Shocking as it may seem actors of Asian origin are still not being considered for protagonists’ roles, unless they are roles of Asians. Satya Bhabha, Deepa Mehta’s young Parsi-Jew Briton lead in <em>Midnight’s Children</em> who now lives in the US is struggling to find his bearings in the mythic culturally freewheeling atmosphere of Los Angeles.

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 <em>Midnight’s Children</em>. Satya’s performance has been hailed as a triumph of credible characterization.

It was a battle between the Nose and the Knee on location for Midnight’s Children in Sri Lanka. Apparently Satya Bhabha, who plays the hero with the long nose and Tamil superstar Siddharth Narayan, who is cast as Satya’s foster-parents’ abandoned child who grows up hating his life in the slums, both had a pitched battle going on. While Satya’s character has an extra-long nose (which came naturally to him since he’s a Parsi) Siddharth’s character Shiva has extra-bulky knees with which he tries to subjugate Satya.