44/52 Shereen Ladha

44/52 Shereen Ladha

“There was a performance of a Telugu song from RRR at the Oscars last year that caused a lot of controversy. The dance style is a very specific style, but they hired two brown-passing people to be the two leads.
Everybody in that performance is obviously a really good dancer, like, they're technically amazing. They're incredible. But when it comes to that style, you can tell that they probably have no idea what any of it means, and there's nuances and movements and gestures, things that you do with your face and body (nakhre and maast) that just weren't present in it at all because that comes with the culture. Specificity matters and they should have made an effort to cast dancers that were part of that culture. It was so disappointing. It feels like whenever we do get get a small win like a South Asian song being showcased at the Oscars, it never feels like a real win.

Nobody's saying that you can't tell these stories, just don't exclude the people who it affects and who it's about.

There's an opportunity to help marginalized communities tell their stories and showcase their culture. That to me is lifting people up. Using what you have access to and what's in your power to do something good for a community.”