Murdered By My Father premiered on 大象传媒 Three in late March and can be seen on 大象传媒 One at 10.45pm on Tuesday, 5 April. It鈥檚 also available to and if you haven鈥檛 seen it yet, give it a watch. It鈥檚 been critically lauded and is the kind of drama that stays with you long after the end credits have rolled.
We caught up with its writer, Vinay Patel, and asked him about Murdered By My Father鈥� The characters, its development and much more. Incidentally, the early part of the Q&A is spoiler free and there鈥檚 a spoiler warning from the point in the interview where plot points and character details are revealed鈥�
Writersroom: It鈥檚 called Murdered By My Father. Were you pissed off that the title is a bit of a spoiler?
Vinay Patel: The title is something I struggled with. I guess it comes off as very blunt and suggests a very different of show to what we were aiming to do. However, as Murdered by My Boyfriend proved, whilst the title is shocking it is the reality and it doesn鈥檛 preclude you from creating a sensitive piece of work.
If anything, the title being 鈥渟poiled鈥�, for me, removes a voyeuristic 鈥渨ill he/won鈥檛 he?鈥� tension. I do want you to feel in yourself that this man might not do it but for that to come from character, not plot expectation.
WR: When I watched the drama, the question that kept occurring to me was, 鈥業s it really this bad?鈥� The obligations. The awful cultural control. Did you heighten the problem for dramatic effect or is the situation as grim as Salma encounters?
VP: I don鈥檛 want to generalise so of course in the majority of people鈥檚 lives, this is not the case even if elements might be familiar - fearful parents wanting control, children wanting freedom whilst still wanting to do right by those who raised them. With regard to the real life cases where honour based violence is occurring, I would say that Murdered By My Father shows that level of control accurately and in many it鈥檚 worse.
WR: Did you base Salma on anyone you know or does she represent all young women who share the character鈥檚 background?
VP: Salma is based on a composite of women from many different backgrounds. Honour based violence isn鈥檛 something that sits within one group of people alone. To me she represents every young woman who suffers for nothing more than wanting to seek happiness on her own terms.
WR: In the early stages of the drama, Salma is locked in at least one abusive - or at the very least, controlling 鈥� relationship, but she doesn鈥檛 seem to be a victim figure. Was that tough to achieve?
VP: I think with dramas like this there is a tendency to make the victim a very meek, very nice person. I understand that feels morally like the right thing to do, but it was important to me that Salma felt like a real 17 year old. She鈥檚 sharp. She has her edges. She takes risks. She loves her family. She loves most aspects of the cultures that she鈥檚 a part of. Yet she yearns for more than what she's been presented with as we all do at that age.
WR: Which writers are you influenced by?
VP: Billy Wilder, Andrea Arnold, Richard Linklater, James Fritz, Meg Jayanth, Lawrence Kasdan, Lucy Prebble, Joss Whedon, Tina Fey - many more, but that鈥檒l do for now.
WR: How did you get the gig?
VP: It was a little different from the usual drama process in that it originated with 大象传媒 Factual and research was already underway before I came on board. They had read a play of mine, True Brits, and I was asked to come and have a chat with Aysha, the exec producer and Marco, the development producer, and I think both our concerns and our concepts for the way to handle it clicked and went from there.
HERE BE SPOILERS鈥� Some of the following questions / answers contain spoilers for Murdered By My Father.
WR: Shahzad is a monster鈥� Isn鈥檛 he?
VP: Shahzad is not a monster, but his actions are monstrous. He can be a kind man - he works hard for his kids and is trying his best to raise them in the way that he feels fit. He is also deeply insecure about his place in society in a way that I think many of us can relate to. His horrific treatment of his daughter, for me, stems from an inability to control his pride and fear. He is a loving man. But he is also a coward in many ways as Salma quite truthfully tells him. It is on him to escape the narrow channels of validation that he and others have locked themselves into and, whilst there is pressure from outside, it is no excuse.
WR: As a British Asian writer, were you concerned about how writing a story involving an honour killing would reflect on those with a similar background to you?
VP: I was very worried about this coming in to the project. Honour violence is in no way exclusive to the Asian community, and I felt like that group of people has enough stories denigrating them and their lives. And yet we cannot ignore the horror of these crimes and the way in which they perpetuate themselves, even if they鈥檙e not actually indicative of the way most live. I wrestled with this a lot and what I鈥檝e concluded is that, whilst I鈥檓 very proud of the film and that it鈥檚 important to shine a light on these issues, ultimately, we only earn the right to tell stories like Murdered By My Father if we are committed to presenting it alongside other stories about the diverse groups in this country that span genres and defy stereotypes. There are so many phenomenal tales yet to be told and heard.
WR: Is Hassan already lost? (Please say he isn鈥檛!)
VP: At the end, he鈥檚 obviously in a terrible position but I believe he will be looked after by Maheen (the woman who holds him). It鈥檚 been interesting to me to see how much hate poor Hassan has gotten on Twitter! He is culpable but only to an extent he is unaware of. Throughout, you seem him being instructed in ways that will lead him to foster a similarly problematic mind-set but for me he realises - albeit too late to save his sister - that this isn鈥檛 the way he should go.
WR: What鈥檚 next for you? A return to stage plays or are you keen to write more for telly?
VP: I鈥檓 writing a couple of episodes of television for other shows, working on plays and my first feature film too so all quite busy. I feel very lucky to have been given the chance to write across mediums. Theatre is something I鈥檝e come to really love and many stories are better told on a stage than they are on telly. As my first experience of writing for television though, Murdered By My Father will be hard to beat and it has made me keen to do more. Next for me, I鈥檝e contributed an essay to a book called The Good Immigrant that was put together by the wonderful Nikesh Shukla and part funded by one J K Rowling which is immense. It鈥檚 out in September.
Big thanks to Vinay Patel for his time and you can .