BBC Drama A Suitable Boy, based on Vikram Seth’s epic novel, takes us to India in the 1950s where Lata (Tanta Maniktala) is studying at university but under pressure from her family to find herself a suitable husband. Lata of course wants to chart her own course in a newly independent India that seems bursting with ideas.
Meanwhile Maan (Ishaan Khatter) who is related to Lata through the marriage of their siblings is keen to extract as much enjoyment from life as possible. Things start to go awry for him when he falls for Saaeda Bai (Tabu) who is courtesan.
Filmed on location in India and adapted by Andrew Davies (indeed one of the stipulations of Seth allowing his book to be filmed was that Andrew Davies would write the scripts), A Suitable Boy looks magnificent and manages to walk that difficult tightrope of marrying the epic with the intimate.
Cast: Tanya Maniktala as Lata Mehra; Ishaan Khatter as Maan Kapoor; Tabu as Saaeda Bai; Mikhail Sen as Amit Chatterji; Namit Das as Haresh Khanna; Mahira Kakkar as Rupo; Rasika Dugal as Savita; Gagandeep Singh Riar as Pran Kapoor; Danesh Razvi as Kabir Durrani; Ram Kapoor as Mahesh Kapoor
Writer: Andrew Davies / Novel: Vikram Seth / Executive Producers: Mira Nair, Andrew Davies, Vikram Seth, Faith Penhale, Laura Lankester, Will Johnston, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Aradhana Seth, Mona Qureshi / Director: Mira Nair
UK / BBC One / 6×60 minute episodes / Broadcast from Sunday 26 July 2020
