Dark comedy film strikes a chord with Africans seeking acceptance from city

"What New York is for Indians, Delhi is for Nigerians." Nigerian actor Samuel Abiola Robinson's qualification of the Capital finds an echo in his portrayal of the protagonist of Dilli Dark, a newly released dark comedy that questions the city's attitudes towards race, tolerance, majoritarianism and colonialism.

- Saurya Sengupta and Aaditya Khatwani

NEW DELHI:

Robinson, last seen in the 2018 Malayalam film Sudani from Nigeria, plays Michael Okeke, who seeks to wriggle free of the stereotype so many Africans in Delhi are plastered with.

In one scene, an electrician, called in to repair a faulty fridge, flees after he sees a plate of meat, shouting that the African man is a cannibal.

Another Nigerian, Ola Jason, 49, knows exactly how that feels. "Once police came to my house in Malviya Nagar because someone complained that there was a dead baby in my freezer when in fact it was mutton I had bought from INA Market," said Jason, who has not yet watched the movie but is aware of the subject.

In the movie that released on May 30, Okeke is determined to get an Indian work permit. To pay the rent, he starts dealing in contraband. "Everybody knows what you guys are famous for," a customer tells him.