In non-election news, tipsters are blowing up our spot to tell us about The Papdits, a TV pilot being shown online at Innertube, CBS’s broadband outlet. The creator is someone called Ant Hines, who is credited as a co-writer on Da Ali G Show and Borat.
The Papdits are a fictional Indian family (Kashmiri, the website specifies, strangely) who go around the United States in an RV on a mission to purchase and operate quartz mines. (Bear with me here.) We see them in Arkansas interacting with local yokels who are unaware that this is a “reality/scripted hybrid” played by actors who want to make them look ridiculous. I got through the corny music and overdone accents and made it to the point where the daughter wants to “make toilet” in a lake off the side of a boat that the family is trying to rent. You can see it all here.
The show is coming out of what Variety calls “two years of development hell,” being first developed for — and rejected by — Fox, before landing with CBS:
When it came time to make a decision on a series greenlight, however, CBS decided the show was simply too out there for its relatively mainstream aud.
Out there??? Try idiotic, borderline racist, a complete dog!
But [CBS exec] Tellem said Eye execs were hard-pressed to simply dismiss the show, which prompted serious laughter in the net’s screening rooms last May. …
Execs quickly decided it made sense to put the Sony/CBS Par show on the net’s Innertube broadband service. Rather than just throw it on immediately, however, net opted to wait a few months in order to piggyback the online premiere of “The Papdits” with the release of another, similarly themed project: “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.”
Yeah, just like Borat, right? No, for at least one salient reason: while Sacha Baron Cohen is not, in fact, Kazakh, Ant Hines found himself some real-life desis to play the Papdit family. The mother, father and son are played by Priya Ayyar, Nitin Ganatra, and Kunal Sharma. One trusts this will not be the culminating achievement of their careers. CBS, meanwhile, thinks it’s onto something, and Hines ends up a winner either way:
While it’s highly unlikely the Innertube exposure will lead to a CBS berth for “The Papdits,” Tellem doesn’t hesitate when asked whether more episodes of the project could end up on Innertube.
“Absolutely,” she said.
In the meantime, CBS has given Hines a vote of confidence, inking a deal with the scribe to develop a new project for next season.
UPDATE: I think The Papdits is awful, but Priya at Nirali has a different view. What do y’all think?
I have been wanting to write a screen play and or sitcom centering around the interaction betweent he immigrant parents and the first generation ABCD generation in a realistic and humorous fashion but without resorting to outlandish lampooning or cartoonish stereotytpes. Something along the lines of Mi Familia. I don’t know if something like this could work, but I sense a definite need for something authentic out there. Maybe The Namesake will fill that void, but it’s just something that’s been on my mind.
If anyone is interested in something like this send me an e-mail. Most of the ideas are autobiographical, but I suck at writing. Needless to say I have the awkward meeting with the parents, the accidental discovery by mom of her daughter’s white boyfriend “Eh Uma, some boy, some sleepy AMERICAN boy answered the phone…”, the psychotic mother refusing to accept her son’s wife, the kick ass wedding etc.
I guess I think of Kazakhs as white because…well, they are white…but, no, because of their proximity to Russia. I’ve got a good Kazakh Jewish friend…alabaster skin, etc…but she’s from a priviledged background, I can’t really say I know what the Kazakh on the street looks like.
Now if we were talking Turkmenistan…or, better still, Tajikistan, forget it, those brothers are practically Afghan, and these days no one thinks of them as white.
Maybe my point would be better made by saying this shit wouldn’t fly with any nation expressly fighting a liberation struggle against white oppressors.
E.g. India.
wait… yetis aren’t abominable snowmen? learn something new everyday…! Thankyou, SM.
Crap! They should have a way to Trash on internet!
This is why I will always love you…
… even though you hurt me so. The Irish were never precisely “black” – although quite clearly there was a historical moment in which the situations of the Irish and Afrikans were quite similar, and there was even a certain level of Black-Irish solidarity in such instances as Bacon’s Rebellion which led to laws that assisted the Irish in embracing whiteness (as you know, I bet)… still, it’s misleading to say they were “black”, given that Blackness has always been an unquestionable bar to Whiteness in this country, and there was a clear understanding at some early point that the Irish, if not “white” yet, could be “whitened” relatively quickly.
The Irish are quite white now, of course. Are the Kazakhs and certain potentially white peoples on their way to whiteness? I don’t think Central Asians are even in the ballpark; maybe the Turkish are trying their best, but I think there’s a world of difference (sociopolitically, geographically, economically, culturally) between one Turk and another.
Mr. Kobayashi, I hope you’re not saying that Kazakhs are white just because Cohen is white (jewish), and you’re accepting his appearance as being that of typical Kazakhs; because Kazakhs are, to put it crudely and in an outdated (but clear) way, ‘oriental’ looking. They look like Mongols to an extent. Vaguely ‘chinese’ but not quite. See below for more (and pictures):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhs
yeti: i think razib was referring to Macacaroach, who u were addressing and who also said this:
i think i recall macacaroach once was calling razib a white supremacist or something to that affect on another thread a long time ago. so i don’t think he meant you. unless that was you.
Crap, you already commented again. And you’re probably commenting as I speak. I feel as though Kazakhs are a bit too ambiguous and variable to be stamped “white” at this point.
I hate our little spats. Come here, you. You need some Yeti lovin’.
Yeti, I said the Irish were “black,” I didn’t say they were black. A difference, I’m sure, you see.
Thanks for talking Turkey, sister.
Hm, razib sure didn’t make that clear to me. If so, my bad raz. If not, see above.
I have nothing to do with macacaroach; I will abuse him/her whenever and however I can.
Mr Kobayashi, Tajiks and Turkmens are not white, nor are they really Afghans in an ethnic sense (politically they obviously can be)…the true Afghans (historically-sepaking) are the Pashtuns. And many if not most Pashtuns could conceivably pass for white, although their features are not Anglo. There are ethnic, racial, phenotypic differences betweens Pashtuns on one hand and the Tajiks/Turkmens on the other.
Are you guys acting punchy because you’re waiting for election results and too distracted to get anything else done? I know I am.
Great link Amitabh.
I was wrong, you (Yeti, Espressa) were right. Dem folks aint white.
I based my sense of Kazakh appearance on Natalya (my Jewish-Kazakh friend) and the people in the trailer for Borat.
Kobayashi’s next speed eating event is humble pie!
Asha’s Dad,
Come on dude. Why not write a story about who you are and how you feel about being in a desi-white marriaged? That I would be interesting in reading. You’re not desi man, thats no knock on you. You’re a man who is describes himself as white, who apparently married an indian woman, and now, apparently have kids. Thats a story in itself. But authentic sitcome about
I don’t think you’re all that well placed to do that, your wife, probably, could write a hilarious story about all the rigamarole you both went through.
One love man
Sometimes I dream of a Pardesi Gori-Macacaroach face-off. It never happened. Alas!
quartz crystal meth! really? no one else laughed?
Yeti,
I’m just throwing it out there, you are abusive but you limit your abusive comments to people you don’t think matter. And those people you treat like crap. At least on this board.
For someone so concerned with one comment from someone in passing that described some of your comments as abusive, and then to turn around and blithely say you would “abuse” maccacaroach at all opporuntities (in some many words). That’s some pretty clear “self-righteousness right there.
Had to be said.
but we don’t know how she is getting out of sack…
I think that Mr Kobayashi’s original point about white-on-white humor still stands, at least in regards to Borat. The images we see in the movie are not of actual Kazakhs, but of Borat, who looks white. Whether or not he is a good representation of Kazakh ethnicity, the people that he punks in the film and, I would guess, the majority of the viewing audience assume that he is.
I think Mr K can still make that argument (if he wants to).
Sahej,
Good points. Maybe sitcom is the wrong way to go. but humor tends to go over better than tug at the heart strings drama.
I only bring one point of view, but a story such as this would involve two different points of view. As bad as I am as a writer, my wife is even worse and probably has no interest in something like this (although I probably should ask her). I would not pretend to be so pompous as to think that I could write from a Desi perspective, Indian perspective, or an immigrant perspective. You cannot fake authenticity. That being said I was simply throwing the idea out there. I know that this is naive, but I don’t want my daughter to grow up confused or feel insecure about her background, either among mainstream white America or within the desi community. The lion’s share of this is our job as parents, but I can’t help but imagine that there are a lot of couples out there in a similar situation and it always helps to know that one is not alone.
Take care.
Asha’s Dad,
That sounds like a different and cool project. My respect level for you just went up by a million.
63: word, siddhartha. Stomach upset.
I never really watch TV except the daily show & colbert on the web and arrested development on dvd. 30 minutes is way too long for me to attach t a show that doesn’t come with massive praise from trusted sources. sounds like this is just bad, and not particularly desi-oriented bad.
gosh, I loved it so much I can’t stop defending it.
I don’t think the Papdits were intended to be a stereotypical Indian family. Just a believable one. The critique is of the other end.
They seem like nice people, if foreign. The hospitable Ameircans welcome them warmly, willing to help them settle in and assimilate. Yeah, they’re a little quirky, but hey, what’d you expect? they’re foriegn!!
Now.. just how much “quirk” can the open-minded American rationalize away as “well they just do things differently” before it becomes obvious that many middle-Americans really do see foreigners, even those of us who speak english and make toilet in toilets, as something inferior, crude and barbaric?
For a seriously disturbing example in a serious discussion setting, see this transcript of a CIS panel discussion on immigration and terrorism.
There’s so much in it to make one’s blood boil, but please indulge me as I draw your attention to my favorite. Scroll down through the Q&A to:
Did you see that??! She ANSWERED the question….without a HINT of outrage!
As much as we may try to ignore it, this attitude permeates a lot of America. So the Papdits get my respect for getting them to reveal what they really think.
since there’s lots of mention of stereotypes, race and Borat…here’s a rare clip of Sasha Baron Cohen talking about his charaters.
And the grandmother is Madhur Jaffrey btw.
I don’t see the long-suffering Arkansans in the clip behaving particularly differently than anybody else in the world with boorish, insane-acting foreigners. They’re unfailingly polite and patient and try very gently to explain things to them. I don’t really see it as revealing their inherent racism. Maybe my racism-radar is weak (being fob and all).
I guess the problem I have with Borat and this is that the humour is generated from the kindness and politeness of others. I can tolerate it if it’s being aimed at the powerful (like on Stewart/Colbert and even sometimes on Ali G) but I’m uncomfortable when it’s aimed at the powerless and defenceless or atleast people who are not hurting anybody else.
Yes there were some really painful bits that reinforce stereotypes of immigrants from third world countries. The bad accents (more accurately the strangely broken english) were horrible (especially from Mrs.P). But there were a few funny bits — Mr.P’s harebrained business-plans (I liked his quoting of Donald Trump’s [?] “Art of the Deal” [?]), Mrs.P calling Mountain Dew the “Dew from the Mountain”, and perhaps the quartz-crystal-meth bit.
Like many other things on SM, reactions to this will depend on how close it strikes to home probably.
Also I think “Kashmiri” (rather than Indian or Pakistani), like Kazhakstani, was chosen to be a non-specific foreign nationality that most viewers wouldn’t know much about.
The Papdits don’t have to make sense. Thats the point. Modern humor is often surreal, over the top.
A family of Indians (no, Kashmiris, to be specific) dumb as rocks living in an RV selling crystal meth. Of course, it doesn’t make sense. They aren’t supposed to be realistic. What’s funny is that everybody who interacts with them thinks they are real, and not a parody of every ethnic/foreign stereotype combined. The victims don’t see through the joke.
Someone above mentioned how the show reflects badly on Indians or the diaspora in general. This is no more the case than Flavor Flav reflecting badly on black people or Larry the Cable guy and the Blue Collar comedy tour reflecting badly on white Southerners.
I watched it last night through your “News” tab – a few things I thought were funny… the “widow” jokes, putting the women’s painting club to work harvesting crystals, the “crystal meth” joke, the “100 orphans from India” were definitely in bad taste, and a low blow to India and its citizens everywhere. The guy come across as a total RETARD! And that’s a shame, because MY Indian friends are anything but…
The pratfalls of the son on the golfcourse were cute, but otherwise, even this gora is offended…
Just saw some of the Papdits stuff…funny in parts…I did laugh…but is that MADHUR JAFFREY playing the grandmother? I can’t believe SHE would sink to that level.
As for Borat, I’ll probably eventually see the movie, but it is kind of sad that he dragged an obscure, unassuming nation into the whole thing…it’s probably just a good thing that there are so few Kazakhs in the US/Europe to watch the movie and feel hurt about it.
Lastly:
I don’t understand that sentiment…it’s like baiting people to ‘reveal their true feelings’ or say/do offensive things…most of the people so baited are fairly nice, normal, mainstream types, minding their own business…it’s like that Borat video clip of ‘Throw the Jew Down the Well’…yes, he does get a crowd of redneck-types to enthusiastically sing an anti-semitic song with him. But if he hadn’t done that, that crowd would have just been enjoying their usual music, without having anything anti-semitic (or pertaining to Jews at all) in their minds…so what do you really prove with these gimmicks?
Ashvin, I hadn’t seen your comment when I posted, but I agree with you 100%, you expressed it far better than me.
these gimmicks reveal our dormant stereotypes. and once we become aware of them, we can dismantle them. lather, rinse, repeat. this is progress.
Basically, there’s a difference between tolerance and understanding. And the former can prevent the latter. Everyone the Papdits encounter does thier best to tolerate them–by filing their peculiarities under foreigness, no one cares enough to try to understand. If they cared, they’d get the joke.
And yes, maybe it’s disturbing still waters, but if there were a dangerous creature lurking beneath the surface of your swimming pool…wouldn’t you want to tease it out and deflate it?
the author of this post sounds like the Khazak government critizising Borat. Suck it up and yenjoy.
… well, that’s true enough. I can’t really argue with that.
What can I say, I’m a loose cannon who plays by my own rules, a one-Yeti crusade against a collection of villains that only exist in my feverishly maddened mind. However, did you miss the tragic tale of why the Yeti is the way the Yeti is? Maybe a little more EM-pathy and a little less ME-pathy, mmm?
I do think the Kazakh government has gotten a pretty bad rep in this whole thing. What were they supposed to do? I’m sure Kazakhstan is pretty aware of its global status, or lack thereof, and doesn’t want to be humiliated. Their choice was either remain silent and take what surely appeared offensive and humiliating, or make a statement in an attempt to at least maintain some dignity. Not a great position.
And Mr. Kobayashi… humility is the sign of true greatness. The yeti lacks it but one day hopes to be as such. bows down to Mr. K
I remember the Kazakh ambassador to UK made a statement to the effect: ‘We survived Stalin. I think we can survive Borat’.
Youtube has a clip on that….it is funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je_1j2x6zxQ&mode=user&search=
Hmmm. I understand what you’re saying, but that’s a really high standard to hold them to. I think a gullible but non-racist person would behave very much like those Arkansans did. It’s a close call.
Thanks for the kind words Amitabh.
Yeti,
Wouldn’t “mepathy’ be about how bad you have it? is it cos you’re marathi? Come on man, you live in a multi-culutural world, don’t limit yourself by one region in South asian. Marathis are great people aren’t they? Although I thought you were Ethopian brah?
well.. I’m not faulting them for it. I’m just laughing at them.
I would love to see the outtakes. I bet there encountered a lot of people who got the joke and laughed their asses off.
But, Ashvin, you’re right: We all hold little stereotypes. Life would be impossible without them.
Asha’s Dad,
You could have a split-screen “Sliding Doors”-type technique. Imagine the contrasting “inner monologues” as the voiceovers by the various desi & non-desi characters.
Sounds like a great idea. Do it 🙂
This show is so Papa(dum)b.
Come on!! This shit sucks donkey-balls. There is absolutely no humor whatsoever. Stereotyping can work if its done with some taste like Russel Peters.
Totally just realized that the father was Mr. Kohli from Bride and Prejudice. I was thinking “I recognize that goofy accent….”
A relevant article on Borat’s humor and bigotry from the Nation magazine via 3QD : http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdaily/2006/11/borat_and_the_s.html
Umm to everyone who wants Russel Peters to be recasted in this as the father, quick reminder. HE’s Southern and hes Malu, H’e not Kashmiri.
Right. Because THAT is how casting works and beyond that, the concept of ACTING, of transforming yourself in to your character matters not. I’m Southern AND Mallu AND I find this comment asinine…unless it was a joke. Please tell me it was a joke. Please.
I don’t think Russell Peters is Malayalee. I believe he’s of Anglo-Indian background. Which makes it a little ironic that he’s found his niche in life doing desi comedy, since most Anglo-Indians kept a deliberate social distance from other desis, and were not well-versed in the cultural identities of the other Indians around them.
I’ve watched the whole Papdits thing now…it IS funny…but I’m so glad CBS didn’t pick it up. For one thing, yes it tries to target gullible Americans as the butt of the joke, but Indians do also end up being the butt of the joke; and secondly, Indian kids in primary, middle, and high schools throughout this country would be made fun of relentlessly if this show was on network tv.
It breaks my heart that this is the closest network television has come to casting Indians in any major sitcom/drama roles (aside from Parminder Nagra’s turn as a doctor on ER — I think she’s wasted there and deserves to be on a higher profile show.) Before this, we had Navi Rawat playing Ryan’s ambiguously Hispanic girlfriend on The OC. Wait no, memory isn’t serving me well; there have been two episodes of Nip/Tuck recently that featured Meera Simhan playing a doctor. In painfully limited roles.
My question is this: why can’t the Indian thing simply be an afterthought to the character than the crux and point of _every_single_joke? I’m glad The Papdits didn’t make it to series — I think I saw not a name of a single Indian writer on the show — or even someone who could be seen as South Asian; maybe I’m wrong, but if that is the case, then how can you lampoon a culture when none of your writing staff can write from experience?
This could’ve been worse. We could’ve had “All American Girl”-Margaret Cho style all over again. Thankfully someone had the foresight to shoot this mess in the foot before it got a chance to walk.
Amitabh,
Interesting that you mentioned that. The history of Anglo-Indians from the early Victorian age onwards is fairly traumatic in some ways, and there are quite a few eye-opening facts which aren’t generally widely known. Coincidentally, I wrote an article on the British version of SM, Pickled Politics, earlier this week as a guest blogger which (amongst several other things) included a discussion on the background of Anglo-Indians, so please check it out here if you’re interested.