Daily Times

Pakistani-British actor Riz Ahmed of the most critically acclaimed TV series The Night Of, along with Zayn Malik, the former One Direction member and heartthrob have climbed up high on the new list of the most influential Asian people in Britain, which is topped yet again by Sadiq Khan for a second successive year.

Reported by The Guardian, ‘The Night Of’ star bagged the fourth place on the list, while Malik known for making headlines with his killer moves and fancy tattoos, also made it to the same lineup.

Compiled by the Asian Media Group, the power list is now making waves in its seventh year.

Shailesh Solanki, Executive Editor of the GG2 Power List said, “It’s fantastic to see so much ethnic success in Britain. It’s incredibly important for us to keep recognising and rewarding ethnic achievements in the country.’

He added, “Riz Ahmed has been very outspoken and vociferous about issues of diversity, but it’s important to recognise that [the success of the people on the list] builds on the efforts of previous generations [of actors] like Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar.”

While progress has been made in the proportion of women on the list (25%), he certainly acknowledged that a lot more needed to be done.

The power list which features 101 names and was published on Thursday, highlights Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London at the very top.

“He [Khan] started off very well by winning the biggest mandate of any politician in western Europe and I think he’s grown in stature in the last one and a half years. He hasn’t shied away from tackling big decisions, taking on Trump and Uber, and his reaction to [the fire at] Grenfell was impressive,” Solanki went on to say.

Becoming the first male actor of Muslim and Asian descent to have been awarded an Emmy for his outstanding performance in the HBO mini series The Night Of, Ahmed thanked his fellow category nominees in his acceptance speech, addressing his co-star, “It’s been amazing getting to watch you up close, and I share this with you, brother.”

“Something that happened recently that I found really, really moving and I really applaud is the British actor Ed Skrein recently kind of turned down a role — it was lucrative role,” Ahmed praised Skrein backstage while touching on the need for more diverse roles.

“I think what we’re starting to see is more awareness around how beneficial it can be to tell a diverse range of stories and to tell them in a way that’s authentic,” Ahmed conversed with reporters.

Ahmed also spoke in favour of “globalization” of stories and talent, saying, “TV is in particular a global medium. People are streaming shows or watching them all around the world, so hopefully we’re going to see a globalization of the stories we’re telling and a globalization of the talent pool.”