"We share a culture, yet we're far apart."
Are You Even Indian? is a new dance-theatre production exploring love, identity and belonging through the relationship between a British South Asian woman and a recently arrived Indian man.
The production follows the pair as they fall in love before clashes over home, language and what makes someone truly Indian begin to emerge.
What starts with a meet-cute, wedding dances, Bollywood jokes and plans for a future together gradually becomes a deeper examination of cultural identity and belonging.
As their relationship develops, they must confront which country is “home”, what language their future child should speak and who gets to decide whether someone is truly Indian.
Created through community co-creation, the production explores the experience of a generation navigating relationships, family expectations and heritage between British and Indian cultures.
Exploring Indian Identity
For Mohit Mathur, who wrote and performs the show, the questions at the heart of Are You Even Indian? are rooted in his own experience of moving from India to the UK.
He exclusively told DESIblitz: “When I came from India, people reacted to me very differently. I heard debates about cultural appropriation and words like ‘freshie’.
“We share a culture, yet we’re far apart.”
Those experiences led Mathur to examine the differences between Indian migrants and the South Asian diaspora, despite their shared cultural background:
“Those arguments between diaspora Indians and recent immigrants made me ask: who is really Indian? And who is a real immigrant?”
The production was developed through workshops and conversations about “home” with community members in Leicester, Birmingham and Wolverhampton.
Mathur explained: “Are You Even Indian? is a dance-theatre show about a British South Asian woman and a recently arrived Indian man who fall in love, then clash over home, language and what makes someone truly Indian.”
On who the show is aimed at, Mathur said:
“It’s for second-generation families through a South Asian lens; it is for mixed families who’ve built lives here but aren’t sure where home is.
“Anyone who feels they’re always in transit, neither here nor there.”
“It puts Indian and diaspora perspectives on stage together, arguing with each other. I haven’t seen it done like this before, and it’s what makes the show fresh.”
The production combines Bollywood dance, text and movement while balancing humour with more serious questions about identity.
Mathur added: “It asks honest questions most people avoid. Things we’ve all thought about but never really answered.”
Festival Recognition
Are You Even Indian? won Best Show at Riverside Studios’ Bitesize Festival in 2025.
It was also Highly Recommended at Brighton Fringe 2026, where it was shortlisted for Best New Writing and received the Duncan’s Global Majority Bursary.
The production has also received multiple four-star reviews, with Mathur describing a particularly emotional response from audiences at Brighton Fringe.
He detailed: “It mixes Bollywood dance, text and movement. It’s funny and it’s serious.
“People in Brighton Fringe left in tears telling us, ‘I need a moment to gather it all’.”
The recognition comes as Mathur continues to develop theatre work centred on migration, culture and experiences that he feels are not explored enough on stage.
Mohit Mathur’s Theatre Journey
Mohit Mathur first came to the UK from India in 2015, as he recalled:
“I first came to the UK in 2015 from India to perform at the London Palladium in a show called Beyond Bollywood as a lead. That run changed my life.”
He went back to India before returning to the UK in 2019:
“In 2019 I decided to come back to do my Masters in Acting from the Drama Centre London.
“Since then, I’ve worked on various productions including Life of Pi on the West End, Migrations by Welsh National Opera.”
Other credits include the UK premiere of Come Fall in Love – The DDLJ Musical at Manchester Opera House, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Pericles, The Tempest in Serbia, Imagining Animals at the Tower of London and Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes at Waterperry Opera Festival.
Mohit Mathur also created and performed Dial 1 for UK, his debut solo play about migration and the gap between the dream of Britain and its reality.
The production has toured the UK, Canada and India and recently completed its Canadian tour.
He said: “I also make my own work, because I don’t see the stories I wish to investigate much on stage.
“My goal is to bring people into the room and tell the stories that matter to me from my culture.”
“My one-man show called Dial 1 for UK has recently finished its Canadian tour and is going to New Zealand and Australia next year.”
Are You Even Indian? is directed by Leigh Toney, whose West End and touring credits include The Mirror and the Light, the RSC’s UK and international tour of Measure for Measure, The Da Vinci Code, Murder for Two, The Moderate Soprano and Life of Pi.
With directing credits including Under My Skin at Pegasus Theatre, Toney is a Leverhulme Arts Scholar and recipient of the JMK Leverhulme Regional Assistant Director Bursary.
Through its central relationship, Are You Even Indian? examines what happens when two people share a culture but have very different experiences of what that culture means.
The production ultimately asks what “home” means for people who find themselves navigating different expectations of who they are and where they belong.
2026 Dates
The Place Bedford (Preview) – November 12 at 7:30 pm
Dugdale Arts Centre, Enfield (Preview) – November 13 at 7:30 pm
Riverside Studios – November 17 to 29 at various times (Press night on November 24 at 7:45 pm)
Leicester Curve – December 1 at 7:30 pm
MAC Birmingham – December 3 at 7:30 pm
Arena Wolverhampton – December 5 at 7:30 pm
