At 44 years old, Kunal Nayyar has already had quite the remarkable career. He spent 12 seasons, 279 episodes and more than a decade portraying lovelorn astrophysicist Raj Koothrappali in The Big Bang Theory — the most popular sitcom in America for most of its run.

But when The Big Bang Theory concluded in May 2019, Nayyar found himself at a crossroads. He’d already reached a level of fame and amassed the kind of riches most actors only ever dream of. What was next?

“I always wanted to be a dramatic leading man,” Nayyar tells Luxury London. “Obviously, I ended up playing a nerd who couldn’t talk to women on a multi-cam sitcom, which was the complete opposite — and which I’m extremely grateful for — but there’s a blessing and a curse of being on such a popular show.” All any casting agent, filmmaker, or studio head could see when they looked at Nayyar was Raj. For someone who wanted a long career as an actor, this was an obstacle Nayyar knew he had to hurdle.

So Nayyar intentionally sought out darker roles that he could disappear into. He starred in Apple TV+ series Suspicion, indie dramas Sweetness in the Belly and The Storied Life of AJ Fikry, as well as an episode of Criminal: UK, which earned him a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the British Academy Television Awards.

It was off the back of these performances that Nayyar was approached by writer and director Gurinder Chadha about Christmas Karma. The Bend It Like Beckham and Bhaji on the Beach filmmaker had written a Bollywood-inspired adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, this time revolving around arrogant, right-wing capitalist Mr Sood. On Christmas Eve, Sood is taken on a journey by three ghosts who reveal the tragedies and wrong decisions that resulted in him being alone and disgruntled during the festive season.

Nayyar, still in her early 40s, was initially skeptical about playing this version of the elderly Scrooge, but Chadha insisted she saw something in Nayyar that would be ideal for the character. Eventually, Nayyar realised he was just scared of going up against the legion of actors who have played Scrooge before. Names like Michael Caine, Alastair Sim, Patrick Stewart, George C Scott, and many, many more.

To combat his doubts, he channelled his efforts into making his interpretation of Scrooge as unique as possible. First and foremost, he needed to bring a physicality to the performance. “Trust me, I’ve been around enough Indian uncles my entire life to know they all walk with a limp that no one knows how they got. I also knew I wanted him to be slightly stooped over from a world that’s beaten him down.”

But there was also an emotional aspect to the story that attracted Nayyar. In Christmas Karma, Sood is forced to move from Uganda to the United Kingdom in 1972, following the expulsion order by President Idi Amin. When he arrives in his new home, Sood’s father dies and he is racially attacked. “This is a story about an entire community that lost everything. What I learned from my research and speaking to people is that the only way to get respect in a foreign country is if you have money and status.” Ultimately, though, Sood isn’t just able to settle in Britain, he thrives, and by the end of the film (spoiler alert for anyone who isn’t aware how the 182-year-old A Christmas Carol concludes) becomes part of the community.

Amid the current political landscape, where endless debates on immigration have provoked a rise in racist attacks, Nayyar believes the story is as timely as ever. “A movie like this is important because it shines a light on a community that not a lot of people know about. It's also trying to show how England embraced them. It's a story about how white people helped brown people and brown people helped white people.”

And, while this may be true, it hasn’t prevented a very mixed critical reception. We speak a week after the film’s release and Nayyar can’t help but bring up the critical reviews that have met Christmas Karma. The Guardian labelled it ‘joyless and nausea-inducing’, while The Telegraph called it the ‘most dreadful thing to happen to Christmas since King Herod’. Nayyar insists the film was designed to bring all cultures of the world together to sing, dance, and be merry, before noting, “It's not a story that's meant to bash or divide, even though the critics and the media seem to have done that.”

Nayyar adds, “People don't really understand this is a movie about a marginalised community. You can knock it all you want, it might not be for everyone, but people have completely missed what this story is about. One of my friends told me, ‘This is the story of my father. He was kicked out of Uganda and has been depressed ever since.’ That really fuelled my passion, my integrity, and the care with which I wanted to approach this.”

Critics aside, Nayyar says he has been inundated with messages from viewers telling him how the film and its story has touched them or their family members. Which, for Nayyar, is the whole point. “All I’ve ever wanted to do is make people feel something when they watch my work.”

Nayyar first felt the power of performance when he stepped on stage at the University of Portland. Initially drawn to the theatre in order to spend more time with a girl he was dating, he auditioned for Ring Round the Room, immediately fell in love with acting and realised he wanted to do it professionally. He fell out of love with the girl.

“I just had a real moment of truth on stage. It was as if I was saying these words coming out of my mouth for the first time. It was what people experience in a deep spiritual awakening or through deep meditation. I experienced it on stage, knowing nothing about any of this stuff. Once I felt that, I thought, ‘Wow, I need to chase this for the rest of my life.’ That's what I do every take. I try to find the truth.”

Unjaded by his success, Nayyar still loves acting “more than anything in the world.” He has the same drive and hunger to perform as he did when he stumbled upon the stage in Oregon 25 years ago. “It’s kind of a sickness. It takes a lot of sacrifice.”

As he continues to emerge from the very large shadow of The Big Bang Theory, Nayyar plans to follow his intuition, because to try and copy someone else’s career path would feel “inauthentic to who I truly am.”

“I want to do roles where you’re watching it and you’re like, ‘Wait, is that the guy from The Big Bang Theory?’ If I can disappear into any kind of work, that’s a good career. That’d be a good life for me as an actor.”

Christmas Karma is in cinemas now.

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