I Say, Chaps: Hello Hollywood, the Indians are here

A young actor from Bengaluru, who has taken baby steps into Hollywood, writes how in the West, brown may well be the new black

‘The Indians are coming’ is an idiom that no longer holds true in Western cinema. That’s because the Indians have arrived and are busy making a mark. In the past, establishing the credibility of an artist of South Asian origin in the West always entailed infant steps over the years. Now an increasing number of South Asian artists are acknowledged in the mainstream alongside their white contemporaries.In the lead

Rohan aspires to be part of stories that pay homage to his homeland

It’s been a long haul for South Asian artists from the time of just a few names in the global movie scene such as Sabu Dastagir, Shashi Kapoor, Persis Khambatta and Leela Naidu to now, a plethora of talent becoming household names.

It wasn’t long ago when South Asian artists had to keep their origin a secret, change their names to win auditions, entertain audition calls for pigeonholed brown skin roles and forced to converse in stereotypical accents, which sounded almost comical to the Western ear. Today, we are seeing South Asians become leading characters with significance. Everyone is jazzed up after watching the likes of Priyanka Chopra, Irrfan Khan, Mindy Kaling, Hasan Minhaj, Kal Penn, Riz Ahmed, Frieda Pinto and Dev Patel. Now, South Asian artists not only get colour-blind roles but have the power to cherry-pick, ushering a new era into a progressive crusade in mainstream world cinema.

Brownface/brownfarce

But non-South Asians continue to bear misconceptions about the culture and region. The West is gradually realising that we as a minority embrace an invigorating cinematic presence. But I do not think the inclusiveness is snowballing at an impressive-enough pace. Portrayals of Indian characters in Hollywood have been stereotyped and pivoted on cultural ignorance and under-researched one-dimensional characters, forgetting a vital dimension is the heterogeneity of our culture. Although we have come a long way from Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and Slumdog Millionaire (2008), we need more films like Lion (2016), The Namesake (2006), Parasite (2019) and involvement by visionaries like Ava DuVernay, Mira Nair and Lee Chang-dong, amongst others.

Meaningful content is like holding a mirror in front of a viewer. Top Hollywood executives need to trust that whoever holds the mirror will be able to deliver regardless of their skin colour.

Beyond the stereotypes

I aspire to be part of stories that authentically pay homage to where I’ve grown up in so that I can create avenues for other South Asian artists.

The Western film industry has become racially sensitive compared to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), passive racism continues to be depicted, which is unacceptable.

As Bong Joon-Ho said, “Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you’ll be introduced to many more amazing films.”

Rohan is a NYC-based actor who grew up in Bangalore, India, and trained at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute. He’s acted in Chick Fight (2020) and Red 48 (expected release in 2022)

From HT Brunch, March 14, 2021

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