![\"Divya_Narendra_Max_Minghella.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.sepiamutiny.com\/sepia\/Divya_Narendra_Max_Minghella.jpg\")
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Last Friday my boyfriend and I went to the theater to watch The Social Network<\/em>, a movie that tells the story of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s creation of the ubiquitous social media site. The film itself was fantastic – cleverly told, with fast-paced, witty dialogue and a group of young, talented actors. To nobody’s surprise, it garnered excellent reviews<\/a> and made a respectful first-place opening <\/a>at the box-office. But one detail did bother me – and many others that I spoke with – the fact that the only major minority character in the film, Indian-American Divya Narendra<\/a>, was played by Italian-American Max Minghella<\/a>. \nFor all this talk of desis representing in American television today, film roles for brown folks playing actual brown characters seem to be few and far between. Or is just my imagination? Need another recent example? Guess who’s playing Parsi, Indian-born Farrokh Bulsara aka Freddie Mercury in the new biopic about Queen? English actor Sacha Baron Cohen. <\/a> Okay, so a white guy can play a brown guy — but when’s the last time you saw a brown guy playing John Lennon?<\/p>\n\n Sure, when it comes to casting, you can’t always get it right. (For instance, take a look at the actual Narendra who is wayyyy cuter than his screen twin.<\/a>) And I’m sure Mr. Minghella and Mr. Cohen are fine, fine actors who will do justice to their brown counterparts. No doubt Hollywood directors feel with a big-budget film like the Queen biopic, it makes sense to go with a tried-and-true actor like Cohen over a relatively unknown desi actor. But what about minor roles like Narendra’s. There are plenty of unemployed brown actors with a similar pedigree who could do justice to Narendra’s role as well.<\/p>\n\n