A Powerful Reclamation Of Identity

Kiren Virdee’s Edinburgh Fringe show, Does Anyone Else Smell Curry? provides a personal political insight into what it is like to be a British, Panjabi, Sikh woman in Britain in these times. The show opens with Virdee recalling a throwaway joke a friend once told which is also how Indians are referred to in the West—curry. At the time Virdee laughed it off but was in fact, not okay with it. Beyond the show’s title, this comment has extreme importance as it draws out the issue of casual racism and the micro-aggressions that people of colour have to experience on a daily basis. In the show, Virdee experiments with a vast range of multimedia content, voiceovers, physical movements, spoken word and lip sync. The show creates an engaging and exciting performance that is ready to break out of the fringe and educate the world. Virdee is refreshingly honest and doesn’t position herself as a victim, but instead as a strong, independent woman fighting for change and resiliently educating anyone who is willing to listen. The show details the joys that Virdee finds in her British-Panjabi-Sikh culture while also acknowledging her own detachment from the same culture. The section of the show where Virdee dances along to pop-culture music demonstrates how her culture has been appropriated and leads to one of the best lines in the show 'they take everything but leave the person behind.' This articulates Virdee’s frustrations that people are willing to enjoy food from her culture, the music, clothing and film from her culture but dismiss the people who belong to her culture. The show run time is 45 minutes. Virdee opens the show recalling a racist comment that made her the butt of the joke, however, the show ends with her having the last laugh but with love and resilience—showcasing her incredible talent. The show was part of the Edinburgh Fringe festival.