A Kashmiri actress who made Mumbai her home is suddenly at the centre of Christmas cheer in Britain with an innovative comedy musical act inspired by and catering to the Muslim community. Anisa Butt, whose Kashmiri parents made East Africa their home, has been a Bollywood fixture for a while, with bit roles in Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Half Girlfriend and ALTBalaji’s web show, Code M. In London with family during the pandemic, a Zoom audition landed her the part of Cinder’Aliyah, a pantomime directed by Abdullah Afzal, who became a household name with BBC One’s Citizen Khan. He says, “In the UK, the pantomime has a very British format. People from varied ethnic backgrounds, and children of immigrants, don’t know what a pantomime is. My aim was to say, we live in a multicultural land, and we all need to enjoy this. I wanted to introduce it to everyone. It’s Muslim because the charity [backing it] is a Muslim charity. But it will appeal to every South Asian in the UK, and outside.”

The cast includes a mix of Pakistani and Indian characters