00:00Personally, my experience as the child of immigrants growing up in London in the 1970s
00:06was very different. There was a lot of hostility, violence, etc. And, you know, darkness, it wasn't
00:16particularly pleasant. And with Mahesh, I had to draw from what Vijal told me about his own father,
00:25because his dad shares a lot of the traits of Mahesh's character. Someone who genuinely has
00:33no malice or rancor in his heart. Someone who genuinely believes that he and his family are
00:39somehow going to prevail in a foreign country by goodwill and love even. The idea of me playing a
00:48father and husband, which are the two things I identify as most, was super, super exciting and
00:54appealing. And then the other thing was that I imagined that at first sight, I could be the worst
01:02possible idea for a neighbor. And then it turns out I'm like the best, nicest, kindest one. And
01:10so that was fun. Very much felt like a big family. You know, that was the tone that Vijal set.
01:16I think it was because it is so close to his heart. It is a maybe slightly hyperbolic version
01:26of his childhood, that it was a very familial vibe. When I first arrived to my hotel, he was in the
01:36lobby with some of the kids. And it was like I was coming into this family event. And then I was
01:45very quickly welcomed and made a member of the family. The audience, other than enjoying a damn
01:54good piece of storytelling, managed to get what I think is suggested through comedy, which is
02:05not necessarily complex, but I think incredibly important, you know, that we remain
02:13curious about each other as human beings. And don't judge a book by its cover.
02:18You know, don't take things on face value.
02:22Definitely the fact that it was finally representing Indian people in a different light,
02:26where most of the auditions that I'd usually get would be, oh, you're going to be the best friend,
02:31or you're going to be the little side character that doesn't have many lines, but it's just kind
02:35of there. It's the first time that I feel that Indians are being represented or Desi people are
02:40being represented in this kind of light, which I feel like it's a story that needs to be told,
02:45the immigrant tale that many people go through. It's a universal experience. So that's really what
02:51got me super hooked and obsessed with being a part of this.
02:55For me, it was very similar to Arjun's reason, but it was the portrayal of the story of an
03:02immigrant family. But it was given a comedic spin, which is something you don't really see
03:11on TV nowadays.
03:12When I read the script and noticed how he kind of starts off as this really quiet, timid,
03:18nerve wracking, not very outgoing character, that's very, very different for me. So I was
03:23always, I have a friend who, he's really, really cool and super, super sweet, but he's very much,
03:29you know, kind of closed off. And I talked to him and I asked him like, Hey, am I am I
03:33doing this right? Is this how you would feel if you were to be in this sort of situation? He
03:38told me different ideas of kind of how to portray certain things like little stuff like, you know,
03:42biting your fingers or kind of playing with it or whatever. So I definitely learned a lot from that.
03:48And also just as an actor, getting to do stuff that you don't really see yourself in, but you
03:52get to kind of step into those shoes for the first time and learn through it was something
03:56that was really, really fun for me.
04:00Yeah, for me, becoming Vinod Pradeep, I wouldn't say was too much of a struggle because I would
04:07like to think I'm optimistic. And my parents would agree with me on this one that I'm the
04:13joker of the family, which Vinod is as well. And he's quite daft as well. You'll see that he
04:20falls in love with a garbage truck. So I'm pretty pretty daft. Yeah.
04:27I think that comedy is definitely definitely really, really important, especially in the
04:32world we're living in today, where there are a lot of, you know, problems, socially,
04:36politically, just crazy things that are going on. But this is a comedy series, and it's on
04:41a subject that is universal, and isn't always shown in the best light. But finally, for the
04:47first time, it's it's being seen in a much more comedic level. And there's so many people that
04:52have gone through what the Pradeeps are going through. And some people that have not will
04:56definitely be able to watch this and, and have a better, more knowledgeable understanding of that.
05:03For me, I feel like this is very important, because the message I feel that should be
05:11listened to from this show is that, take everything with a pinch of salt, I like to say,
05:17because the Pradeep family are going through a lot, moving from a completely different country
05:25to America, and adapting, having to adapt to this country. And they don't forget to have,
05:34sit down and have a laugh sometimes. So I feel like take everything with a pinch of salt and
05:38don't take anything too hot.
Comments