Still from Netflix's Squid Game
Korean show Squid Game has become a chartbuster. After its release on streaming giant Netflix, the web show is gaining global recognition. It has been almost a month since Netflix's survival drama was released and things changed diametrically for Indian actor Anupam Tripathi. The breakout star of the series is being lauded from all corners for his performance as the soft-spoken and trusting migrant worker Ali Abdul.
However, there is a section of netizens who seem upset with the casting. They are questioning an Indian actor playing the role of the Pakistani character. The natives of Pakistan say they are tired of seeing 'Indian guys' be cast for Pakistani characters in films and web shows. "Just Finished Netflix series Squid Games season 1, A good show but It’s so frustrating to see Pakistani characters in big TV series being played by Indian actors. Why can’t these productions cast original Pakistani actors for such roles?" wrote a user. While another said, "The Pakistani charecter 'Ali' in squid game is played by an indian actor who isn't even Muslim." There were many more who stated their disappointment on Twitter, sample some of these tweets:
The survival game series 'Squid Game' is about 456 debt-saddled contestants are mysteriously brought together on an island off the South Korean peninsula to compete in children's games for a huge cash prize with literally life-and-death consequences.
It has officially the most popular TV show on its initial debut that Netflix has ever released, according to the streaming giant. The streaming platform said that the ultraviolent Korean drama has been sampled by 111 million members since its September 17 premiere worldwide, over the span of just 25 days, reports variety.com.
This means 'Squid Game' has been viewed by more people in its initial month of release than the previous number one holder, 'Bridgerton', which Netflix said had been selected to watch by 82 million households in the first 28 days of release.
The proprietary metric that Netflix is using here is based on the number of accounts that picked a given title and streamed for at least 2 minutes. That sheds no light on how many people watched even one full episode and includes those who checked it out to see what the fuss was about before turning it off.
