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"The cast of Cloud 9 are celebrating &amp;#039;Holi&amp;#039; (Festival of Colours) with a special episode. The UK&amp;#039;s first British Asian daily soap featuring a multicultural cast, Cloud 9 aims to represent the cultural experience of a new generation of British Asians.   The show&amp;#039;s viewership has grown steadily since the pioneering series was first launched in January 2013. Lead actor Valmike Rampersad, who plays Ajay, told Digital Spy why he first became interested in being a part of the ground-breaking series. &amp;quot;I found it refreshing, because while it happens to be an Asian cast it&amp;#039;s a very British drama. Nothing about it felt that it was a British Asian TV series,&amp;quot; he explained.  &amp;quot;There are refreshing storylines, refreshing characters, a character who speaks like me, who doesn&amp;#039;t have some sort of dumbed down Asian accent, who&amp;#039;s educated - which is rare in Asian television - and not driving a taxi and I&amp;#039;m not a terrorist... a lot of the stereotypical roles that we always get. &amp;quot;So for me personally, it was refreshing to see so many multi-dimensional normal Asian characters that could easily be played by a Caucasian cast, which is what&amp;#039;s so great about it - which is why I love it.&amp;quot; Rakhee Thakrar, who plays Simran, explained that the scarcity of lead roles for young British Asian actors in mainstream TV was a key factor in motivating her to commit to the series.   &amp;quot;I think to be honest that was one of the selling points for me, and Omar [Khan] was the one who sold it to me,&amp;quot; she recalled. &amp;quot;The way he sold it to me was, &amp;#039;How often do we get to play lead roles?&amp;#039; &amp;quot;The lead roles are there, don&amp;#039;t get me wrong. There are some really meaty roles in the mainstream, but they are so hard to come by that it was really fulfilling to play a lead role, having storylines that ventured into the unknown. It&amp;#039;s been amazing.&amp;quot;  Khan, who has succeeded in making an impact in Bollywood with roles in film such as Kunal Kohli&amp;#039;s Teri Meri Kahani and the forthcoming Ranbir Kapoor starrer Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, told DS that a series such as Cloud 9 has a strong role in nurturing emerging British Asian talent.  &amp;quot;I wanted to support the British Asian industry. There is talent in the industry, but it needs to be nurtured and if we&amp;#039;re not willing to nurture our own talents, nobody else will,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;I thought if there is a pioneering British Asian soap, then I want to be part of that. I want to be one of the first and hopefully open the doors for others to follow, to the point where it&amp;#039;s commonplace.&amp;quot; Zing head of business Archana Kanade explained that Cloud 9 represents Zee TV&amp;#039;s ongoing commitment to create programming catering specifically for a new generation of British Asians.   &amp;quot;For the last four years, we have been trying to move to the next generation audience, but Bollywood and the other programmes that we have only catered to a certain percentage of this audience,&amp;quot; said Kanade. &amp;quot;We needed something that we could offer them in their language reflecting their stories, their lives, rather than the dramas that come from India. We wanted to talk to the next audience, the next generation.  &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m extremely happy with the way the content is working out,&amp;quot; added Kanade. &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;ve made mistakes and learned from our mistakes. We will be looking at ideas to develop the content - and we will do more - and the audience need to stay with us to see how we grow.&amp;quot; For director Gunjan Hazarika, the ultimate aim is to develop a British Asian TV and film industry in the UK, supporting emerging talent and positively representing British Asian experience.  &amp;quot;If this opens the door to others, more production houses will come up, more talent will emerge,&amp;quot; Hazarika said. &amp;quot;We need more work, and that work creates a thriving industry where new talent is nurtured.&amp;quot;  Tune in to Cloud 9 on Monday to Friday at 6:30pm and 10:30pm - only on Zing, free on Sky 789 and Freesat 509. The &amp;#039;Holi Special&amp;#039; airs tonight (Wednesday, March 27). "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/bollywood/news/a468698/cloud-9-stars-celebrate-holi-festival-in-special-episode/>