Squid Game’s Ali – aka Anupam Tripathi – has given South Korea’s foreign actors their big break. Meet the entertainers hoping to follow his lead

The Netflix hit isn’t just breaking viewing records, it is breaking down cultural barriers and inspiring South Korea’s hitherto underappreciated ranks of foreign entertainers

The success of Anupam Tripathi, who plays Pakistani character Ali, is giving hope to those seeking something more than the clichéd background roles they are used to

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Anupam Tripathi in ‘Squid Game’. Photo: Netflix.

Published: 8:00am, 25 Oct 2021Updated: 8:36am, 25 Oct 2021

The South Korean Netflix hit Squid Game is breaking barriers on what seems like a daily basis.

The dystopian drama, in which desperate and indebted people take part in deadly games to win a massive pot of money, has not only beaten the period drama Bridgerton to become the platform’s biggest series launch, it has become Netflix’s biggest show ever, reaching a mind-boggling 142 million households in its first four weeks.

It is also the streaming giant’s first South Korean television show to have become the most popular series in the United States. And that’s not the only cross-cultural barrier the drama, written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, has overcome.

One of its stars, Anupam Tripathi, who plays a Pakistani factory worker named Abdul Ali who takes part in the game to win money for his family, has become an inspiration to South Korea’s hitherto underappreciated ranks of foreign actors.

It is unusual for a foreign actor to be given such a major role in South Korea, and partly because of this the 32-year-old from India has become an overnight celebrity in the country, and the wider world (he now has nearly four million Instagram followers, compared to 3,000 before Squid Game came out).

Indeed, such is Squid Game’s popularity that even Carlo Aquino, the Filipino actor who was originally given the role of Ali but had to give it up due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, has received a boost to his profile. An Instagram post by Aquino last week showing him wearing the signature green Squid Game tracksuit alongside the caption, “Better late than never”, has prompted speculation from fans that the actor will appear in a second season.

Anupam Tripathi as Abdul Ali in ‘Squid Game’. Photo: Internet

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