Satya 'Midnight's Children' Bhabha in Mumbai attending Parsi wedding

Young British-Asian actor Satya Bhabha whose father is Parsi and mother a Jew, is currently in Mumbai attending his brother’s wedding. Satya shot to fame for his sterling performance as Salim Sinai in Deepa Mehta’s adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children. Satya’s performance has been hailed as a triumph of credible characterization. Satya reveals that his journey into Rushdie’s novel provided him with an occasion to explore his Parsi heritage for the first time. “Before doing Midnight’s Children I didn’t really have a chance to explore my Indian side. The Indian side of my heritage was always present, but it did not particularly define my identity. Being English was more an identity-defining status. I was born and brought up in London. Yes, my father is Parsi. But my brother who’s a lawyer in Washington DC, and I didn’t really get a chance to reclaim that side of our heritage until very recently.” While Midnight’s Children gave Satya an opportunity to spend time in Mumbai and recover his antecedents, his brother Ishan who recently got married in the US has now travelled to Mumbai for a Parsi wedding ceremony. Satya is currently in Mumbai for his brother’s Parsi wedding. Reliving a heritage he has lately rediscovered Satya says, “The magical tapestry that Midnight’s Children unfolded, became a part of a journey of self-discovery as I spent time close to my roots during the shooting.” Says the young actor, “Yes, I am here for another few days. I’m also looking forward to being in India for the release of Midnight’s Children when it releases. But flying from LA to India is an arduous undertaking. I regard myself more as a trans-Atlantic citizen than an Indian.” The young actor whose home in London housed an academic atmosphere says he first read Midnight’s Children when he was 10. “You couldn’t escape the literary atmosphere in our home. I grew up as a Britisher. I played a protagonist of every nationality in stage adaptations of Shakespeare and Brecht. I graduated from Yale. When I moved to the US I realized with some amount of surprise that I was seen as an ethnic actor.”