Vancouver actor Praneet Akilla describes his character in Behind the Moon as a “dreamer”. In the Touchstone Theatre production of Anosh Irani’s play, Ayub is a hardworking employee of the Mughlai Moon restaurant. According to Akilla, his character is an excellent cook and cleaner. Even though Ayub appears deferential to his boss, Qadir Bhai (Dhirendra), he has a lively sense of humour and considerable inner strength.
“I know a lot of Ayubs, particularly international students who come here, and who are trying to build a life here,” Akilla says. “[They] don’t know how they’re going to pay their next bill, and don’t know how they’re going to put food on the table. And they’re alone.”
In the play, Ayub hopes to bring his wife and daughter to Canada from Mumbai. The suspense builds after he meets a cab driver named Jalai (Zahf Paroo).
“Ayub is someone that’s extremely, extremely lonely and isolated,” Akilla reveals. “It’s hard to build a life here. I know that firsthand as a person that moved here as well.”
The manuscript drew him to the role. As an Indian Canadian actor, he says that it’s rare to find multi-dimensional leading roles in this country with so much depth. The playwright, Irani, has been a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award and Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize for his novel, The Parcel. Another Irani play, Bombay Black, captured five Dora Mavor Moore Awards.
“I’ve been a big fan of his previous works,” Akilla says. “And I’ve been itching to play something in one of his plays.”
He is delighted that the director of Behind the Moon, Lois Anderson, repeatedly reviews the text so the actors understand each character’s actions.
“We’re really getting clear on what each character wants,” Akilla emphasizes.
Akilla recalls family’s immigration story
Akilla was born in Mumbai and lived in the suburb of Vasha until he was three years old. Even though he can’t remember those days, he still has a sense of what it’s like for immigrants from Mumbai. That’s because Akilla witnessed how his father coped after the family moved to Alberta in 2000.
“My dad was Ayub, right?” he says. “There is really this illusion of a newfound opportunity for children and wife. There’s this Canadian dream.”
However, immigrants to Canada can also be taken aback by cold winters and intense isolation. The actor notes that in contrast to Canada, India has a more collectivist mindset, alleviating loneliness.
“You’re always part of a community,” Akilla says. “There’s always noise in the background. There are always people.”
Growing up in Canada, he took in movies from Hollywood and Bollywood, including Karan Johar’s lavish Hindi-language films.
“We would go to the theatres to watch them,” Akilla states. “It would that and Titanic.”
Through Bollywood films and Indian classical music, he learned song and dance. He admits that he still can’t move like Hrithik Roshan—Bollywood’s greatest dancer—but his steps can rival those of Shahrukh Khan. When it comes to Bollywood actors, Akilla is particularly impressed by Ranveer Singh because of his range and body of work.
“He’s so funny but he can be equally good at the dramatic scenes,” the actor says. “He’s a really good dancer as well.”
In school, Akilla performed in short films and musical theatre. However, he never believed that someone with his skin tone could thrive as an actor in North America. So, he studied engineering at McGill University.
“I feel I was doing what society and my parents were telling me to do,” Akilla discloses.
Theatre remains Akilla’s first love
Yet he continued to sing a cappella and perform in community theatre productions because this made him happy. And when he auditioned with professional companies, he started landing leading roles. A year-and-a-half after graduation, Akilla chose to pursue a career in the arts, so he left the engineering profession.
Akilla’s first love is theatre, but he’s also built up a growing list of credits in film and television. He appeared in eight episodes of October Faction, six episodes of Nancy Drew, nine episodes of Motherland: Fort Salem, and two episodes of Allegiance. But Akilla is probably best known for playing Chopper on the CBC Gem series SkyMed since 2022.
He points to several similarities between acting on-stage and on-screen. In both cases, he must analyze the script, understand the character’s motivations, and conduct research. But there are also significant differences.
In film and TV, for instance, directors don’t shoot sequences in chronological order.
“Day one can be the most emotional scene in the third act that you’re filming, and then the last day is when you’re filming the first scene,” Akilla says. “So you, as the actor, have to do your own emotional mapping so that you show up ready to go on the day.”
In theatre, directors devote more time to rehearsals.
“Once it’s over, you get the luxury of holding the audience in the palm of your hand,” Akilla comments with a smile. “And even if you screw up one of the nights, you get to do it all over again.”
In addition to acting, he launched a production company called Akilla Express, which has created short films and web series. One of its projects is a TV series adaptation of B.C. writer Chelene Knight’s Junie. This coming-of-age novel is set in the 1930s in the historic Hogan’s Alley neighbourhood of Vancouver.
Akilla formed his company to tell genre-bending, fun-filled stories that show characters as three-dimensional human beings. Even though he’s part of a diaspora, he insists that he is sick of talking about diversity and BIPOC representation. Akilla just wants to tell stories from a “third culture, global majority perspective”. In effect, he’s repudiating any suggestion that he’s part of some sort of marginalized minority.
“It’s so refreshing going back to my home country because obviously, we’re the majority,” Akilla says. “So, we don’t have those conversations—we get to be the action heroes. We get to be the James Bonds. We get to be the romantic leads.”
Event details
Touchstone Theatre will present Behind the Moon at Vancity Culture Lab from March 27 to April 6. For tickets and more information, visit the Touchstone Theatre website.
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