Pigeon Hole

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By Tania SanghaBBC Asian Network

About a year ago, Priyasasha Kumari was pulling 10-hour shifts at Aldi and working at a Post Office to make ends meet. Now she's on our screens in Waterloo Road .

Priyasasha had just finished a 10-hour supermarket shift when she got The Call .

She'd won The Role of Samia Chaudhary in acclaimed High School drama Waterloo Road .

Since the new series launched on Bbc One last month, Priyasasha says we've seen Samia's " fierce, empowering" personality come out.

She says the Year 11is " not afraid to speak her mind" - Something Priyasasha thinks there's a lack of in South Asian parts.

But she feels her new role is a step in The Right direction for South Asian representation on-screen.

'Voice of her own'

" I think in The Beginning you can get stereotyped for particular roles and I think it's really great for us to break those barriers, " Priyasha told BBC Asian Network.

" A lot of The Time South Asian characters are put into a Pigeon Hole .

" If she's a young girl, she's oppressed by her parents, she doesn't have much ambition and she can't do anything in life that she aspires to do".

" What Samia's character does is break all of those stereotypes. She has a voice of her own and leads The Way for her fellow classmates. "

Priyasasha also says her character's steering away from old narratives often associated with South Asian culture.

She points out how Samia's " interracial relationship" with Preston Waters , Played By Noah Valentine " wasn't made a 'thing'.

" It wasn't addressed. It was just as it was, " says Priyasasha.

" Society today has changed and everyone is moving with The Times , " she says.

" Many Young People can relate to that and relate to her and the situations she goes through".

'People Like Me on the telly'

Since starting The Show she's received a lot of support, particularly from the Asian community.

" A lot of girls message me saying it's so amazing to see you on our screens, Thank You so much for telling A Story and representing us".

" When I grew up I didn't see anybody that was Like Me on the telly. "

" It's quite taboo trying to talk about being a creative in an Asian family and I think if there's more representation…. [it gives] families a chance to understand it and get behind and be supportive".

Priyasasha, who graduated in 2016, says there was a " two-year gap" before she managed to break into the industry.

She auditioned for BBC soap Doctors in 2018 and juggled two Jobs - Aldi and the Post Office - while trying to get more acting work.

" Sometimes I'd finish a ten-hour shift, And Then I'd have to come home, learn my lines, do a self-tape, go to sleep and do it all over again, " she says.

And it was after a long day at her full-time job that she got the Good News about Waterloo Road .

" I found out like a ten-hour shift that I got The Job so it was a crazy thing, " she says.

Priyasasha, who's from Blakenhall in the West Midlands , now hopes to use her platform to continue telling more relatable stories " that represent us as young brown Asian girls".

And despite the uncertainties of the industry she's " excited for what's to come, because you never know what's going to happen".

" You're constantly living in The Unknown , " she says.

" There's like a thousand no's before you get that yes.

" You really have To Believe in yourself. "

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Source of news: bbc.com