‘Defiance’ Director Talks Generational Differences, Today’s Politicians & How “Brave People Had To Literally Fight Fascists In The Street”
deadline.comEXCLUSIVE: The director of Riz Ahmed and Rogan Productions’ Channel 4 series Defiance: Fighting the Far Right has opened up about how the show spotlights generational differences within the British Asian community.
Defiance, which launched earlier this week to positive reviews, shines a stark light on the violent struggles of the British Asian community in the late ‘70s and ‘80s, and is told over three hours of interviews and archival footage.
Satiyesh Manoharajah tells Deadline that the show co-produced by Oscar-nominated British Asian star Ahmed explores themes of conflict within the South Asian community, between the older generation who wanted to maintain a low profile and the younger ones who felt that staying quiet was going to get them nothing of significance.
This, he adds, is particularly stark due to the fact that the the first British Asian Prime Minister was appointed two years ago. “I found that there had always been this sort of narrative that served people well, which was that Asians came to Britain, worked hard, kept our heads down and now, look, the Prime Minister is Asian,” says Manoharajah. “That is true, but what it also hides is that really brave people had to literally fight fascists in the street, and none of them came here wanting to do that.
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