TV: Spirit takes form of Indian Elvis

By LOUISA CLEAVE

Finding a television role which does not portray an Indian character in a stereotypical way is rare, says Jacob Rajan.

So when the Wellington actor was offered a character based on Elvis - complete with big sideburns and big hair - he took it faster than you can say "love me tender."

The character was Moses Brown, a pivotal player in Fish Skin Suit, the latest one-off drama from a series funded by New Zealand On Air.

At the core of Fish Skin Suit is a classic story of a family trying to stick together but writer Briar Grace-Smith has turned it into a spell-binding tale drawing on Maori mythology and children's fantasy.

Mere Knight (Nancy Brunning) is trying to save her relationship with her emotionally repressed husband Toa (Kirk Torrance) when a smooth-talking stranger arrives in their small coastal village.

Moses Brown walks in from the sea and Mere's son Heremaia is convinced the man in the shiny suit is the taniwha Hine Tai's mystical lover, Fishman. Everyone else in town just thinks he is crazy.

"My slant was that he was kind of mad," Rajan says of his character. "Nancy or Briar told me there were these mythological Maori figures that could take the form of anything at all, like a rock, a tree or another person. This is a modern twist on it - here is a Maori spirit that can take the form of this guy, Moses Brown, who thinks he's Elvis. That was a far more interesting thing than just a nutter who wanders in."

Moses falls for Mere but even though she is captivated by lines such as "True love is rare, but when you find it, tell your darlin' you love her, each and every day," she cannot give up on her marriage.

Rajan has specialised in bringing Indian-themed stories to the stage, penning the award-winning play Krishnan's Dairy and last year's Festival 2000 sell-out The Candlestick Maker.

The call to play Moses came at the right time for Rajan, who was at the end of his festival run. He was interested in the Maori mythology but much more captivated by the Elvis-styled character.

"It's very rare that an Indian gets asked to play Elvis - and it's something we all like to do," he says. "In theatre I do a lot of mask work and putting on that level of costuming and coiffing is the equivalent of putting on a mask. That really appealed, that I could still be larger than life on film rather than doing some gritty, realistic kind of thing. This had a real reason for being over the top. There was a real soul to the comedy of it."

Rajan praises Grace-Smith and the drama's producers for making Fish Skin Suit a melting pot of races despite its Maori theme.

Madeline Sami, who is part Indian and part Irish, plays Mere's prodigal sister Libby, who left her daughter Rata with the family and moved to Sydney.

Rajan says it is important to see non-stereotypical Indian characters on television but he is not holding his breath for another Moses Brown-type role.

"I'm not counting on more of those opportunities, that's why I write my own work."


Fish Skin Suit

TV3, Wednesday, 9.30 pm