Playing Suresh
4 April 2003

Ambridge is buzzing with reports of its temporary vicar, who has now arrived in Borsetshire. Suresh Matai is taking time out from his British-based PHd studies to help out the four parishes of Darrington, Ambridge, Penny Hassett and Edgeley at their busiest time of year.

Ajay Chhabra, who plays Suresh, explained the technical challenges he faced to play the part. "I’m very keen that when I play characters from the subcontinent, I don’t just offer up an all purpose "Indian" accent. In the big cities like Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, they speak a lot of English, but in each case with a regional accent. In Delhi, where my family comes from, there’s a lot of influence from the nasal Panjabi accent. Suresh had been established as being from Bangalore - he is a minister with the Church of South India. The English they speak there is flavoured with the accent of the local Kannada accent, so that’s what I aimed for."

By a strange coincidence, a few weeks after recording for the Archers, Ajay was again playing a Bangalorian - again named Suresh - in Uma and the Fairy Queen by Mahesh Dattani, which can be heard later this year on BBC Radio 4. The play also stars Souad Faress, who plays Usha in The Archers.

Ajay had to "age up" to play Ambridge’s Suresh, but he didn’t find that difficult. "I just thought about who he was and the world he inhabited and let the lines do the work. And the other actors helped a lot. The character was automatically given status and respect before I even had to open my mouth."

When Ajay arrived for the recordings, some of the actors were watching the India/England test match on the green room’s television. In an echo of Norman Tebbit’s famous "cricket test", the question arose as to which team Ajay (who was born in London) would support. It brought back an interesting moment for him: "Like a lot of young actors, I once worked as a waiter and I remember an evening cocktail party at the Fishmongers’ Hall in the City of London. Mine was the only brown face out of about 500 people, and I actually served Norman Tebbit champagne. I really wanted to tell him that he didn’t know what he was talking about."

Ajay found the recording process an easy one. "Everybody was very welcoming - there were no egos. When I arrived, Paddy Greene (Jill Archer) immediately jumped up and introduced everyone. Strangely enough, it reminded me of working on the Basil Brush set [Ajay has completed one series with the well-bred fox and is recording another]. That’s another place with a very warm working atmosphere."

Suresh is due to remain in Borsetshire for four weeks.

Previous Backstage Story

<<Back