A South Asian woman is standing by the wine in a supermarket, wondering which merlot to choose. She throws three in her basket (offered) when an older white man wraps himself around her to ask where the eggs are. It is clear that he mistaken her for staff because she is brown.
“I would like you not to keep moving things. I don’t have a good memory, “he says. She begins to explain without any conviction that she doesn’t actually work there,” but before the words left her mouth, he left.
The sting of this racist micro-aggression is sharp and short – like tearing a small plaster – before a woman suddenly, almost comically, faces a more pressing problem. She notices a South Asian man with a knife stabbing a police officer. She sprinted after him, in hot pursuit of a potential terrorist.
This is the opening scene of DI Ray, a new fierce police drama by ITV that takes place in Birmingham, whose use of ethnic stereotypes constantly makes viewers guess where the story will go. The series follows Rachita Ray, a Leicester-born British-South Asian officer who has been promoted to homicide detective, played by Parminder Nagra, known for her roles in ambulance and Bend It Like Beckham. Not only do we see Ray play a complex first murder case and follow the investigation throughout the series, but at the same time we see him struggling with speculation that her rapid rise is due to her skin color, and it’s all done with great finesse.
“I don’t want to just hit the police” DI DI Ray writer Maya Sondi. Photo: PA Images / Alamy
“We wanted to show you from the beginning that this will not hit you in the head about the race; it will be forged, ”says show’s screenwriter Maya Sondi, speaking on Zoom on a calm Wednesday afternoon. The Birmingham-born actor, best known for playing the well-meaning police officer Manniet Bindra in Line of Duty, created the show after partnering with Chengen drama creator Jed Mercurio.
“We talked a lot about identity,” Sondi said. “Jed is of immigrant descent, his parents were Italian, and we thought, ‘How can we make these topics accessible?’ Their answer was to create a character whose professional and personal lives intertwine.” “Rachita Ray is not only involved in her professional life, but also in her struggle for identity as a British Indian,” Sondi said. “It felt natural to cross the two, so whatever happens in her work life can affect her personal journey and back.”
Nagra especially liked how Sondi intertwined many of these scenes with humor. “In a minute you may find yourself laughing at a scenario that Rachita is in,” she says, “and then you think and think it’s actually uncomfortable.” It’s the kind of experience Nagra knows – and which she has to get out of her mind while on set. “There are times when I may have been in such situations, but when you’re in these scenes, it’s about – how does Rachita feel about that?”
Police stereotypes also touched Sondi’s life. She remembers a case a few years ago when her brother, a law student at the time, was walking around London the same day as a scared bomb and was racially profiled. “He was stopped and stopped by the police. They searched his bag and found his wig and dress. My brother just said, “That’s what it is.” He could have wiped the floor with them, but he was more hurt by the fact that the officer had racially profiled him.
While police are a mature industry that studies racial stereotypes, Sondi says she wants the show to highlight issues universally. “I do not want to just hit the police.
“Fighting ‘where I belong’ is such an interesting thing for our generation”… Parminder Nagra with Keira Knightley in Bend It Like Beckham Photo: Bskyb / Sportsphoto / Allstar
The strength of the show is the study of coded racial language. He sheds light on the way in which police officers use terms such as “crime of honor” as evidence that they understand a community, but apply them in a way that seems indistinguishable from offensive stereotypes. Sondi coined the term “culturally sensitive murder” because “it sounds like a term that would be used.” The conclusion is clear: these are crimes involving non-white people. “Call it what you will, but it’s still a crime. Why can’t the police just call it murder?
This desire to sound inclusive is something that Sondhi has noticed in various industries. “People talk about fairy tales, don’t they?” They are so attentive to the words they use, “she said. “There’s so much jargon now that sounds like people are inclusive, but in the end, what are their intentions?”
Another key theme in DI Ray, and a very personal one for Sondhi, is Ray’s complex connection to her identity as a British Indian. The detective has a white fiancé, lost her understanding of Punjabi at the age of three, and has mostly white friends. She spent most of her life assimilating, but now she is a deformed part of the mosaic in any situation – not white enough for white people, not enough brown for Indians.
At one point, we see Ray interviewing the family of the victim’s girlfriend, only to be dumbfounded when Punjabi speaks. It’s a fun moment when Ray, who holds on to her authority as a homicide detective, reluctantly indulges in a British Indian computer whose language skills mean they can translate. Her expression is awkward and the very serious, very impudent protagonist is forced to admit her arrogance.
“I think fighting ‘where I belong’ is such an interesting thing for our generation, because I think we’re all wondering where we fit in,” Nagra said. Unlike Ray, she was surprised to find that her Punjabi was better than she thought, as she understood everything on set – a welcome discovery years later when she felt a little “rusty.”
Sondi, who lost her Hindi and Punjabi at the age of four after her parents spoke mostly English in her household, agrees. “I’ve always felt a little ashamed of who I am because I grew up without a representation to watch. I didn’t see me in Disney stuff, I didn’t see me in cartoons, I didn’t see me in teen programs. All my role models were white, blond girls. ”
Workplace assumptions about diversity are also addressed in DI Ray. Ray’s colleagues suggest that she is a tenant of diversity, and this is clear from their reluctant interactions with her. After she successfully neutralized the gunman in episode one, her senior noted that she was “exactly what the team needed” and promoted her to a crime case in South Asia. This is an alarming situation that many colorful people can associate with, no matter how exceptional you are. “Tokenism is a huge thing that worries me,” Sondi said. “Ray is actually good at her job and wants to continue with it.”
“You want to think they hire you because you’re good at work”… Parminder Nagra as DI Ray – a character who faces accusations of symbolism. Photo: ITV
But given that stereotypes and micro-aggression are key to DI Ray, wasn’t Nagra concerned about the project team? After all, Mercurio is accused of maintaining racial stereotypes in his work – showing one-dimensional images of Islamic terrorists, such as a Muslim woman controlled by her jihadist husband in Bodyguard. He dismissed the allegations, telling the Radio Times that “if the show took place in the recent British past, the attackers could be Irish Republicans”.
She has not seen Bodyguard, but she is confident in DI Ray, which she believes is the work and story of Sondhi. She has never had any fears or conversations about how the characters are portrayed. “It was Maya’s script and Jed really defended it,” she said. “When Jed was on set, which was quite common, he had to make sure that the scenes made sense and that we made the audience enjoy watching them.”
I’m asking Nagra for opportunities for South Asian actors in entertainment now. “Diversity is definitely much more advanced [in television and film] than when I first came on stage, ”she says. “Just look at Bridgerton and the work that Reese Ahmed is doing. Priyanka Chopra is also huge here. Things have definitely changed, but I think people are a little scared of when you hire someone, do you hire them because they check the box for diversity, or are they actually good at what they do?
“You’d like to think you’re hired because you’re good at work,” she says emphatically. “But it’s also very disappointing for me. Over the years, I still answer these questions. That’s still number one, unlike the hero. “
With the end of our Zoom, the tone of the Award has changed. Now her irritation is read on the screen. I realize that she is exhausted from explaining herself and her career in terms of skin color. How much it looks like DI Ray.
DI Ray kicks off Monday, May 2, 9pm, ITV
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