Riz Ahmed tries his hand at playing James Bond in the wonderfully inventive 'Bait'

Bait | Creator: Riz Ahmed | Cast: Riz Ahmed, Guz Khan | English | Prime Video

 What’s the whitest role an actor of colour can aspire to? Why, James Bond, of course. In Bait, struggling British-Pakistani actor Shah Latif (Riz Ahmed) auditions for the role of James Bond in London. Building on that powerful premise with humour, sarcasm and a touch of sadness, Riz Ahmed, who also created and co-wrote the show, constructs a won­derfully inventive show with a talking pig head, a proudly obsessive mama, a close friend, with many wisecracks about race, colour, colonialism and patriarchy. It does so with a light touch, while also making cheeky mentions of other South-Asian actors, many of whom walk in and out of the series, beginning with Himesh Patel and ending with Industry’s break­out star Sagar Radia. Most of the action takes place in London.

In auditioning for Bond, is Shah being disloyal to his community by trying to be white, or is he merely shattering a glass ceiling, playing the ultimate white hero? Bait is smartly written and takes potshots at Pakistanis and their obsessions, from Eid parties with uncles and aunties over kebabs and sherbets, and the urge to merge. Some of the jokes are so cutting that only a British actor of Pakistani heritage could have made them. Sheeba Chadha and Soni Razdan make a mark with their parts, in their own delightful way.