Firdaus Kanga

Firdaus Kanga (born 1960, Bombay) is a writer and actor who lives in London. He has written a novel, Trying to Grow a semi-autobiographical novel set in India and a travel book Heaven on Wheels about his experiences in the United Kingdom.Trying to Grow was later turned FI film, Sixth Happiness, for which Kanga wrote the screenplay, and in which he starred.

Kanga was born in a Parsi family in Bombay in 1959. He adjusted to his disability early in life, and was tough mentally. Till fourth grade Kanga was tutored at home, after which he joined the Campion School, Mumbai.

Sixth Happiness is about Brit - a boy born with brittle bones who never grows taller than four feet. It is also about the Parsi or Parsees - descendants of the Persian empire who were driven out of Persia by an Islamic invasion more than a thousand years ago and settled in western India. Parsees had a close relationship with the British during the years of the Raj. Brit is named by his mother, both after his brittle bones, and in tribute to his mother's love of Britain. The depiction of Brit's parents as ardent Anglophiles with fond memories of the Raj and WW2, presents a glimpse of a non-stereotypical Indian family. This, along with the story of a young disabled man's sexual awakening as family life crumbles around him makes Sixth Happiness an interesting exploration of modern, urban India. Kanga's creation - both as writer and performer - resists drawing the main star Brit as either martyr or victim. Brit is bright, spiky, opinionated and selfish with a razor-sharp wit. He prefers the Kama Sutra to Shakespeare and does not allow gender or disability to come in the way of his desire for love.

Firdaus Kanga has presented documentaries, such as Double the Trouble, Twice the Fun (d. Pratibha Parmar, 1992), a provocative documentary drama that explored sexuality and disability. The film was broadcast as part of Channel Four's lesbian and gay series Out. Taboo, another documentary presented by Kanga, explored religion and disability - for instance, the Hindu notions of karma - exploring how religion can exclude and patronize people of disability.

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