Lauren Patel of ‘Everybody's Talking About Jamie’ is calling for more brown representation in Hollywood
The British-Indian actor’s star is on the rise as is evident from her silver-screen debut in a film that spotlighted a beautiful friendship between two high-school misfits
“Stop waiting for permission to be you,” 16-year-old Pritti Pasha (Lauren Patel) tells her friend Jamie, an openly gay student who aspires to be a drag queen. Her words encapsulate the core message of the OTT remake of the eponymous West End musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. The overachieving, proverbial goody-two-shoes companion of the titular Jamie was played seamlessly by Indian-origin breakout actor Patel. Over a quick Zoom call, the 20-year-old opens up about her debut role, representing her community on screen and what lies ahead.
Quick 4 with Lauren Patel:
Pritti Pasha is a British-Pakistani teen in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Was it empowering to represent the South Asian community on screen?
Yes. It’s ridiculous that it’s so rare to have a role specifically for a South Asian person considering that there are so many of us who live in the UK. I hope that Pritti is an example of a wider representation that is spurred on by both this and all of the other work that so many other South Asian actors are doing to get us seen more on-screen. Diversity on screen has come a long way in recent years, from Never Have I Ever to Marvel getting its first Muslim superhero.
What message do you hope your audience takes away from the show?
Pritti knows nothing about drag. She and Jamie are just polar opposites of the spectrum. But when Jamie comes to her with his secret, Pritti asks questions, she listens, wants to learn, wants to understand because she loves him. Sometimes when people are faced with something they don’t know or understand, they just shut it down. They go the opposite way and they don’t want to know. Pritti is just such a good example of not being afraid to ask questions.
What is your message for young people of colour looking to navigate the film industry?
There are a lot of groups whose stories are starting to be told more and more. Those stories are out there and being made. You just have to look a little bit harder for them, but there are people who want to listen to you and who care about what you think and say.
So what kind of stories do you hope to be a part of going forward?
I just want to be in anything that challenges me personally, professionally and that also challenges people who are watching it—or makes them feel as though they’ve taken something away from it.
This article originally appeared in the September 2021 Issue of Vogue India
