Panjabi seeks out films that explore cultural issues
Paul Agusta, Contributor, Jakarta
A British citizen of Indian decent, Archie Panjabi delights in exploring different cultures in both her acting career and her personal life.
She has deliberately sought out films with cultural themes, playing a young Indian woman from a straight-laced Hindu family who is set on choosing her own husband, in Gurinder Chadha's Bend it Like Beckham.
She also took on the role of a Pakistani woman who fights for the release of her husband after he was wrongfully incarcerated as a suspected terrorist in the wake of 9/11, in Kenneth Glenaan's film Yasmin, currently being shown at JiFFest.
She played the lead role of a feisty Persian bride-turned- matriarch in the popular mini-series adaptation of Zadie Smith's award-winning novel, White Teeth (2002).
Panjabi makes the point, when she can, to involve herself in film projects that allow her the opportunity to travel, as in the films Yasmin and The Constant Gardener, also at JiFFest.
Currently in Jakarta for the screenings, Panjabi took a little time to discuss her life, studies, career and her experiences in the world of film.
"As a child I was attracted to acting. It was something I thought I could do for the rest of my life, but my mother wanted to make sure that I tried something else and had something to fall back on", she said of her degree in management studies from England's Brunel University.
Archie started her acting career at the young age of 13 with a TV role in Cologne, Germany. Even while studying management and later operating a tailoring business, she continued to follow her dream.
Her first major international role came in 1999 in director Damien O'Donnell's East is East. She then took a variety of roles in several television series before she landed the pivotal role as the fashionista sister, Pinky, to Parminder Nagra's soccer- loving Jess in Bend it Like Beckham in 2002.
In 2003, she joined the cast of the television series Grease Monkeys in a lead role, which made her somewhat of a household name in England. Continuing to build on her past successes, she appeared in director Michael Winterbottom's science fiction drama, Code 46 (2003).
Then, in 2004, her reputation as a versatile actress earned her the role of Yasmin Husseini in Yasmin. I first read the script -- it was very soon after Sept. 11.
I asked quite a lot of questions -- as an individual, about what happened to the Muslim community, and the hatred it (the tragedy) had given birth to," she said.
At the time, I was working and I a received a script about this girl who had suffered after Sept. 11. I read it and felt it was a wonderful and important story to be told.
What made it great was that it was based entirely on real-life situations, so it was all true. I have met quite a number of real "Yasmins".
It's very special when you're doing an important film, an important theme, as well as, professionally, such a big role," She said of her first lead in an international film.
JiFFest viewers will be able to catch this gifted and beautiful young actress, not only in Yasmin but also in Fernando Meirelles' film adaptation of John Le Carre's novel The Constant Gardener.
In 2006, she will appear alongside Russell Crowe and Albert Finney in director Ridley Scott's A Good Year.