Growing up in Pakistan and later Canada, Ahad Raza Mir knew very little about the contribution south Asians made in the Second World War. “I knew they were present,” he says. “But I didn’t realise how much they were involved. There’s a lot of history that isn’t really talked about.” It wasn’t until he took the role of Rajib, a lieutenant who signs up to fight alongside the British in north Africa in the BBC’s Sunday night drama World on Fire, that Mir became aware of the contribution made and challenges faced by Indians who fought with the Allies.
“Before I left to start filming I told some family friends about the show,” he says. “One showed me pictures of his grandfather who was
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