic (all major female characters were shown in a bad light). First, all female lawyers from both sides were unethical- Kapoor (for being stupid), the state prosecutor (for choosing not to turn in new evidence, the one with photos of the financial advisor, at the end), Nas' second lawyer (for lying to/forcing Nas to take the plea deal). We are also constantly reminded of how Andrea was so much in to sex/party/drugs and how she drugged Nas that night which pretty much led to the whole mess. And then we see how Nas' mom doesn't trust his own son at trial. We also see Nas' first male attorney using his own clients to hook up, etc etc.

But on the plus side, Riz Ahmed was very, very good. Im glad his talents and potential are finally getting noticed in America. It was still a good show by TV standards, just could have been better.
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maybe u can continue with naz's story what about everybody else?
the lead detective is retired.
there is no reason for the turturro character to be involved the story assuming the accountant does not hire him as the lawyer.
the indian lawyer is not a lawyer anymore.
omar (the prison kingpin) is not connected to the story anymore.

so unless it's a completely new cast there is no point making a season 2.
 
SAF said:
**SPOILERS**

I think they have to continue it; there are way too many mysterious individuals surrounding the murder (the undertaker, duane reed, step father, financial advisor etc). Im also curious to see where Nas goes from here, his whole demeanor/behavior changes (a 180deg turn).

I was kind of let down by the finale. The court room scenes were unrealistic at times. Also, Kapoor's character (the young desi lawyer) was such a joke. I still cant believe how they ruined her character, she had potential. I mean, NO lawyer would ever smuggle in coke inside a prison (not to mention kiss their own clients who they barely know), especially when there are cameras everywhere these days- that's getting disbarred 101.

The show in general was misogynistic (all major female characters were shown in a bad light). First, all female lawyers from both sides were unethical- Kapoor (for being stupid), the state prosecutor (for choosing not to turn in new evidence, the one with photos of the financial advisor, at the end), Nas' second lawyer (for lying to/forcing Nas to take the plea deal). We are also constantly reminded of how Andrea was so much in to sex/party/drugs and how she drugged Nas that night which pretty much led to the whole mess. And then we see how Nas' mom doesn't trust his own son at trial. We also see Nas' first male attorney using his own clients to hook up, etc etc.

But on the plus side, Riz Ahmed was very, very good. Im glad his talents and potential are finally getting noticed in America. It was still a good show by TV standards, just could have been better.
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Truth is there are lots of girls like Andrea who get caught up in sex/party and drugs, I would have labelled her as unfortunate rather than a bad character. In today's world that's modern life for some people, it doesn't mean they are inherently evil. It's not like Nasir was lured into that situation, if anything he was a pretty willing participant.
 
Thomaskutty said:
Final episode was a huge disappointment..some lazy scriptwriting at the end there.It had a good run of 7 episodes and then oof.Come to think of it , most HBO shows end with a flop finale.
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The Sopranos says hello. It was vague but still a great finale. Band of Brothers ending was pretty great too
 
The first episode of the show is some of the best tv you can watch. It was an amazing show overall but it could have been much more. Overall it was a great time but i felt disappointed overall and some parts were lazy like the last episode.
 
Nowhere near hbos top shows like the wire, the sopranos, band of brothers, deadwood, game of thrones etc. Nothing wrong with that though since hbo is the best. Still was a great show but could've been much more. Ruiz Ahmed and torturro were fantastic. James Gandolfini would've been proud (He was supposed to play torturros character) and is credited as executive producer of the show.
 
Only started watching this last night and must say it's brilliant.

Hooked on it.

Part 2 to watch now :)
 
aliasad1998 said:
Nowhere near hbos top shows like the wire, the sopranos, band of brothers, deadwood, game of thrones etc. Nothing wrong with that though since hbo is the best. Still was a great show but could've been much more. Ruiz Ahmed and torturro were fantastic. James Gandolfini would've been proud (He was supposed to play torturros character) and is credited as executive producer of the show.
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No one's even tried to compare it with ATG shows to be fair, For the most part it's been billed as the best TV show this year. I don't think there can be much argument about that, you could pick holes in the plot in the technicalities if you wanted to be pedantic, like the person who I introduced the show to last week, but then she was begging me to watch the next episode at 11pm on the same night.
 
Typecast as a terrorist

The Long Read
As my acting career developed, I was no longer cast as a radical Muslim – except at the airport
by Riz Ahmed

To begin with, auditions taught me to get through airports. In the end, it was the other way around. I’m an actor. Since I was a teenager I have had to play different characters, negotiating the cultural expectations of a Pakistani family, Brit-Asian rudeboy culture, and a scholarship to private school. The fluidity of my own personal identity on any given day was further compounded by the changing labels assigned to Asians in general.

As children in the 1980s, when my brother and I were stopped near our home by a skinhead who decided to put a knife to my brother’s throat, we were black. A decade later, the knife to my throat was held by another “****”, a label we wore with swagger in the Brit-Asian youth and gang culture of the 1990s. The next time I found myself as helplessly cornered, it was in a windowless room at Luton airport. My arm was in a painful wrist-lock and my collar pinned to the wall by British intelligence officers. It was “post 9/11”, and I was now labelled a Muslim.

As a minority, no sooner do you learn to polish and cherish one chip on your shoulder than it’s taken off you and swapped for another. The jewellery of your struggles is forever on loan, like the Koh-i-Noor diamond in the crown jewels. You are intermittently handed a necklace of labels to hang around your neck, neither of your choosing nor making, both constricting and decorative.

Part of the reason I became an actor was the promise that I might be able to help stretch these necklaces, and that the teenage version of myself might breathe a little easier as a result.

If the films I re-enacted as a kid could humanise mutants and aliens, maybe there was hope for us. But portrayals of ethnic minorities worked in stages, I realised, so I’d have to strap in for a long ride.

Stage one is the two-dimensional stereotype – the minicab driver/terrorist/cornershop owner. It tightens the necklace.

Stage two is the subversive portrayal, taking place on “ethnic” terrain but aiming to challenge existing stereotypes. It loosens the necklace.

And stage three is the Promised Land, where you play a character whose story is not intrinsically linked to his race. There, I am not a terror suspect, nor a victim of forced marriage. There, my name might even be Dave. In this place, there is no necklace.

I started acting professionally during the post-9/11 boom for stage-one stereotypes, but I avoided them at the behest of my 18-year-old self. Luckily, there was also a tiny speck of stage two stuff taking shape, subverting those same stereotypes, and I managed to get in on the act.

My first film was in this mode, Michael Winterbottom’s The Road to Guantánamo. It told the story of a group of friends from Birmingham who were illegally imprisoned and tortured in the US detainment camp. When it won a prestigious award at the Berlin film festival, we were euphoric. For those who saw it, the inmates went from orange jumpsuits to human beings.

But airport security did not get the memo. Returning to the glamour of Luton Airport after our festival win, ironically named British intelligence officers frogmarched me to an unmarked room where they insulted, threatened, and then attacked me.

“What kinda film you making? Did you become an actor to further the Muslim struggle?” an officer screamed, twisting my arm to the point of snapping.

The question is disturbing not only because it endangers artistic expression, but because it suggests our security services don’t quite grasp the nature of the terror threat we all face. A training presentation outlining Al-Qaida’s penchant for “theatrical” attacks may have been taken a little literally.

It turned out that what those special branch officers did was illegal. I was asked by activist lawyers if I wanted to sue, but instead I wrote an account of the incident and sent it to a few journalists. A story about the illegal detention of the actors from a film about illegal detention turned out to be too good to ignore. I was glad to shed some light on this depressing state of affairs.

I went on to write a song inspired by the incident, titled Post 9/11 Blues. It was full of sage advice, such as: “We’re all suspects so watch your back / I farted and got arrested for a chemical attack.” The song got the attention of Chris Morris, who cast me in Four Lions.

In the end, having my arm nearly torn off by people whose salary I pay led to me exploring loads of stage two work – loosening the necklace. It felt good, but what about stage three, the Promised Land?

It turned out that there was no clear pathway for an actor of colour in the UK to go to stage three – to play “just a bloke”. Producers all said they wanted to work with me, but they had nothing I could feasibly act in. The stories that needed to be told in the multicultural mid-2000s were about the all-white mid-1700s, it seemed. I heard rumours that the Promised Land was not in Britain at all, but in Hollywood.

The reason for this is simple. America uses its stories to export a myth of itself, just like the UK. The reality of Britain is vibrant multiculturalism, but the myth we export is an all-white world of lords and ladies. Conversely, American society is pretty segregated, but the myth it exports is of a racial melting-pot, everyone solving crimes and fighting aliens side by side.

So America was where I headed. But it would not be an easy journey.

You see, the pitfalls of the audition room and the airport interrogation room are the same. They are places where the threat of rejection is real. They are also places where you are reduced to your marketability or threat-level, where the length of your facial hair can be a deal-breaker, where you are seen, and hence see yourself, in reductive labels – never as “just a bloke called Dave”. The post 9/11 Necklace tightens around your neck.

I had so far managed to avoid this in the audition room, but now I faced the same threat at US airports. It didn’t help that The Road to Guantánamo had left my passport stamped with an Axis of Evil world tour – shooting in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran within six months. I spent the flight sweating in defiance of air-conditioning, wondering what would await me.

When I landed, the officer assessing me shared my skin colour. I wondered whether this was a good sign or if he was one of the legendarily patriotic Cuban border officers I had heard about, determined to assess how star-spangled I was with a thumb up the anus.

He looked at my passport, then at me, frowned and drew a big ‘P’ over my immigration card. I immediately thought it stood for ****.

“Protocol!”

I was led down a long corridor, without explanation, before turning into a side room that felt instantly familiar.

Apart from a Chinese family and a South American pilot battling the indignity with his spotless uniform, the holding pen was filled with 20 slight variations of my own face, all staring at me – kind of like a Bollywood remake of Being John Malkovich. It was a reminder: you are a type, whose face says things before your mouth opens; you are a signifier before you are a person; you are back at stage one.

The holding pen also had that familiar audition room fear. Everyone is nervous, but the prospect of solidarity is undercut by competition. In this situation, you’re all fighting to graduate out of a reductive purgatory and into some recognition of your unique personhood. In one way or another you are all saying: “I’m not like the rest of them.”

The fresh-faced desk officer was no older than 23. By the time I was called up to audition for him, my spiel to explain the passport stamps was ready. I’d show a letter from the film’s producer, I’d say “award-winning film”, and I’d flash a shiny new DVD. But the kid questioning me seemed more nervous than I was. He had clearly been to the same “Beware Bloodthirsty Actors” seminar as the intelligence officers at Luton.

“Step back from the counter!”

I was bounced up the chain for a proper interrogation by a dangerously fat man and his moustache. I sat and waited, rehearsing my lines. When the interrogation came, it was more of a car crash than my Slumdog Millionaire audition.

“Oh yeah? Afghanistan? What kinda movie were you making there?”

The question shot through me with a shudder. It reminded me of the questions I faced at Luton airport, but also of the question I ask myself all the time. Was I adding to the catalogue of stage one, two, or three? Was it a film my 18-year-old self wanted? Would it make the necklace looser or tighter?

I thought about the right way to answer him. The Road to Guantánamo was a documentary-drama, but maybe saying I was in a documentary about Guantánamo Bay wouldn’t be wise. Drama should do. I said: “Erm, it’s an award-winning drama called The Road to Guantánamo.”

There was a long silence. He raised an eyebrow. I offered up the DVD. It had a photo of me handcuffed in an orange jumpsuit on its cover. I immediately regretted it. Longer silence. Second eyebrow goes up. He leaned in.

“Do you know anyone who wants to do harm to the United States?”

I shook my head and made Hugh Grant noises, venturing a “gosh!” in there somewhere. He absorbed my performance before holding up a book from my luggage. It was Mohsin Hamid’s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

“What’s this book?”

I explained, but he wasn’t really listening. He deployed a state-of-the-art intelligence protocol by Googling me, which returned a news clipping about the Luton airport incident. ****. My heart sank. This was it. No Hollywood for me. I was never gonna be Brad Pitt. I wasn’t even gonna be Apu from the ****ing Simpsons. What was I thinking?

When, after an agonising three hours, I was waved through, I couldn’t believe it. I felt relieved, grateful, lucky – and then suddenly incensed. On the way out past my lookalikes, I gave a loud, “As-salaam aliekum.” No one leapt to return the greeting. Perhaps they lacked the safety net of a convincing “gosh!”

I joined a friend in Manhattan for dinner, apologising for being three hours late, and zoned out while they discussed astrology. Someone at the dinner turned to me.

“You’re such a terrorist,” she said.

I blinked. What the ****? My face screwed itself into the expression I wish I’d pulled instead of mewling apologetically at the border officers.

“What the **** is that supposed to mean?”

My friend put her arm on mine and squeezed.

“Riz, she asked if you’re a Sagittarius.”

I swallowed. Baffled faces pinned me with concern.

“Right. Sorry. Yeah. Yes I am,” I said.

A similar version of the same thing happened again soon after. And again. And again. And again. I grew belligerent.

One officer asked if I had had any military training. My school had a cadet-force programme that I was swiftly ejected from, but I just answered “yes” without expanding. I was asked if I had travelled to Iran, Iraq, or Afghanistan recently.

“All except Iraq, but if it helps I’ve also been to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia,” I smiled.

Childish perhaps, but the situation itself is infantilising. Feigning obliviousness to an officer’s suspicion and refusing to pander to it was my only defence.

But the farce rolled on.

Twice when applying for a US work visa I was subjected to a Section 221G – a lengthy background check against a global database of terrorists – which almost lost me the jobs.

I saw the email correspondence between the state department and my attorney: “Hey Bill, looking at your client Mr Ahmed – pretty British-sounding name, huh? Saw his Post 9/11 Blues song, what’s with the ‘I heart Osama’ routine?”

Fair enough, you might think. Search him. Look at his racial profile and his passport stamps and his dangerously hilarious rap lyrics. But since I had been let into the US and deemed safe just the previous month, another rigmarole this month was obviously fruitless.

In the end, I was always let in, so these airport auditions were technically a success. But they involved the experience of being typecast, and when that happens enough, you internalise the role written for you by others. Now, like an over-eager method actor, I was struggling to break character.

I tried not to ingest all the signs telling me I was a suspect. I tried not to buy into the story world of this “protocol” or its stage-one stereotype of who I was. But when you have always moulded your identity to your environment and had your necklace picked out by others, it’s not easy. I couldn’t see myself as “just a bloke”. I failed at every single audition I went up for.

Rehearsing a scene beds a role into you. But sometimes if you over-rehearse it without unearthing any new meaning in it, you can suddenly forget your lines. You realise that you are on a stage, not in the real world. The scene’s emotional power and your immersion in it disappears.

And so it dawned on me that these searches were a fictional role-play taking place in a bubble, rather than an assessment of my worth. This was the way to see it. And it turns out this is also the way to see auditions. The protocol lost its chokehold on me, and I started getting roles again. One big job secured me a proper US visa, and soon I was getting waved through without the protocol. I began inching towards the Promised Land.

Now, both at auditions and airports, I find myself on the right side of the same velvet rope by which I was once clothes-lined. But this isn’t a success story. I see most of my fellow Malkoviches still arched back, spines bent to snapping as they try to limbo under that rope. These days it’s likely that no one resembles me in the waiting room for an acting audition, and the same is true of everyone being waved through with me at US immigration. In both spaces, my exception proves the rule.

Don’t get me wrong: although my US airport experience is smoother, I still get stopped before boarding a plane at Heathrow every time I fly to the US. But now I find it hilarious rather than bruising. Easy for me to laugh with my work visa and strategically deployed “gosh!”, perhaps. But it’s also easy for me to laugh, because the more I travel, the more ridiculous the procedures become.

Heathrow airport draws its staff from the nearby Asian suburbs of Hounslow and Southall. My “random selection” flying to LA was so reliable that as I started travelling more, I went through a six-month stretch of being searched by the same middle-aged Sikh guy. I instinctively started calling him Uncle, as is the custom for Asian elders. He started calling me “beta”, or son, as he went through my luggage apologetically. It was heart-warming, but veered dangerously close to incest every time he had to frisk my crotch.

“How are you, son?”

“I’m er, ooh, er, good. Uncle.”

As I’ve travelled more, I’ve also done more film work, increasing the chances of being recognised by the young Asian staff at Heathrow. I have had my films quoted back at me by someone rifling through my underpants, and been asked for selfies by someone swabbing me for explosives.

The last kid who searched me, a young Muslim boy with an immaculate line-beard and goatee, was particularly apologetic.

“Sorry bro. If it makes you feel any better, they search me before I fly too.”

We laughed, not because he was joking, but because he was deadly serious. It was the perfect encapsulation of the minority’s shifting and divided self, forced to internalise the limitations imposed on us just to get by, on the wrong side of the velvet rope even when (maybe especially when) you’re on the right side of it. We cracked jokes and bumped fists.

As I left, he called after me with a question. “Bro, what kinda film you doing next?”

I looked at the ID badge hanging from a string around his neck. I told him that I hoped it would be one he liked.


Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/15/riz-ahmed-typecast-as-a-terrorist
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[MENTION=548]moiez_no1[/MENTION] (The green part)

Riz can rap, write and (boy can he) act. What an artist.
 
Saj said:
Only started watching this last night and must say it's brilliant.

Hooked on it.

Part 2 to watch now :)
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I felt the same after watching part 1. Thought it'd be the best show ever
 
Cpt. Rishwat said:
No one's even tried to compare it with ATG shows to be fair, For the most part it's been billed as the best TV show this year. I don't think there can be much argument about that, you could pick holes in the plot in the technicalities if you wanted to be pedantic, like the person who I introduced the show to last week, but then she was begging me to watch the next episode at 11pm on the same night.
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Id say better call Saul season 2 was the best of the year so far followed by this. Not too much amazing stuff this year so far both when it comes to shows and especially movies.
 
watched parts 2 and 3 last night and it continues to be very interesting.

Eye-opening series.
 
Watched all of this and I thought it tailed off a bit and the last few episodes were a bit flat.

No major finale and the storyline was a bit dull in the last couple of episodes.

Worth a watch, but not as brilliant as I was expecting.
 
Saj said:
Watched all of this and I thought it tailed off a bit and the last few episodes were a bit flat.

No major finale and the storyline was a bit dull in the last couple of episodes.

Worth a watch, but not as brilliant as I was expecting.
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Told you. It was a shame really. After the first episode I really thought this would be something ground breaking but it just got lazy and the writers seemed confused. Still a good show
 
aliasad1998 said:
Told you. It was a shame really. After the first episode I really thought this would be something ground breaking but it just got lazy and the writers seemed confused. Still a good show
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Agree. It hit a level at around episode 4 and then it went flat.

I was hoping for some explosive revealations in the courtroom or ahead of the trial, but it didn't happen.
 
There were a few casting blunders, like hiring a Persian actor (who is not very good at hiding his Persian accent) to play a Pakistani.

However, overall this show was great. Good acting, solid writing, HBO never disappoints.
 
It was a good show, enjoyed everything about it. The only thing that was stupid was the whole make-out scene between the lawyer and Naz, it was random and completely unnecessary and totally destroyed her career at the end
 
Saj said:
Agree. It hit a level at around episode 4 and then it went flat.

I was hoping for some explosive revealations in the courtroom or ahead of the trial, but it didn't happen.
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I liked that there werent any explosive revelations which took away from the realism of the show. Too many good shows have been ruined by impossible and unrealistic plot twists

However I generally agree with you in terms of going flat. Could have done a LOT MORE with character development of the lawyer, the parents etc.

Could have incorporated sth abt Naz's friends as well
 
big_pappa_cricket99 said:
Is anyone watching this gem of a tv show? cracking viewing similar to the wire but more intense in some ways. Lead actor is Riz ahmed british pakistani actor from four lions and road to guantanamo etc.

Top tv:)
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Lolwut?

How is it at all similar to The Wire?
 
blackanhyellow said:
There were a few casting blunders, like hiring a Persian actor (who is not very good at hiding his Persian accent) to play a Pakistani.

However, overall this show was great. Good acting, solid writing, HBO never disappoints.
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He never says his father is Pakistani, only that his mother is. So his father may well have been Iranian in the show.
 
Saj said:
Watched all of this and I thought it tailed off a bit and the last few episodes were a bit flat.

No major finale and the storyline was a bit dull in the last couple of episodes.

Worth a watch, but not as brilliant as I was expecting.
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Was expecting something bad to happen to him as he walks out of prison. That's how they set it up, but nothing happened. Which is even better I think, as it didn't follow cliche and just let things get sorted out.
 
Saqs said:
Was expecting something bad to happen to him as he walks out of prison. That's how they set it up, but nothing happened. Which is even better I think, as it didn't follow cliche and just let things get sorted out.
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Lol I was the on the edge during that whole time, the way it was being stretched out, the calmness and the camera angles I was expecting him to get shanked
 
Saqs said:
Was expecting something bad to happen to him as he walks out of prison. That's how they set it up, but nothing happened. Which is even better I think, as it didn't follow cliche and just let things get sorted out.
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Yes indeed. In fact all the time he was in prison I thought he was going to get beaten up or worse.
 
I liked that there werent any explosive revelations which took away from the realism of the show. Too many good shows have been ruined by impossible and unrealistic plot twists.
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I just thought that bringing in that financial advisor in the last part of the series was a bit weird and lacked creativity.

Also the CCTV footage showing the girl being followed would have been scrutinised thoroughly at the beginning surely and not as an afterthought.
 
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