A few days ago (early August 2021), I saw the most incredible episode of a television show. It was a sitcom with a man from Afghanistan as its lead. It had the kind of well-thought-out writing that I haven't seen in an episode of a TV show since the days of Star Trek: Voyager. Thoughtful, heartfelt and thought-provoking, gentle but with enough sadness to do justice to the tragic situation of Afghanistan.
I just looked up the TV show- only to find that the show was criticized before it even got on the air, because they cast a non-Muslim as the Afghan lead character!
Remember that they criticized the casting of Jennifer lopez as Selena too!
A Puerto Rican playing a Mexican American? The horror!
Well, they had good reason to cast Jennifer Lopez as Selena.
This was Jennifer Lopez! The next Selena!
Rather than just having some Mexican- American cast as Selena, they cast the next legend to follow in the footsteps of Selena herself as a singer and legend!
They had good reason for casting the future living legend Jennifer Lopez as Selena!
And they had good reasons for casting Adhir Kaylan as Al.
I mean, this is no ordinary role.
This is a television series the likes of which we haden't seen since MASH.
They were looking for an Alan Alda to carry the dramatic lead role on the show.
Someone who can carry a comic role And a sensitive dramatic role- at the same time. With pathos. As the lead. Carrying the entire show.
That's what they were looking for: no ordinary actor but the next Alan Alda. The role called for no less.
And in the episode I saw, he was good. Real good.
They needed a rare talent for that role.
They had good reasons for casting Jennifer Lopez as Selena. And they had good reasons for casting Adhir Kaylan as Al.
They could have cast an ordinary Muslim actor as Al and saw the show fail. Instead they went searching for the next Alan Alda, the kind of talent the show needed to work, regardless of his background.
I think they did a wonderful job. Actors who can carry that kind of role are rare. You have to take them where you find them.
Especially since the best Muslim actors are Arabic-speakers in Egypt and Hindi-speakers in Bollywood in India, not English-speakers.
The kind of talent that can carry that kind of role is rare. You have to take them where you find them. And that's exactly what they did.
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson
P.S. the episode I saw was episode 8, 'Roht/Sweet bread', where Al meets and falls in love with the daughter of an immigrant from Afghanistan. I will say no more in case you haven't seen it- but beware, for Wikipedia has spoilers in its brief description of the plot of this episode! (In the brief description on the article for the whole show, in the list of all the episodes, not just the article for that specific episode!)