eShe TV: Actor Sudha Bhuchar on Her Role in ‘Into Dust’ and Her Wish for Indo-Pak Peace

Award-winning British-Indian actor and playwright Sudha Bhuchar is all set to appear today in a new film Into Dust (Amazon Prime Video) based on the life of murdered Pakistani land-rights activist Perween Rahman. The film is directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Orlando van Einsiedel.

Sudha plays the role of Perween’s sister Aquila Ismail, who took up the fight for justice to Pakistan’s Supreme Court after Perween’s murder in 2013.

Prior to this film, Sudha had appeared in the critically acclaimed film Mogul Mowgli (2020) based on the real-life story of British-Pakistani rap artist Riz Ahmed.

Sudha’s illustrious career in the theatre and arts began in the late 1970s, when as a college student studying maths and sociology she got drawn to a South Asian cultural entertainment group Tara Arts. Besides theatre, she acted in numerous memorable roles in soap operas such as EastEnders in the 1980s.

She later set up Tamasha Theatre Company along with director Kristine Landon-Smith in 1989 with the mission of mainstreaming Asian art in British culture and encouraging artists from South Asian backgrounds. The women helmed the company at a time when it created some of UK’s most iconic plays such as East is East.

Sudha established Bhuchar Boulevard in 2015 to take forward the work of bringing in diverse voices in theatre and arts. She has won various awards for her plays including Child of the Divide (2006) since then.

Sudha speaks to Aekta Kapoor on eShe TV about the story of the two activist sisters, and shares more about her own journey from Tanzania and India to UK, and how her South Asian identity led her to the world of art and theatre.

She also reveals how her marriage to a Pakistani led to visa complications for their mixed-heritage children for a school trip to India, and why the cause of India-Pakistan peace is a personal one for her.

Watch the interview here:

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