MovieChat Forums > A Hologram for the King (2016) Discussion > Indian actress from the West playing a S...

Indian actress from the West playing a Saudi Arab woman?

posted 8 years ago by hakof
5 replies | jump to latest

Did anyone else think it was a bit odd that the filmmaker chose an ethnically Indian actress from the West to playing the Saudi Arab female lead?

I am not criticizing Sarita Choudhury's acting, which is very good. But couldn't they have found a middle-aged Arab actress to play the role of Dr. Zahra Hakem? (For example, Hiam Abbass comes to mind.)

After the row over Scarlett Johansson in "Ghost in the Shell" and Zoe Saldana in "Nina," I would have thought that movie casting officials might be more concerned with this issue.

[–] Ralf A. 8 years ago

I guess it's because of the nude scenes.

[–] zoyd-2 8 years ago

Hiam Abbass is from Israel.

[–] hakof 8 years ago

Yes, she is from Israel, but she is ethnically Arab. And she is fairly well known in the West. That's why I picked her as an example.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] purpleprinc3 8 years ago

I'm living in Saudi and I'm Saudi myself and women meet men who aren't relatives all the time, anyhow I best go inform my boss of that, who is a Saudi female, that she can't talk to me anymore, yay no more work PARTY TIME! Real Saudi women aren't veiled in public all the time, when they're walking about in the street yes, majority of the time, but say in Tahlia, commercial street, they'll walk without Hijab's on, you know Tahlia street right with all the lush restaurants? Oh wait you don't you've never been to Saudi. Or say Mall of Arabia, or the Red Sea Mall, where women sit with their friends without hijab's on gossiping away. Anyhow must be off, got a ninja date.