TVTALK
We’ve seen Riz Ahmed in post 9/11 dramas before; he played the role of Changez in Mira Nair’s adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist. And Ahmed is in the news again these days, primarily because of his portrayal of Nasir Khan in the currently airing HBO series, The Night Of. A little over half way through to its conclusion, this 8-part miniseries is garnering the spotlight for bringing attention to America’s Criminal Justice System, particularly when it deals with immigrants.
Naz is shown as a young, doe-eyed college boy, born in NY to parents of Pakistani descent and brought up with all the values of a hard working, Muslim family. He’s taken in for the brutal murder of an unknown girl Andrea, who he meets and spends the night with on a whim. As Naz continues to deny charges throughout the course of investigation, his personality evolves with each episode. What we learn over five episodes is that he isn’t as simple as he appears to be in the beginning of the series.
“The Naz you see when he’s with his parents is different than the Naz who’s in prison and has to survive,” Ahmed said in an interview with The New York Post. “A different Naz is forced to come to the fore.”
There are also plenty of changes afoot in real life for Ahmed. After roles in indie films such as Nightcrawler and The Reluctant Fundamentalist, his acting career has accelerated, thanks to higher-profile projects like The Night Of. He also has parts in the new Jason Bourne and the upcoming Star Wars film Rogue One. Ahmed, who was born in London to Pakistani immigrants, is also a rapper known as Riz MC. His duo Swet Shop Boys (with former Das Racist member Heems) recently announced an album for the fall.
Back to The Night Of, it is one of the most highly rated, most widely watched series these days. In a recent social media post, even Shah Rukh Khan admitted to being addicted to the one-hour long episodes, even watching them in the gym. The pace of the story may appear slow and the footage dark, even disturbingly gritty, but it is getting excellent ratings. And Riz Ahmed is being given credit for its success. Not only did Ahmed tour Rikers Island to prepare for the scenes where his character would be incarcerated (those were shot at a corrections facility in Kew Gardens, Queens), he worked alongside John Turturro, one of New York’s most idisoyncratic character actors. The research shows in his performance and we wouldn’t be surprised if we saw Riz Ahmed’s name come up for awards next year!