Is it too much to ask for a brown villain?

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Writers talk honestly about power, risk and what it really takes to put brown characters on screen. Listen now, on SBS Spice.

Writing brown characters isn’t just creative. It’s political. From brown villains to badly researched accents to the pressure to be “positive,” this episode asks who gets to be complex, messy and wrong on screen in 2026. Dilpreet Taggar is joined by Urvi Majumdar, Nicole Reddy and Sunanda Sachatrakul to talk about work that refuses neat ideas of representation.


SBS Spice is your go-to for South Asian Australian culture, exploring what makes us tick—or ick. Catch us on your favourite podcast platforms: SpotifyApple PodcastsYouTube and the SBS Audio app. Or tap the audio player to listen to the full episode. Follow SBS Spice on Instagram @SBSSpice and never miss an update.

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About our guests:

Urvi Majumdar: Urvi Majumdar is an AACTA- and AWGIE-nominated screenwriter, actor and comedian. She has written for The Project and The Weekly, appears in shows like Fisk and Cheap Seats, and tours major comedy festivals. Her series Urvi Went to an All Girls School is now a pilot on ABC iview.

Sunanda Sachatrakul: Sunanda Sachatrakul is a writer, performer and creator based in Naarm/Melbourne. They are developing SBS Digital Original Tantrum, have written for ABC Fresh Blood’s Starship Q Star, and created queer rom-com series After Her. As a performer, they’ve worked across theatre, comedy and screen, and draw on their life as a queer, trans-masc, Punjabi–Thai creative.

Nicole Reddy: Nicole is a writer for stage and screen, born in Lautoka, Fiji and raised in Sydney. She is currently developing an original comedy series with Goalpost Pictures and has written on SBS series Swift Street and Four Years Later. Her work spans comedy and drama, and explores identity, power and belonging, with a focus on minority and intersectional perspectives.

This episode was recorded as part of the Co-Curious Diaspora Story Lab, a development initiative supported by SBS.

New episodes drop every week. Find and follow SBS Spice on Instagram @SBSSpice and never miss an update.

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