DesiDabba - Boss, Thoda Sa Roomani Ho Jaye

Early last Fall, desperate for a hit and flagging against the rising success of ABC dramas, NBC launched Heroes. Heroes is about ordinary people who were given a metaphysical ability by something in their genes (we don’t know what that “something” is yet). Buoyed by the success of the Spiderman and X-Men franchise, Hollywood has been shelling out big bucks for movies based on comic books. Super-hero movies also play very well worldwide, not just in the US. And this mainstream acceptance seemed to suggest that the timing was right for Heroes.

NBC couldn’t have been more right. Heroes was a hit drama for them. Although Deal or No Deal remains their ratings giant, Heroes is not far behind. It finishes in the top 20 and pulls in roughly 15 million viewers. While Heroes is not unique in terms of its diversity - increasingly shows have been casting actors of multiple ethnicities with rich back stories - it is unique in that it the story revolves around the work of an Indian character. You can read more about the show and the Indian identity on Abzee’s excellent post on DesiDabba.

Indian characters have shown up several times on Heroes. Sendhil Ramamurthy plays Mohinder Suresh and remains a staple of the show. In fact, he gets a juicy arc in the current run. Eric Avari- born and raised in Darjeeling and owner of a distinguished TV career - has been a recurring character on the show as Mohinder’s father Chandra. Madhur and Saeed Jaffrey’s daughter Sakina played his mother in two episodes last year and left Mohinder reeling with a stunning family secret. Mumbai-born, Kenya-raised Shishir Kurup appeared in three episodes as family member Nirand who helps Mohinder through his father’s cremation in a superb sequence shot at Kanyakumari. And the gorgeous Kerala-born Kavi Ladnier showed up as Mohinder’s colleague Mira Shenoy and tormented Mohinder with a difficult choice (Note to Mohinder: next time, keep the girl!).

While it’s terrific to watch Indian characters integrated in an authentic way on prime time TV, there are a few things I wish the writers had gotten right. First of all, and I know I may be nitpicking, I wish of all the wonderful, lyrical Indian last names to be found, the writers hadn’t picked Suresh. When was the last time you ran into someone whose last name was Suresh? And Ramamurthy’s accent as Suresh rankled me for a long time. To be fair, he admitted he was working on it in the early episodes. Since then, it has gotten more consistent, but it’s still not right.

People who come to the US from India do not speak in a posh British accent. And essaying an ethnic accent doesn’t have to descend into stereotypical stuff either. Is it really that difficult to find an Indian vocal coach? Some of this would be tolerable if Ramamurthy had been a better actor. He looks terrific, his dark curls and intense black eyes demand attention. But he’s a stiff actor - he struggles to portray emotion often coming across as an understudy in an off-Broadway play. None of this is as problematic as the emotions the Indian characters are vested with. While this is probably the final frontier for ethnic actors, it isn’t too much to wish for to have the Indians act like Indians. As it turns out, they act?differently. Their speech, interactions and reactions are distinctly American in their execution.

Heroes doesn’t break new ground in terms of color-blind casting. But it does push the envelope further. It can do more and importantly, I believe the worldwide audience (including Americans) are ready for it.

*You can watch Heroes on NBC online or on Star World on Wednesdays.