So when I say South Asians on TV, I generally mean American TV (because who watches Canadian TV except for CBC news shows anyway). Obviously, I don’t mean Indian TV because…it’s India…pretty much everyone on TV is South Asian.
Moving on to The Mindy Project
Comedy Central India’s started playing The Mindy Project and I think it’s awesome to have a protagonist of Indian origin. Without focusing sooooo much on the Indian part. There’s an India joke here or there, but it’s not like ‘OMG, I’M INDIAN, LET ME SING AND DANCE.’
I’ve read a few criticisms online about the whole ‘don’t send me poor immigrants’ thing, and I do think she gets a free pass to say that because she’s a brown woman and not a white man (well until recently anyway, white male comedians could have been as racist as they wanted to till about 10 years ago).
But I get it.
She’s making it very clear that she comes from a relatively wealthy, educated background as opposed to a family that runs a convenience store—sometimes, I think ‘white’ people, especially from middle of nowhere small towns, tend to think brown = must be from a poor immigrant family. It’s annoying really (and ironic, but I'd rather not get into explaining why). Anyway, it's not like she turned down the patient or anything.
I’m glad this series is playing in India because actors like Mindy Kaling are non-existent in Indian TV shows. It’s not even like a Frieda Pinto thing where ‘she’s attractive, but nothing spectacular’ (at least that’s the lame excuse I’ve heard most from people here) to be considered conventionally beautiful in India. Seriously, some of the people I've met here get super defensive and weird when Frieda Pinto comes up in conversation--they're all like 'well, she's only famous in the West because she's unusual looking there.' Well, Mindy Kaling is the total opposite of what’s considered conventionally beautiful in India: she’s short, she’s dark skinned, and she’s round. I think it is very empowering for Indian women to see such a successful actor, writer, and director on TV.
