British-Indian Jassa Ahluwalia is making noise on Instagram

British actor and director Jassa Ahluwalias Instagram page officialjassa is an assortment of travel clicks handsome selfies ontheset candids and pictures from the personal family albumThe most recent addition to this evergrowing collage are short hilarious videos where Ahluwalia is seen engaging with his turbanwearing uncle played by himself in Punjabi Oye Jassa uncle yells Sat sri akal uncle is how Ahluwalia always replies Their repartee is not unusual typical of any vibrant Punjabi household except that Ahluwalia is white This discordance in what you see and hear doesnt feel quite right This is reflected in a comment by one of his Instagram followers Weird seeing him speak itJassa AhluwaliaAhluwalia 28 a second generation BritishIndian whose father is Punjabi and mother from the UK he was raised mostly by his Indian grandparents who taught him the oldschool Punjabi he speaks grew up not thinking so much about his mixed heritage My mother also learnt Gurmukhi and often used Punjabi words to discipline us She wanted us to have that understanding of our Indian side It came from a very sincere placeBut a couple of years ago during a visit to India to attend a Punjabi wedding with his father something about his identity started to gnaw at him When I was at the wedding I was eating dancing and taking part in the celebrations like anybody else in the family But I still remember this young girl around three or four years old who was watching me while I was doing bhangra on the floor She was just staring with deep fascination I think she couldnt comprehend who or what I was because of the way I looked That was the moment when I felt alienated from my Indianness he recallsThats also how the idea of the hashtag bothnothalf which now accompanies his social media posts where he talks about his family history came about I had grown up thinking I was halfBritish and halfIndian Ahluwalia says in a telephonic interview But half also implies that people of mixed heritage are not whole and cannot claim full ownership of their history he addsThe videos he says started on a whim For a long time I was trying to figure out how to share my Punjabiness Its a big part of who I am As an actor in the UK too I was starting to feel frustrated about the lack of opportunities that draw from my experience There is an ongoing shift in the UK to tell stories that represent all kinds of British audiences but I get the impression that I am not the right kind of diverse because I dont obviously look like what I am supposed to according to my heritage Hence there are a lot of stories that I feel excluded from and that can be frustrating at times People have a very narrow idea of what identity might be I wanted to put something online where I could point out and say Look I am really Punjabi I am not lyingWhile he has never found trouble passing off as English he does admit that his sense of brownness intensifies when he is in allwhite company An offhand remark about Indian accents something that white people wouldnt think twice joking about in the company of their kind could make him feel uncomfortable But his videos each with nearly a lakh views have opened the door for more conversations around race and identity What it has also done is made Ahluwalia explain himself lesser This week he was invited to present an award at the Punjabi Film Awards in London and he didnt have to let anyone know why he deserved to be thereHis passion for cinema also means that Ahluwalia would love to be part of Bollywood India and my identity is a huge part of my heritage and I want it to be a huge part of my future and my work as an actor and filmmaker too he endsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates