Growing up as a child in the 1970s in England, there was very little by way of role models in the popular media for a south asian kid to look upto. We hadn't yet made an impact in mainstream British culture, the National Front was creating trouble in Southall, many of our parents worked overtime, and we were trying to establish a succesful foundation for ourselves.
And then came along the Sinbad movies from of all places - Hollywood. Okay - so the stories were set in the Arabian gulf, but this tough guy in his beard and turban, wielding his curved scimitar against villains and monsters alike, represented a lot for an impressionable 8 year old kid of Indian Sikh immigrant parents. The men who fought alongside him looked the same shade of brown as me, the buildings had more than a passing architectural resemblance to a gurdwara or mosque, and the olive complexion of the alluring veiled women looked a refreshing contrast to the anaemic pasty white faces I was used to seeing.
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