South Asians Do Hollywood

From the ganja and burger loving Kumar, to the footballing Jess who can Bend it like Beckham, all the way to the cat –walking Julie gracing the runways of America’s Next Top Model, South Asians are infiltrating Hollywood. With prime time shows like Lost, The O.C. and Grey’s Anatomy casting South Asians, South Asian actors are creating waves within a popular culture that traditionally bombards us with images of the blonde haired and blue eyed. We are witnessing an emergence of a group of South Asian actors that are breaking free from stereotypes that are responsible for casting them as cab drivers, convenience store owners, and heavily accented immigrants. South Asians are portrayed as doctors on E.R., businessmen in Sex and the City, and even wizards training alongside Harry Potter. It seems as if Hollywood is finally recognizing the multi-dimensional nature and versatility of South Asian actors as representations of the ever evolving and diverse South Asian community in North America. Is this indicative of new era of popular culture, one that is redefining the previously unquestioned mainstream? Are we observing a major change, a shift towards a more open, accepting, and truly multicultural entertainment industry? I would argue that there is still a long road ahead of us. It is important to question how we as a group are being represented, by whom, and under what circumstances. The capital behind pop culture enterprises, with dollar signs in their eyes and diversity on their lips, are realizing that South Asians constitute a huge market and to alienate them is to surrender their dollars to Bollywood- where South Asians are mainstream and white people are the “Other.” Also, people are realizing that there is money to be made by putting South Asians on the big screens, not only to attract to South Asian consumers but also because North American society likes to laugh at us. I won’t go into a long, dramatic monologue about the dangers of misrepresentation of media images, as I’m sure you’ve heard it all before. I will, however, urge you to resist settling with seeing South Asians in pop culture as a sign of progress; we are not passive receptors of North American pop culture, we help shape it and the least we deserve is accurate representation.

The capital behind pop culture enterprises, with dollar signs in their eyes and diversity on their lips, are realizing that South Asians constitute a huge market and to alienate them is to surrender their dollars to Bollywood

The way we typically see South Asians being represented is one of two ways: we are both mimicked and made fun of, or, our ethnicity is ignored altogether. For example, when Indians and Indian culture were featured in a mainstream film, it seemed as if the world was ready for a look into the world of South Asian Canadians, as written and directed by a South Asian Canadian. Here it was, a perfect opportunity for reinvention, a chance to show the world that we are more than cab drivers, terrorists, and foreign exchange students. Deepa Mehta had a chance to prove that we are not goofy simpletons who oppress our women and drink too much. Bollywood Hollywood had the distribution, advertising, audience appeal, and consequently the potential to defy stereotypes and represent in a meaningful way. Undoubtedly, and unfortunately, the film has taken the form of mimicry as opposed to reinvention. It pokes fun at South Asian culture and its idiosyncrasies. Whether it’s the chauffeur’s suppressed gender identity or a Sikh father’s outrage at a daughter who defies him, Mehta makes audiences laugh. Mehta presents to the world a backwards Sikh family and racist, elitist Hindu family. I’m not denying the cleverness or wittiness of the film-it was funny. However, this is the first time a film about South Asian life with South Asian characters was put out into the mainstream and we have a responsibility to break down stereotypes before we can start to make fun of ourselves in front of the world. What this film has done is confirm that we are in fact all of these negative things that North American society has labeled us. Humor is said to maintain the social structures that gave it birth. This is how it works: if you are somebody who is high up in the social hierarchy, you tend to make a joke at the expense of others; if you are low in the hierarchy, you are more likely to make jokes at your own expense. Mehta is helping to put South Asians in the category of “racial other.” Mehta is not the only one guilty of having a hand in the creation of the “racial other.” Films like The Guru and Touch of Pink follow the same trend of poking fun at South Asian culture in order to attract a wide audience. With the increasing popularity of South Asian work, producers of cultural forms must be careful not to present identity and “multiculturalism” as an exhibition, a spectacle for the pleasure of others to see and consume. Deepa Mehta in Bollywood Hollywood is among the most visible filmmaker that has commodified South Asian experience, and re-packaged it into a marketable form. Reinvention is sacrificed for profit, without any thought to what this means for creating a meaningful on-screen depictions of South Asians. It is exemplary of the attitude of, “If we can profit off of making fun ourselves, then why not?” In today’s capital driven world, it is important to be strategic, but at what costs? There is no denying that there is money to be made by exploiting South Asians and South Asian culture but there is no such thing as a quick buck; there are always consequences.

South Asian actors are creating waves within a popular culture that traditionally bombards us with images of the blonde haired and blue eyed.

The only way to really combat the profit monster that is pop culture is to have more South Asians with an agenda working behind the scenes, taking a more active role in the production of culture. Having non-South Asians write roles for South Asian characters is not enough. On the other hand, having a South Asian filmmaker capitalize by making fun of our culture isn’t enough, either. Nawal El Saadawi, a South Asian scholar, states that, “Representation is never easy. And there is no real representation if you are not part of people’s everyday life, of their failures and their successes, their misery and their joy, their despair and their passion, their margins of freedom and their prison bars.” When South Asian producers of culture are increasingly having their work put out into the mainstream, they are presented with the opportunities to voice those concerns and experiences that otherwise remain hidden. It is important, then, to utilize the voice that is given to an individual author or a community and break down existing stereotypes and question the previously unquestioned roles that South Asians have been placed in. Filmmaking, directing and writing screenplays is not a field that South Asians have traditionally been a part of, but that needs to change. Having more South Asians actively involved in the production of culture in North America is a huge step for our communities and a way to meaningfully represent a specific group of North Americans.