The Office Australia, a local remake of the iconic original, is set to hit our screens on Friday 18 Oct. Indian-origin actor Raj Labade, who stars in this Prime Video series, sits down with Manan Luthra for a chat about his role, about diverse actors, and about his blossoming career.
Manan: Raj, what was your first ever impression of watching The Office?
Raj Labade: I first watched the US version – about three times! It ended up being one of my favourite shows. After we shot the first season of our version, I went back and watched the British one. Massive fan.
Manan: Favourite character?
Raj Labade: What’s great about The Office, is the script and plot structure. And having very strong actors. They’re all so perfectly cast that you can love one character one episode and another in another episode…
Manan: I like how you mention the script first. Favourite dialogue or favourite scene?
Raj Labade: There’s a great bit where Michael Scott, boss of the branch, does really well in some quarter, and his boss calls him in and asks what’s his secret, and he goes “Never do anything… ever… to anyone or anywhere ever…” and he never quite finishes his sentence.
Manan: What was the feeling when your agent rang to tell you that you’ve been cast?
Raj Labade: It’d been like a year and a bit (since auditioning). I was technically on hold the whole time, so it was sort of anti-climactic then. Later I became excited to try this thing out.
Manan: Tell us about your role.
Raj Labade: I play this character Sebastian Roy, an intern. His friends at uni have found placements in other companies, and he’s ended up at a packaging company, which he’s not very excited about!
Manan: Who would his equivalent be in the US or the UK office?
Raj Labade: In The Office (UK) there is an intern, but there isn’t one really in the The Office (US). I think they drew a lot from the Ryan Howard character, the temp staff played by BJ Novak.
The UK show starts off really trying to find out what to do with its cast, whereas the strength of the US one is that we get to see eight-nine seasons of where these characters go, so I think the writers were quite confident in making strong choices. Everyone that’s in the show is featured in that pilot and you get a sense of them quite quickly rather than a couple seasons later.
Manan: Any diaspora elements to Sebastian?
Raj Labade: It’s interesting because we’re probably the first show to have the two Indians on set – Pallavi Sharda and I – it doesn’t happen very often, in Australian TV anyway.
I found myself working it into the script as much as possible. Everyone in the show got to bring what we really had to lean on in any way. It was worked in – but just having that diversity on screen is already enough of a statement without even discussing it.
Manan: Do you think we’ve moved past the stereotypes of a tokenistic Indian character with Sebastian Roy – having curry for lunch or the funny accent or things like that?
Raj Labade: Oh yeah, there’s more to him. I’m not putting on an accent. There’s none of that humour in it – which I like, because at the end of the day, that’s not the comedy that is necessary to make the show funny. So there’s no stereotyping. I’m not there because they need someone to make Indian jokes at.
Manan: Do you know there’s actually an Indian version of The Office?
Raj Labade: I do know – but I haven’t seen it! I want to. I saw the Saudi version: it’s in Arabic and it’s hilarious.
Manan: What makes the Australian version different?
Raj Labade: Look, no matter what, it’s a situational comedy. The writers write for the actors, and so of course there will be Australian elements like a Melbourne Cup episode and other things that are very uniquely Australian. There’s meetings on Zoom, and conversations about going remote, which are discussions we didn’t have in the previous iterations of the show.
Manan: Have you ever worked in an office job yourself, or have you always been a working actor?
Raj Labade: Always been a working actor. I went from high school into drama school, and then I’ve just been working ever since. In fact, while we were filming sometimes it did feel like I was in an office job – I’d be sitting there at my desk for like six hours at a time sometimes, just to be background, because it was all in the one room. So, in between takes I was writing scripts on my computer to keep myself busy!
Manan: How did you first get into acting?
Raj Labade: I’ve been performing since I was a kid. I don’t have one big “aha!” moment, but a few really – doing shows from a young age, doing speeches, little stand-up bits, comedy sketches with friends, and then musicals and plays in high school. I think by the time I was 14, I was certain I wanted to be an actor. Everything since has been, what can I do in order to realise that. It’s been a long road, and it’s been great.
Manan: Your mum is a cello teacher. Do you think that having a creative family made it easier to get into the arts, with no pressure towards those stereotypical ‘high-paying’ jobs?
Raj Labade: Yeah, I think so. Mum is of Irish Scottish background from the North Shore of Sydney. She studied at the Conservatory of Music. Dad on the other hand grew up in Maharashtra, in a small sugarcane village. He has a basic education and has done jobs like air conditioning fittings at Toyota, worked in an Indian restaurant, packed coffee at a factory in Concord. So his background is definitely pushing for that. He has never really quite got my passion, but recently he’s come around.
It has been a help having an artist mother who gets it. That’s the dichotomy in my life, juggling those two identities – one that’s very Australian and very artistic, and one that’s very much about hard work and trying to build a better life. That’s the immigrant mentality – these are the opportunities you have, don’t waste them, because I never got those opportunities.
But you know, the mentality in the way my dad works, doing physical labour, is something that is actually quite applicable to acting. He says, “If you’re going to be a car cleaner, be the best car cleaner, best window washer”. If you’re going to do something that isn’t going to pay you well, at least be the best at it.
Manan: What did you watch, growing up?
Raj Labade: I grew up watching British comedy, and listening to Western and Indian classical music. Watched a fair bit of Bollywood as well. My sister is super into Bollywood. But what really excited me was shows like Fawlty Towers, Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean.
Manan: If Bollywood came calling now…?
Raj Labade: I’d be limited in what I could do – I never got to learn Hindi or Marathi. But yeah, I’d like to work in Bollywood. Would be pretty cool to work with Amitabh Bachchan, maybe. I think he’s a great actor.
Manan: Tell us a bit about your career highlights.
Raj Labade: The Office is biggest screen thing I’ve done so far. Most of my career has been doing theatre in Sydney, the last three or four years since I left drama school. I’m in Melbourne right now doing a theatre show. I’d say my highlight so far has been doing the theatre production Never Closer.
It’s probably one of the best things I’ve ever read. I remember reading it and thinking, there’s no way they’re going to want an Indian guy to play a Northern Irish guy from the ‘70s! I was so grateful they let me do it, and it wasn’t because they wanted it to be diverse. Hannah Goodwin the director was just smart enough to think we could either pass it accurately and make it historically accurate, or, we could just try and find the actors that suit characters the most.
Manan: As someone who is carving out their niche in the industry, what’s your advice to young diverse actors?
Raj Labade: It’s hard because I think everyone sees their identity differently. I’ve met some Indian actors that will be upset if you call them an Indian actor – they’ll say ‘I am an actor’. And then there are Indian actors who want to tell Indian stories. Everything’s valid.
You’ll be aware sometimes that you’re being called into a room or asked to be in something because they’ve cast too many white people and they need to not look racist, but every opportunity is an opportunity. At this stage, build your career, and then when you’re in a position to, you can make choices.
One of the coolest things I saw recently was Monkey Man, Dev Patel’s new film, and his motivation for doing that film was – I’ve put in a lot of work in terms of my career, and now I want to be represented in a form that I never feel represented – that’s something completely unique to him. People have been very specific in what they want in their career. For me, I’m really interested in stories that push diversity forward, but don’t necessarily have to have race discussed. I love films like Yesterday with Himesh Patel, Sound of Metal with Riz Ahmed. It really excites me that these roles are probably written for white guys to play, but why can’t they be cast with good actors that happen to be diverse? That’s kind of where I see the future, my career, and this industry.
Manan: Sell The Office (Australia) in one sentence.
Raj Labade: It might be funny!
Read more: Neil Sharma: Does over-policing create more criminals?
