I’m intrested to talk to you as well, not read your script, but just find out how you got started writing, do you have a day job, etc.. etc.. You can send me an email at the link or at castingsonia@yahoo.com

HMF

I’m probably the only Asian left in the US who hasn’t seen Harold & Kumar, so tonight was my first Kal Penn viewing. I’m a die hard Superman Movie fan, so Kal was low on my list of obervations, but I thought he was awesome and I thought his not* speaking was awesome—he was incredibly creepy and expressive. While the other henchmen had more lines, it was obvious that Kal was Henchman #1, and Singer–who is a visual director–focused on his face a lot, at key moments. I think Singer was going for a new kind of henchman, one much more in tune with Lex Luthor, and thereby much, much scarier. It’s exactly b/c Luthor and Penn et al are so almost sympathetic—interesting, smart, intense, lively, sharing a weird camraderie–that the climactic scene of their evil (you know what I’m talking about if you’ve seen the movie) is so horrifying.

I went in totally expecting to be horrified, and I was pretty happy when I walked out.

*I think there’s one line of his that’s off camera in the model train room scene.

I’d love to read one of your scripts…got any links?

If you prefer big strong chest-beating Indians, check out the dude in The Longest Yard remake – he’s pretty cool, but hardly typical.

KP does what he has to do, like an actor of any race, especially the darker ones, of course.

Also,

“Taj in (sic) a cringe-worthy character, half my white friends insisted on calling me Taj after seeing Van Wilder.” – DarkKnight

My dear brother, me thinks you really need some NEW white friends in that case (there’s lots to choose from!). KP is not the problem.

No more shame! Candlelight vigil, 7pm.

Great response. It’s embarassing, but most Indian people I know, including my sister, despite having the benefit of the same upbringing, are guilty of this, and pretty sensitive when confronted with it. Apparently, we can’t all keep it real all the time.

I should be accusing you of not reading into the subtlety of my statement. I said:

In my view, the only people who’d be offended by it, are those that are accused of doing it.

Passive voice. So I’m not accusing you of anything, but if you are really offended by it, chances are that someone, somewhere, somehow has accused you of uncle tom’ing, coconut’ing, twinkie’ing, oreo’ing, or any other food product you can think of.

Damn girl. Are you really married?

Not that it matters. Also, I never realized Killer Khalsa was a read guy. That’s hilarious. Was he famous before Bollywood/Hollywood?

I’m also a desi writer trying to get published. Does that mean if I write some model-minority “Being an indian guy is so hard because I can’t talk to girls or get it up” drivel and get published, you will applaud me? By your logic, Gurinder Chadha, Kaavya V., Naipaul and all the other desi people that have perpetuated the stereotypes about us were justified. That’s the whole point; it takes someone with real strength of character to stick to what they believe in and true to themselves instead of selling out. Kal Penn does not represent a step forward to me at all. The only movie in which he made me proud even a little was harold and Kumar, and that’s because as a blunt-smoking college student, I was exactly the demographic it was aimed towards. (And he still was from a stereotypical doctor family, was kind of a pussy, and ended up going to med school. Not that revolutionary). Taj in a cringe-worthy character, half my white friends insisted on calling me Taj after seeing Van Wilder. At least it was a stupid movie in both cases; his next role as Gogol Ganguli involves playing the same type of limp dick brown wuss who gets bitched by all the women in his life, both brown and white. That role is going to be much worse, because everyone I know who sees it is going to assume that all us brown guys are similarly weak willed and ashamed of our heritage. To me, Kal Penn and his anglicized name is just another version of Apu on the Simpsons; reinforcing our negative image as Indian men, not advancing us at all.