If you think of brown people in Hollywood films or TV shows, you’ll probably think of Mindy Kaling, Kumail Nanjiani, Dev Patel, Priyanka Chopra, and maybe even Zayn Malik. All of them have done quite a significant amount of work in their respective fields. But no matter how one sees it, some stereotypes stick to them because of their skin colour: Brown.
One stereotype is that of the ‘IT guy.’ Desi men in Hollywood are, more often than not, portrayed as nerds who work in the IT sector; usually, they are socially awkward and sexist. They are also always straight. That is why, perhaps, the recent ‘coming out’ of Kal Penn as gay was quite a shocker.
To break from this stereotype, the men of Hollywood tend to go to the other extreme – hot, muscly guy with Eurocentric features. Kumail Nanjiani, who played an IT guy in Silicon Valley, is a great example. It is either the sexist IT guy or the hot brown dude.
The ‘IT guy’ stereotype adds to the endless list of stereotypes that have existed in Hollywood about Brown people. Hollywood always associates India with Hinduism and refuses to acknowledge the diversity of religions in the country. For instance, the film Indiana Jones, the famous Hollywood blockbuster directed by Stephen Spielberg, shows fictitious rituals by a Brown-skinned Indian tantric. In it, they show Brown people as ‘Kali worshipping’ cannibals and slave masters who drink satans blood from a human skull. You can watch the scene below.
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