Sex Education star takes on new role in dark Netflix film on terrorism
Sex Education star Chaneil Kular is set to take on a more serious role after landing a part in his first feature film on Netflix.
Chaneil, 24, who is best known for his role as Anwar Bakshi in the Netflix comedy drama series, is now getting his teeth stuck in to a more juicy role in a film called, Accused. The actor's character Harri travels to his parent's house in the countryside to dog sit for the weekend. But after a bomb goes off at the station he left from, a sequence of events lead to Harri being accused of a terrorist attack.
Sex Education stars Mimi Keene and Chaneil Kular enjoy the Bafta after-party in 2020 (Getty Images for Netflix)He becomes a target for vigilantes who take it upon themselves to seek justice after he was identified as the terrorist on social media. Chaneil said in a recent interview that he was pleased to have landed a role that is different to the one in Sex Education, as it breaks the mould of marginalised actors being stereotyped.
Her told Digital Spy: "I've been fortunate to do more nuanced roles, ones you wouldn't expect to have been written for South Asians. It's nice for actors to have more to play with, the toy box is bigger." Chaneil said that acting was in his blood from an early age but at that time he had no idea how to pursue his dream. He added: "When I was 13 years old, I literally went on WikiHow and searched 'how to become an actor'. Maybe it was arrogance, maybe self-confidence, but I used to watch the Disney Channel and think, 'I could do that'."
But while the film and TV star is reveling in his new role, things were quite unsettling for him after he found out that he would not be part of the cast for another season. And Chaneil admits that he was worried. He continued: "You kind of have no safety net, you've got to do it on your own and make a name for yourself"
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Aside from the comedy elements of the drama series, Chaneil's character Anwar took on some major storylines. In one episode viewers saw Anwar ask the school nurse what it meant to live with undetected HIV, PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) and STIs. And the star appears to do the same thing in his new film as it looks at the responsibilities around social media, mob mentalities and self-fulfilling prophecies.
He said: "What Accused does nicely is highlight these things that as a society I like to think we know. The main thing I want people to take away is that sometimes these pile-ons are targeted at people that deserve it, but it's important to be aware of wholeheartedly believing if someone's been accused of something on social media. Make your own opinion and judgement about things rather than being swayed by what’s in your feed."
The film also touches on racial stereotypes but Chaneil says that, that is not the main angle of the film as he feels as though anyone could play his character.
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