Shekhar Kapur on Hollywood’s push for ethnic inclusion: ‘It’s guilt driven’

Acclaimed filmmaker Shekhar Kapur - who is best known for movies like Masoom, Mr. India, Bandit Queen, Elizabeth and its sequel Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and more recently What’s Love Got to Do with It? - has said that Hollywood’s push to include more ethnic minority actors stems from its guilt over “all the actors who are not getting work”.

Speaking in an interview with BBC, the director said that although the “inclusion of ethnic minority actors in shows such as Netflix’s Bridgerton is a good thing in terms of opportunity, it hides a greater, more fundamental issue of which stories are brought to the big screen”.

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“Hollywood should be telling stories of that culture, of the culture of the brown people, of the African-American people, of the black people, of Asians. But what’s happening is they’re still addicted to their, you know, the narrative is still their point of view,” he elaborated. 

Shekhar sees Hollywood’s efforts to increase the diversity of actors in its films as a “guilt trip”. “It’s Hollywood feeling guilty about all the actors that are not getting work. And because there’s a huge rise of protests,” he added. 

His latest film - What’s Love Got to Do with It? - is a British romantic comedy, starring Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, Emma Thompson, Sajal Aly, Oliver Chris, Asim Chaudhry, Jeff Mirza, Alice Orr-Ewing and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. The screenplay of the movie is by Jemima Khan.

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According to news reports, the NationalAward-winning filmmaker is also planning a new project which will be the ‘Indian equivalent’ to JK Rowling’s Harry Potter franchise. In an earlier interview with The Times of India, the director said, “I am actually planning a project, which is kind of like the Indian Harry Potter. I’m not making Harry Potter. But the Indian equivalent to it. Same genre. That genre of Harry Potter because I think in India, with the market we have, we are so used to things that are otherworldly. We’ve grown up with those kinds of stories. I am now developing and probably will make a film franchise like Harry Potter, that comes out of India and not the West.”

Recently, Shekhar also made headlines after his former wife, singer-actress Suchitra Krishnamoorthi, accused him of infidelity. She went ahead and blamed actress Preity Zinta for their divorce.

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