Hello friends,
hope you are doing great.
How’s life? It’s been a while since I’ve asked you how’s the weekend… After all, the scheduled time for posting my articles has changed.
Anyways, here goes… I know the weekend seems like it’s long gone. How was it? Are you feeling Christmas?
I had so many topics on the list to write about, and wow! You’re here with me, through another year. Where has the time gone?
So, here’s something you might never have known. Yep! I became an extra in Madrid. This was a pretty interesting one, and pretty soon, I believe I realised my chances of getting roles on any films or ads shot around Spain, and the location where I often went to (ended up living in), i.e., Madrid, were slim.
I don’t know, I just remember this one time. You know how one can be in their early twenties and all? I was a bit experimental with my hair, basically, once I almost ended up getting this one style where my head would have looked like black liquorice with red or blue endings, ya! Tasty! It would have almost looked like someone had dipped the ends of my hair in a pot of paint or something. Instead, I ended up getting bronze and red streaks, which eventually made my hair into a shiny goldy bronze (I almost ended up saying goldilocks!) look as the colours faded, interesting look it was, as the last thing I really wanted to be was a blonde Indian. That just didn’t jig with me.
So, I get called by the “agent,” with his fluent Spanish, I was like, “God! Right, let me guess what he’s trying to say by understanding his expression and his pauses.” This guy never spoke a word of English and the agency was in a “pijo” place and he used very high Spanish. This word “disponible” was also coming up in the third sentence, and when I didn’t understand anything, I’d go “Si”. It was better off saying yes most of the time then “No” (please, don’t take this as my advice – disclaimer). Lucky, I said “Si,” after …
The agent: Buenos días, puedo hablar con T.
Me: Si, soy yo. (Yes, it’s me)
The agent: Que tal estas ? (How are you ?)
Me: Bien, gracias (Good thanks)
The agent: Mañana … rodaje…. bla.. bla.. paga… (no idea) …, eres disponible?
Me: Si
Man! This “disponible” word was important I’d say because this agent used it every time we talked. Lucky after our first telephone conversation I listened out for the word “disponible”. I’d just say “Si” for everything when he calls, then I’d email him in Spanish after looking at my dictionary and remembering what he said. Then I’d ask my questions on the email. This way he’ll repeat the job on the email. Of course, the “paga” bit was very important. So, this agency paid its extras every ninety days.
So, I did this one job, I didn’t get many calls because every time a role came out there seemed to be no Indians in that particular film’s history. I mean it was either a Spanish film that went by history or a modern film where it looked like the setting was in Europe. My face was never visible and because I had long hair, they’d style it with curls or give it a bounce, have me dress up like an English or American girl, wear some heels, put on some makeup and walk down the road like many others on a busy street. So, you’d only see the back of me, and that’s how I’d fit into the scene. Let’s face it, back in the days Bollywood was second to Hollywood, and there was a lot of western influence in terms of the dressing, but the likelihood of an Indian in a Hollywood history film back in the day was unlikely, the film industry was “segregated,” maybe still very much because of the limited roles people can play. So, it was hard knowing what I was pitching up for, you know, I had limited Spanish.
So now comes another offer, and so I say, “Si”. I’m now being dressed up in some sari like material (even the worst sari my mother had looked better than this one), the street looks like some Indian market and they’re all trying to cover my hair. Why? Because this particular shooting expected an Indian girl. Here she was, but she had some reddish and bronze streaks on her hair. So, there I was, hiding my face, holding the sari across my face, like some shy girl. Come on, (If you watch Bollywood movies, can you picture that scene. You all know that scene. The man and woman get married, then she sits silently on the bed where flowers are hanging over her, then the husband comes and sits on the bed and she turns her head pulling the sari across her face, shying away from him). Can you imagine doing that through a whole six-hour shooting hiding some red and bronze streaks? It was interesting during the break, I met Indian girls for the first time. Where were they all hiding in Spain more like Madrid? I never saw or met one in ages.
I don’t know, I realised a lot from doing a few of these shootings, I mean I was either getting the parts where the Indian girl is supposed to be gullible (this is what image we’ve been given in this world, seriously), or something like talking about taboos when it comes to sex in the Hindu culture. So, my last casting role in Madrid was one well-paid job (I didn’t do a casting job at this point for roughly five years), the casting team were looking for a fluent Spanish speaking Hindu girl, who will be open to talking about taboos when it came to sex in the Hindu culture along with this they were looking to interview someone from Morocco who was Muslim, a South American and a few other people from different cultures and backgrounds on this same topic. I believe I received something like one hundred and twenty euros for taking a ten/fifteen-minute interview. Apart from the fact that it wasn’t bad pay, I looked at it as an opportunity to expand the mind of others, represent the Indian community and if any Indian people were watching me, I hoped I can just change how and what we’re doing in terms of society, community, communication, how we’re seen in the world etc.
This piece of work which I got (a friend who was very into doing many roles in movies and ads told me about it) was probably the one from all the others that gave me a lot of exposure. I didn’t know that many people watched it until people started sending me messages on my phone and Facebook that they saw me on TV. You know, I felt relieved. For almost all the casting roles I’ve done, I wasn’t told where I’d be featured, in which film I was in or what product it was that I was being an extra for (Oh! Well limited Spanish sure did play a role in this, I guess that’s what you get for saying “Si” most of the time). Unfortunately, after half of Madrid, who recognised the frequent Indian girl which was hard to not notice over the years got to my then partner. The relationship from here on became even more difficult and for some reason being on Spanish television for such a brief moment got more to my then partner’s head than it did to mine. This episode didn’t help make things better, it, in fact, made this a lot worse.
When writing my books, The South African: True Colours and all other books so far, I considered this a lot, I consider the work of Indians, Asians, i.e., what this industry refers to certain writers by labelling them as BAME (Black, Asian, Minority and Ethnic). BAME writers have to really go through some unrealistic hurdles to be considered as English writers or to have the opportunity to be published. I consider all the rejections I’ve had and what other artists rejections feel like. I consider how scarce it is for those who desire to play certain roles in films, plays, operas, ads, etc. I ask where the Indians and Asians are in Hollywood? I believe Bollywood has over recent years incorporated almost all races in cinema. I ask where are the Asian and Indian producers of western cinematology or vice versa? I am seeing some movement with Latino and African producers and directors. Why are there so few/hardly any Indians and Asians expanding eastern, third world concepts, etc. in arts in the western world? I can for sure say that the western world did expand into the Eastern or acquired Indian actors/actresses in movies such as the mistress of Spice, Provoked, Bride and Prejudice, The Last Legion, The fast and the furious etc, and this has only developed over recent years, and the film, Extraction really made me feel hope for the future of cinema.
Now that I’ve accepted that writing is one of my strongest talents, I feel I can open up storytelling using many other angles, directions, ways using my current platform and who knows what I could end up creating in the future…
I know that COVID has most definitely damaged the Arts and Culture industry along with many other things that we have left to rebuild around the world.
Yours sincerely,
T. Dench Patel
Thank you for the comments and support. Thank you for offering to donate if there was a donate button on here. I prefer not to take donations. You can support by purchasing my books (Paperback or Kindle), The South African: True Colours, The South African: Roamer or my children’s book Light. These books can be found on Amazon mainly and other sites in your country.
The audiobook for The South African: True Colours is available on iTunes, Apple and Audible. The South African: Roamer and Light will be released soon.
Note: Do keep referring back to this site as much as possible, as I grow, a more profound perspective may form and so I will always come back to each of these articles to re-evaluate them.
