Finding Your Reflection: Popular Culture
I am a staunch supporter of the power of representation, and as a Indian growing up in America - like many other communities - I've felt woefully underrepresented. Though Hollywood is just starting to realize the power of telling the stories of marginalized groups, (ex. Marvel's Black Panther, Crazy Rich Asians, and even DC's Wonder Woman), we still have a long way to go. I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite South Asians who I've seen in the public eye. These are not all of the famous South Asians, by any means, but some of my personal favorites.
Comedy:
Like most brown kids my age, growing up, we only knew of one famous person that looked like us: Russell Peters, a comedian. Almost every brown person I encountered - for years - would have seen his work, and you could converse with a complete stranger about any one of his bits, which were most likely from this show. Now, his set might be a little outdated, but because of him, it's no surprise that I looked to stand-up comedy to find people like me.
Hasan Minhaj - a former correspondent from the Daily Show, he has a Netflix special called Homecoming King, and an upcoming Netflix show called Patriot Act, set to release in October. In all of his work, he intricately weaves in social commentary and political satire with jokes, and will undoubtedly have you in stitches, all while educating you about different topics. I've had the pleasure of seeing him twice this year, and in both of these shows, he's done a phenomenal job at highlighting the plight of refugees and the irrational fear against them, while also talking about how terrorism is racialized in the US. During both shows, I never once stopped laughing, but when seeing him, I was filled with this pervasive sense that my life experience was being seen and understood, and spoken back to me in the form of comedy.
Hari Kondabalu's documentary, the Problem With Apu - which you can view here. This documentary will make you incensed with how little representation South Asians have, and how - especially in the case of Apu - we were unable to control our own image and representation. However, this program accomplished an amazing feat, bringing together almost every single person I've seen that looked like me on television; I even noticed some brown actors that I've seen scattered in various shows as extras. For that alone, it is worth watching. Hari also has a Netflix special, though I have not seen it yet.
Vir Das - a comedian from India, who currently has a special on Netflix. Though he is not raised in the Western world (ex. America, England) like the other people I have mentioned, I still felt that his set resonated with me, though since I was raised in America, some of the jokes about India went right over my head.
Television:
I have not had the chance to watch all the television shows that feature brown actors, but here are some of my favorites. For a long time, the only representation we had was from the sitcoms Parks and Recreation and The Office, in the form of Tom Haverford and Kelly Kapoor. Because of the work of Mindy Kaling and Aziz Ansari, who both went on to create shows of their own, there is now more room for people that look like us on the television screen.
Hannah Simone - an actress on the show New Girl, plays Cece, the best friend of the main character. New Girl is one of my favorite shows of all time, and Cece herself breaks many of the stereotypes typically placed on brown women. As an added bonus, she is hilarious, and part of many of my favorite storylines from the show. In an interview with Refinery29, Hannah recounted her experience of being cast as Cece, saying to the person that cast her, "You have no idea what you’ve done for representation of brown women. I did not grow up ever seeing someone who looked like me on a TV show like Friends." Hannah is also highlighted in this Vanity Fair article about South Asian representation, which lists many other notable South Asians in popular culture.
Tan France - part of the Fab 5 on Netflix's Queer Eye, he is in charge of making over the hero of each episode in terms of their fashion sense. Not only is it physically impossible to be unhappy while watching any episode of this show, Tan is one of the first visible South Asian members of the LGBTQ+ community. He talks about about his experience of being a gay British-Pakistani Muslim in an episode of his castmate's podcast, Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness. Listen to the episode here, and watch the show. You won't regret it.
Riz Ahmed - an actor and rapper, his roles include anything from the franchises Jason Bourne and Star Wars, to an HBO limited series, the Night Of. Though I have yet to watch his show, I've seen him in both Jason Bourne and Star Wars: Rogue One, and it was a pleasant surprise to have someone look like me on the big screen. After the events that took place in Charlottesville, he performed a spoken word rendition of one his songs on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which I would highly recommend watching. He also is part of a musical group called Swet Shop Boys. They have a song called T5, which is the perfect listen for when you're tired of being randomly selected by the TSA. He also recently covered The New York Times magazine, and the interview with him is definitely worth the read.
Kumail Nanjiani - a lead actor in the HBO series Silicon Valley (which I have not seen), and co-writer and star of the movie The Big Sick, in which he wrote about his experience meeting his now-wife. One of my favorite things about him are his interviews - he never shies away from conversations about race, and it makes his interactions with others all the more enjoyable. One of my favorite talk show moments ever happened with him and Riz Ahmed (see if you can guess why it's my favorite).
I know I have left out many other actors and shows, since these are the only ones I have been exposed to, watched, or planning to watch. My hope is that there will come a time that there won't need to be lists of where South Asians are represented, but it will become the norm - and maybe people won't be surprised at how much we can do (Priyanka Chopra becoming both a Western actor while already a Bollywood superstar? Groundbreaking.).
