Hello! I am writing about how I believe South Asian Representation needs to change. If someone asked me a ten years ago who are some famous South Asian / Indian actors, the only actor that would come to mind is Dev Patel from Slumdog Millionaire. This movie wont 8 academy awards, yet I have never another movie like this. Five, if someone asked me name famous South Asian actors, not too many would come to mind. I would think of side characters such as Aziz Ansari from Parks and Rec, Mindy Kaling from the Office, and Kal Penn who appeared in couple of How I Met Your Mother episodes. Now, if someone asked me who are some famous South Asian actors, I can say that Mindy Kaling, Hasan Minhaj, and Priyanka Chopra are stars in a show. As time has progressed, there has been some changes with the South Asian representation, but there definitely room for improvement.
Growing up there were rarely anyone who looked like me in the films and showed I watched, which to an extent, I was okay with. But, what bothered me the most is when I would see South Asian actors forced to reduce themselves to a stereotypical character. Such as the man who drives the taxi cab, the math genius, the 7/11 owner, etc. I remember when I was in elementary school, there was a show on Disney Channel called “Jessie,” where one of the adopted children name was Ravi. His character role had every single possible stereotype. He was supposedly adopted from India, so he had a fake Indian accent and it bothered that he was the only child in the show that had to have an accent. The show was based in New York, so having a character with an accent from India was really not necessary. He was also portrayed as a nerd, socially awkward, bullied at school, and terrible at sports. He would be embarrassed a lot at school and by his brother Luke. This is not the only example of stereotypes Disney had made. In an animated show called Phineas and Ferb, they had an Indian friend named Baljeet who was nerdy and loved math. He also had an accent, was bullied, and talked about math a lot. I remember feeling so awkward watching that as a child because in my mind I would think, is that how the rest of America really views Indians? I rarely watched the shows Phineas and Ferb and Jessie because they would purposely make the Indian character be lame. It irritates me when shows or movies specifically point out that person has brown skin. These are just few examples. There is a stereotypical Indian character on Big Bang Theory named Raj. In Mean Girls, there was a math genius named Kevin G. Etc.
Growing up and even now, it makes my face light up whenever I see someone on TV that looks like me who is addressed as a normal person. I remember I was thrilled to see an Indian character in the movie Pitch Perfect, where he was portrayed as a popular kid and a really good rapper. Originally, the role was meant for Donald Glover, who was a black artist. The actor who played the role in Pitch Perfect, Utkarsh Ambudkar, stated, “I rarely go in and book a role for an Indian character, because Hollywood’s idea of Indian men is very nerdy, emasculated, and safe…When a dude like me comes in with studs and has clearly had sex .. I’m constantly having to prove something different.” Even though many statistics state that Asians will probably make up more of the US population than Whites in the upcoming years, Asians make up only 3.1% of all top film roles. While people are attempting to give more roles to minority groups, especially after the #metoo movement, there is still a lot of troubles due to our political climate. I remember being worried about the minority groups after listening to Trump’s speech, but the fact that Hasan Minhaj spoke at the White House Correspondent dinner was great because it was a time America was very sensitive on race.
While I am assuming most South Asians want to be actors that don’t play the stereotypical role, I think I need to also consider that at the end of they day people need a job. That is why they chose to play that nerdy character, the terrorist, or force themselves to have an accent. I am glad there is some progress in the industry with the Mindy Project and Hasan Minhaj’s Homecoming King. Priyanka Chopra was the star of ABC’s Quantico, but it ended only after 3 seasons. I personally have never watched Quantico, but I know there has been some controversies that offended some people.
I so happy that Crazy Rich Asians and Fresh Off the Boat is successful, but I would also like to see Asians who have brown skin like myself to have their own show or movie. There has not been a show or movie that I can think of that had an all South Asian cast. I mean it only makes sense to me as India is the second most populated country in the world. I’m still waiting for the day there can be an all Indian cast show that does not include any types of stereotypes. I want to see a show or a movie where I can really see myself, as an American Indian, on screen. Not even just on television or movies, but also in video games and animated shows.
In conclusion, growing up I was usually almost always offended with the stereotypical characters Indians were given. There has been some progress, but I would love to see a lot more.