“You’ll see them looking at themselves in the mirror, hating their body or examining themselves. “Chase pointed out that in a story with a trans character, there’s always a mirror,” says Baig. The presence of consultants like Joynt and Ali wasn’t just optics. “There’s a lesson in this: want things and wish for things, and then they can happen.” So I’d say, ‘I’d love to get this person involved, and this person and this person…’ and they just appeared. “Sienna Films, the producers and Fab kept asking what was important to me, and what would help me feel like I could do this thing. “At times the process felt so fairy tale,” says Baig. (No fear of Kim’s Convenience-style writers’ room whitewashing on this show.) The presence of South Asian artists like Handa (Baroness Von Sketch Show) and Ian Iqbal Rashid (Touch Of Pink, This Life), who’s also queer, and trans consultants like filmmaker Chase Joynt and therapist Ronnie Ali all meant a certain level of authenticity. “She knows the owner,” says Baig, “but we didn’t end up shooting here because of the pandemic and the size of the store.” We stop outside the nondescript-looking Baldev Paan & Cold Drink House, which Nelu Handa (Sort Of’s story editor and one of its writers) wanted to include in an episode for its paan. After watching this series, you’ll wonder why it took any network so long.
#Style savvy styling star ready go tv#
Sabi is the first non-binary lead on Canadian TV, and Baig is the first South Asian, Muslim actor to star in a Canadian prime-time TV series.
#Style savvy styling star ready go series#
Insightful, funny and refreshingly diverse, the game-changing series – which got its North American premiere at TIFF last week – is remarkable in the way it presents all its characters and their conflicts. Sort Of, which Baig co-created with Fab Filippo, centres on Sabi, a queer, gender-fluid millennial electrician who’s working as a nanny to a hipstery couple’s two kids, as well as a bartender at a trendy queer bar. I had this feeling, even as a young person, that there were things going on that were beyond what my parents were telling me. The cliché was true: the city represented possibilities. I’ll admit, I’d get excited seeing the CN Tower. It was the place where you might get killed. “Apart from this, Toronto was the big bad city. They point to some painted rickshaws and a makeshift patio with uncomfortable-looking seats and says this must have felt like a bit of home to their parents. “They’ve got the best, most authentic Indian/Pakistani food.” “This was the only place my parents would take us in the city,” says Baig. When Baig’s groundbreaking new series Sort Of premieres in October on CBC, and later this fall on HBO Max, you’ll recognize some of these locations.Īfter all, this neighbourhood means a lot to Baig, who as a young Mississauga-born kid of Pakistani immigrant parents would occasionally come down to the city for a family meal at the famous Lahore Tikka House. It’s early afternoon on a weekday, so the patios are closed and there’s none of the liveliness that comes at night when this stretch of Gerrard resembles a bustling, brightly lit urban street in India or Pakistan.īut there’s still plenty to see, including a shop that serves up delicious paan, a boutique displaying colourful saris and bangles and a grocery store with the unintentionally funny name BJ Supermarket.
Eight episodes begin premiering on CBC Gem October 5, then November 9 on CBC TV.īilal Baig is taking me on a mini tour of Little India – their Little India. SORT OF created by Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo. Makeup by Olive Grey hair styling by Selena Hoffman wardrobe styling by Vanessa Magic.īilal Baig strikes a pose at Chandan Fashion in Little India.
Photographed by Tiana Smith at Chandan Fashion.
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