DESIblitz on The Model: “The Lie We All Agreed To Keep”

“The lie we all agreed to keep.” That is how DESIblitz framed The Model — and it cuts straight to what the film is about.

Director Marcus Flemmings sat down alongside lead actress Sasha Vadher to talk identity, family, faith, and the quiet weight of expectation — the model we are all held to, whether cultural, religious, or carried in from the people who raised us.

Performance, on screen and off

It is a story about who we become when no one is watching. The film’s title works on two levels at once: the profession its lead moves through, and the template she is expected to match. DESIblitz’s framing recognises that the second meaning is the one that does the damage.

The interview ran ahead of the film’s UK Asian Film Festival screening at the Kiln Theatre, Kilburn, where The Model went on to win Best Feature Film.