Vancouver-born Kristin Kreuk plays Naseem. Kreuk is best known as Lana Lang on television’s latest Superman incarnation, Smallville (she’s also a Neutrogena girl). With her huge, alien-tear-shaped eyes, Kreuk is no conventional blonde beauty, but she is not a Muslim, either – which was the point, claims Sarin.
“The true essence of the film is to bring down the barriers and not to pigeonhole anyone. So it’s fantastic to have Kristen, who is Christian, playing a Muslim, and Irfan Khan, a staunch Muslim, plays a Sikh,” says Sarin. “But as a director, it’s all about having good actors, and these were the best actors.”
For Kreuk, colour-blind casting is a necessity. “Initially, I was hesitant because Naseem is not of my background, but neither is anyone else that I play. I’m Dutch-Chinese, so I don’t label any way,” she says. “I had to take the time to learn about Islam and explore the psychology of what it would be like to exist in that time. This is an educated girl, not a village girl. She’s smart, she’s independent. We only hear the negative about Islam, and I did feel a responsibility to redeem the image of Muslim women in some tiny way.”
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