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Actors Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Vir Das along with Sushmita Sen-starrer series ‘Aarya‘ are set to represent India at the 2021 International Emmy Awards, scheduled to be held on Tuesday in New York. Organised by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the International Emmys aim at “recognizing excellence in television produced outside of the U.S. for over 48 years”.

The nominations for the year 2021 were announced in September.

Siddiqui has secured a nomination in the best performance by an actor category for his movie ‘Serious Men’.

He is pitted against British star David Tennant (‘Des’) as well as actors Roy Nik of Israel (‘Normali]) and Christian Tappan of Colombia (‘El Robo del Siglo’ or ‘The Great Heist’).

Directed by Sudhir Mishra, ‘Serious Men’ is an adaptation of author Manu Joseph’s 2010 novel of the same name. It chronicles the story of an ambitious underachiever who capitalises on his son’s newfound fame as a boy-genius to improve his family’s fortunes.

The film offers a stark commentary on caste discrimination and upper-class privilege through its protagonist Ayyan Mani (Siddiqui), a Tamil Dalit, who keeps challenging the system which has oppressed people for generations.

Sen’s ‘Aarya’, a series directed by Ram Madhvani, is nominated in the best drama series category alongside Chile’s ‘El Presidente’, Israel’s ‘Tehran’ and the second season of ‘There She Goes’ from the UK.

‘Aarya’ is an official remake of the popular Dutch crime drama ‘Penoza’. The Indian adaptation revolved around Aarya Sareen, played by Sen, a happily married woman whose world turns upside down when her husband, pharma baron Tej Sareen (Chandrachur Singh) is shot.

Created by Ram Madhvani and Sandeep Modi, ‘Aarya’ went on to garner acclaim after its debut in June last year. The second season of the show is expected to be released soon.

Das’ comedy special ‘Vir Das: For India’ has been nominated in the comedy segment along with popular French show ‘Call My Agent’, ‘Motherland: Christmas Special’ (The UK) and ‘Promesas de Campana’ (Colombia).

The special released in January 2020.

The actor-comedian has been in news recently for his over his six-minute satire video ‘I come from two Indias’ at the John F Kennedy Centre in Washington DC.

In the video, he touched upon topical issues like the battle against COVID-19, incidents of rapes, farmers protests, crackdown against comedians and petrol prices.

The monologue has been praised by many celebs, politicians and social media users while also leading to police complaints and criticism against the comedian.

Das later issued a statement saying his comments were not intended to insult the country as he merely wanted to point out that India, despite its issues, was great.

The winners for the 2021 International Emmy Awards will be announced during an in-person ceremony on Tuesday. Indian audiences can watch the ceremony on November 23 at 5.30 a.m. IST.

Director Richie Mehta’s ‘Delhi Crime’, fronted by Shefali Shah, won the best drama series honour last year at the 48th edition of the awards and fans of these films and shows are hoping that India fares well this year too.

According to their official website, the International Academy is “committed to adhering to CDC and WHO guidelines to ensure we are abiding by all Covid Safety protocols at the time of the event”.