\t\t\tNo one makes Seema Patel wait in line. Not for the club, and not even for her COVID vaccine. (She got hers \u201cbefore the president.\u201d) So this week\u2019s And Just Like That\u2026 episode finds the stylish and powerful real estate agent in an unlikely place: on a queue with her friend Carrie Bradshaw, denied entry from an NYC hotspot. And it\u2019s her 54th birthday. Sarita Choudhury, who plays Seema in HBO Max\u2019s Sex and the City revival, also had a way of avoiding lines when she was clubbing in her twenties. \u201cYou always had your hookups, so you actually never waited anyway,\u201d she recalls on the phone from chilly New York. \u201cBut you had no money.\u201d Obviously, the women of AJLT don\u2019t have to worry about that. Though Seema and Carrie end up ditching the dancefloor for some dessert, the episode continues to find Seema in more surprising situations: in Brooklyn (for a charity event) and in a flirtatious back-and-forth with a handsome club owner who, in the end, finally lets her skip the line at his place of employ. Of all the leads, old and new, in And Just Like That\u2026, Seema is the only one that\u2019s proudly partnerless; in some ways she\u2019s a refreshing, shameless representation of single women over 50 on screen. She\u2019s even been compared to Samantha (which she\u2019s \u201cenjoying,\u201d though filling that role is not her intention). But where could her story go next now that she\u2019s struck up a new romance?Despite its efforts to be a more inclusive show, AJLT has garnered backlash for a number of reasons, aspects of Seema\u2019s arc, like an arranged marriage plot and mistaking a lehenga for a sari. Choudhury does her best to avoid the criticism, though sometimes she can\u2019t resist clicking a harsh headline. \u201cWith a show like this, of course that\u2019s gonna happen,\u201d she admits. \u201cThere\u2019s no way there\u2019s not gonna be 12 million different opinions. There\u2019s no way.\u201dChoudhury wouldn\u2019t quite say that her life has completely turned upside down since she joined AJLT, \u201cbut there\u2019s a semi, I would say minuscule, version of that for sure,\u201d she explains. Despite adjusting to a new level of attention, Choudhury remains a veteran in her craft. She first made her film debut in Mira Nair\u2019s 1991 romance Mississippi Masala (opposite Denzel Washington) and has gathered dozens of TV and film roles in the decades since. She\u2019s especially shown off her range in the past year, playing a mysterious mother to Dev Patel\u2019s Gawain in The Green Knight and a curious museum curator in After Yang, in addition to becoming a new SATC fan favorite. Here, Choudhury walks ELLE.com through Seema\u2019s new fling, the importance of showing her Indian family on screen, and what her first encounter with Samantha would look like. How would you describe Seema and Carrie\u2019s dynamic? I feel like [Seema] speaks so unapologetically and you don\u2019t quite know what\u2019s gonna come out of her mouth, and I love the fact that Carrie is game to sit there and make sure my birthday is good, even though I say it\u2019s not important. I almost feel like they bring out the nurturing side of each other. But they also let each other be kind of weirdly independent. It\u2019s a nice friendship in that sense.<\/p>\n
\t\tSeema (Choudhury) celebrates her low-key birthday with Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker).
\n\tCraig Blankenhorn<\/p>\n
When they\u2019re having dinner together, as Seema is looking back on the past year, she says that \u201cinstead of meeting my guy, I met an amazing new friend.\u201d I wanted to know how you felt about that line and her storyline, which empowers single women and friendships.I feel like when Seema says something, she means it. So when I saw that line, I was like, \u201cOh, first she chose Carrie to go out with on her birthday, not anyone else, so already you sense that that is a real friendship.\u201d But I was happy she said it because I feel like Seema, she doesn\u2019t mince words. So if she says it, she\u2019s not saying, \u201cI have to be your best friend.\u201d She\u2019s just saying, \u201cYou\u2019re definitely mine. You\u2019re my new friend, you\u2019re who I care about.\u201d And I find that oddly refreshing, \u2018cause sometimes with characters, there\u2019s a neediness that comes out when people say something\u2014 they want something back. And I feel with Seema, she doesn\u2019t really want anything back ever.She\u2019s single, she\u2019s not a victim about that. And she also dates a lot. I think there\u2019s this idea of women that, whether any of it\u2019s true or not, it\u2019s kind of given to us that if you are single, that maybe you\u2019re not happy. Or that you can\u2019t get a man. Meantime, she\u2019s single, she can get a man, and she\u2019s lying to her parents about having a man. It\u2019s just so refreshing because I have many friends like that. And in humor they may joke, \u201cOh my God, I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m single,\u201d but they\u2019re not usually victims. You\u2019ll have the odd friend who\u2019ll have a cry about a breakup. So I do think it\u2019s a great thing to put out there. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cShe\u2019s single, she\u2019s not a victim about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
What did you think of that twist at the end? I don\u2019t know how long-term this is, but she does find a guy.[Laughs] You know, it\u2019s interesting \u2018cause when I read it in the script, I was like, \u201cOh, here we go.\u201d What I like about that [encounter] is she doesn\u2019t give him the time of day and it\u2019s only because he can handle it. I may be wrong, but I felt like because he could handle the way she was bantering with him and he could give it back, it made her kind of go, \u201cOhhh, okay.\u201d And you never know with Seema because\u2014let\u2019s see what happens and how they actually get along\u2014but I love that it began with a dissonance. It\u2019s like, \u201cOh, you can spar with me?\u201dSpeaking of her dating life, she\u2019s big on dating apps. Is that anything you\u2019ve ever tried or wanted to try? I\u2019m literally the opposite, I\u2019ve never [laughs]. Do you know the friends who are just unapologetic about it or have said, \u201cI found the love of my life\u201d and you\u2019re like, \u201cOh my God, where? Where did you meet him?\u201d and they\u2019re like, \u201cOnline\u201d? I love people like that because they do it and they actually do find amazing moments, or sometimes love. But then there\u2019s the other group that is shy about admitting to it, or they have a lot of depressing moments through it. When you hear both sides, I think it\u2019s so scary, the whole thing. And also, I didn\u2019t grow up with a phone. So to start doing that now, I would laugh at myself.So you\u2019re more of a meet-in-person type of dater. And also, I feel lucky\u2026When you\u2019re in film, you meet over a hundred people every day. I\u2019m sure if I had a job where I was entering a cubicle and especially during [COVID], you know, I get it.You mentioned how Seema was lying to her parents about having a man. What did you make of her family criticizing her for not being married or pressuring her into being married?Well, first of all, if you\u2019re an Indian daughter, which I am, that would be the narrative. Like, you\u2019re not supposed to have boyfriends when you\u2019re not married, and then you\u2019re supposed to be married. So it\u2019s almost like, when does that change and why am I always lying about one or the other? You know what I mean? When you\u2019re not allowed a boyfriend, that\u2019s when you lie about having one, you say you don\u2019t [have one]. And then suddenly you\u2019re supposed to be married. So the narrative, I related to it completely, but again, what I love is Seema\u2019s just like, \u201cYeah, I had to lie\u2014for them more than for me, or for them and for me.\u201d I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve watched Sex Lives of College Girls, which is also on HBO Max…I want to. Is that Mindy [Kaling]\u2019s show?Yeah. I was interviewing Amrit Kaur, who stars in the series and is also Indian. And she was talking about how important it is to see Brown women on screen being open about their sexuality, rather than being reserved or fetishized or nerdy, but actually owning their desire and their sexual exploits, whatever they may be. Do you think that applies to Seema as well? Was that important for you to portray?I think it does, definitely, but I think also that\u2019s why showing the family was important. On one hand, she is being free in her life, but also, I wanted to address that when you do have an Indian family, you can\u2019t push their freedom too much in their house or their faith because there\u2019s also the honor and respect [component]. And I feel like I\u2019ve always grown up with a complete mixture of that, of knowing that I can get my independence, but it\u2019s not \u2018cause I have to cover it from my parents. There\u2019s a certain honor and respect that we carry with us and it\u2019s almost our comfort in ourselves or our gauging of what\u2019s moral or\u2026So, I think when you\u2019re young, it\u2019s a fight between those two things, but, as you get older, it\u2019s less of a fight and I think that\u2019s where Seema is now. She\u2019s like, \u201cIt is what it is. I\u2019m gonna do both.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tChoudhury on And Just Like That…, in episode 6.
\n\tHBO<\/p>\n
Definitely. You joined the cast with Karen Pittman, Nicole Ari Parker, and Sara Ramirez. You\u2019re all actors of color, joining a show that\u2019s centered on white women and their stories. What was that like for you as an actor? Did you feel like there was any responsibility or pressure?I thought it was a really bold move on the show\u2019s part to do that. It\u2019s not like they were just like, \u201cOh, let\u2019s do it slowly.\u201d It was like four of us entering, and I was like, wow. I remember thinking that I couldn\u2019t wait to go to the read-throughs every week to hear everyone\u2019s storyline developed because I was curious, like, how do you do that with the show? And what moved me was that every time each of those characters spoke, I was like, oh, she has a husband; and she has fertility problems; and she\u2019s completely into fashion, [is] rich, and lives this life that I\u2019m not used to seeing. And then Sara coming into full gender politics and non-binary [identity], and I was just like, wow.And I started to really enjoy it, listening to where everyone was going. And for me, I don\u2019t know why, but I never see things as a pressure for me because when you do a series, it\u2019s the writers, the directors, the editors, there\u2019s so many people involved, and sometimes it doesn\u2019t work out, sometimes it does, and I always feel like I can only do what I do. I\u2019m not there to portray an Indian woman only, I\u2019m there to try and be a good enough actress and show some kind of nuance, if I can. And that\u2019s what I get obsessed with as opposed to the onus on my shoulder, because I\u2019m never gonna be able to do that. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cI\u2019m not there to portray an Indian woman only, I\u2019m there to try and be a good enough actress and show some kind of nuance, if I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
And you\u2019re watching along every week, right? As each episode drops?I am! [Laughs] It\u2019s so funny.Do you follow along with the memes, tweets, and reactions too?No, because I\u2019ve learned\u2014again, luckily, because I came late to social media and everything. I know from the way I am; I think we all are vulnerable to that. [When] I was in my first film, I remember I learned my lesson. I read reviews and I remember they were all great. And then there was one that wasn\u2019t. And that\u2019s the only one I remembered. I can\u2019t remember the others and, you know, it hurts you. And so I think it was by the time I grew up understanding that, when social media came along, I was like, \u201cOh no, no, I\u2019m not gonna [read them], I\u2019m not the one who\u2019s good at that.\u201d So I tend not to. I was talking to Michael Patrick King [the AJLT showrunner] about the show and the reactions. And we were both saying what is amazing is how much talk there is. Like, every time I open my phone, there\u2019s something about the show. And whether it\u2019s good one day or bad the next day or whatever it is, you\u2019re like, \u201cThank God it\u2019s so alive at this point.\u201d Because imagine if there was no talk; that would also be a problem.So if you come across the backlash, is that the mentality you\u2019re bringing to it? At least people are talking about it? Partly. I mean, literally, I see the headline and if it\u2019s not that nice, I\u2019m like, \u201cOkay, well, at least we\u2019re the subject of this week,\u201d but part of my brain does that, and the other part is like, \u201cDo not open it, Sarita, do not open it.\u201d Because you know what else I learned? An odd thing. Sometimes when I did look at a few, I was like, \u201cOh, the ones with the harshest titles are actually not that mean and some of the ones with the nicer titles then get mean later.\u201d So I thought, Aha, very tricky here.<\/p>\n
\t\tSeema (Choudhury, left) joins Carrie (Parker), Charlotte (Kristin Davis), and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) for drinks.
\n\tHBO<\/p>\n
Obviously we don\u2019t know right now, but if we get a renewal, what would you like to see from Seema in a second season?Oh my goodness. I think maybe I\u2019d like to see where she lives and who comes over to hang out with her, and how they are when they meet Carrie and how Carrie is in that world. I definitely [want to] see what she is like beyond a second date. Like domestic Seema, that would be very comedic to me.She\u2019s such a real estate pro, I\u2019m sure her apartment will be amazing. What do you imagine her home looks like?Well, I think either it is amazing or…You know when you do so much work for other people\u2019s taste and help them, you\u2019re almost harder on yourself? And so you end up not doing it until you find, [for example,] the perfect statue that she fell in love with in Rome, but they wouldn\u2019t let her have it \u2018cause it\u2019s part of a museum. I feel like her house wouldn\u2019t be finished, in a weird way.I can see that. I know you\u2019ve addressed this before, but Seema is getting a lot of comparisons to Samantha, especially when she sat in with the trio in a recent episode. Would you want to see Samantha in a future episode? How do you think they would interact?Oh my God. I\u2019ve never thought of that. Wow. Let me think for a second. First, I think it would be so much fun to watch. And I think they would eye each other quite a bit in the non-moments. In a way, they\u2019re not similar at all…I can feel the difference between them, but I don\u2019t really know how to articulate it. They do obviously have things in common and I think what would be so fun is\u2014you know when two animals meet and they check each other out? It\u2019s kind of that. And it could end up being very comedic or quite tender, in a weird way. And also I think, for the most part, I\u2019ve had most of my scenes with Carrie and I don\u2019t know why, but I\u2019m so protective of her. And so if I did meet Samantha, it would probably be in a moment of hanging out with Carrie. I can imagine that.This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tErica Gonzales
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tErica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more.<\/p>\n
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