In today’s crazy world, is it possible for a man of Pakistani origin to play the white cis icon James Bond? Riz Ahmed takes that idea and runs with it in his hilarious satire, Bait (on Amazon Prime Video).
By some miracle, or rather, his agent’s wrangling, Shahjehan ‘Shah’ Latif (Ahmed) gets an opportunity to audition for the Bond role. (Is Daniel Craig dead? a character wonders). He is a rapper (MC Rickshah!) and struggling actor, whose tiny roles go unnoticed. When a man approaches him on the street for a fan selfie, it turns out he mistook Shah for Dev Patel.
He flubs his lines at the audition, but makes sure he is caught by a paparazzo skulking outside the studio. As a result speculation hits social media and Shah is deluged with both racist hate (a pig’s head thrown through the window of his parents’ home) and jubilation by the Pakistani community in London.
His parents, Parvez (Sajid Hasan) and Tahira (Sheeba Chaddha) are kind and understanding of his quirky lifestyle. They had taken in and raised Shah’s cousins, Zulfi (Guz Khan) and Q (Aasiya Shah) and the two of them are his support system as well as nastiest ego-bashers. Zulfi has been trying to establish a taxi fleet called Muba or Muslim Uber. Shah’s ex-girlfriend Yasmin (Ritu Arya) is another grounding factor.
The fake news about a brown Bond going viral, and Shah’s own desperate attempts to get another shot at the audition turns his life upside down in just a few days. Getting the Bond role could change his life, but will it also take him away from his roots, is the dilemma Shah faces.
Created and co-written by Riz Ahmed, directed Bassam Tariq and Tom George, the show is critical of the phony inclusivity of the industry, as well as the Pakistani community’s reluctance to assimilate fully, but there’s tongue-in-cheek humour there– not bitterness– and genuine affection.
Shah is both funny and infuriating, because of his constant eagerness and falling flat on his face—like the scene in which a rival actor steals his emotional lines, leaving Shah fumbling for words.
The dialogue is laceratingly sharp, the milieu authentic and performances just all round brilliant. Oscar and Bafta-winning Riz Ahmed is handsome and talented enough to have inspired, according to a piece in The Guardian, a metric for Muslim on-screen representation– the Riz Test.
London now has a Muslim mayor, Sadiq Khan, and there is sporadic talk of a non-white 007, even, at one point, a black female, so Riz Ahmed might as well get in the queue!
Bait
Created by Riz Ahmed
Cast: Riz Ahmed, Ritu Arya, Guz Khan and others
On Amazon Prime Video
