Mindy Kaling has shared more details about her upcoming rom-com with Priyanka Chopra Jonas, which will be centred on a big fat Indian wedding.
Speaking to Forbes, Kaling also shared details about the growing Asian representation in Hollywood, which is being driven by people like the ‘The Office’ alum who produces the Netflix teen comedy ‘Never Have I Ever’ that is led by Tamil Canadian actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. Kaling is also credited with creating strong Asian female characters that counter the stereotype of a shy, soft-spoken women.
“At this point if anyone knows anything about me then it probably isn’t that surprising,” Kaling said in the interview. “What’s been great is writing Asian characters that counter this expectation that an Asian woman is going to demure, and not have anger, and want things like relationships and sex and be ambitious, and be super flawed as well.”
The 43-year-old further added: “It’s interesting when I write about the Asian stories because there’s some things that I’m like, ‘hey I had a pretty traditional mom who wanted me to get A’s and become a doctor,’ but I try to show other parts of the Asian American experience that maybe you haven’t seen before, like commitment to mental health, seeing a therapist, wanting to date a guy.”
In the same vein, Kaling also spoke at length about her upcoming rom-com with Chopra Jonas. “I have this movie with Priyanka Chopra, she’s Punjabi Indian from India and I’m an Indian American Bengali girl form the East Coast. It’s so different and that’s what makes our dynamic so fun together.”
This isn’t the first time Kaling has spoken about the film. In 2020, during an interview with Marie Claire, Kaling described the film as a ‘buddy comedy’ with ‘romantic comedy elements’, which kicked off when Chopra Jonas gave her a call one fine day.
“You know, she just got in touch with me,” Kaling said earlier. “She got in touch with my agent and said, ‘I’d love to talk to Mindy about an idea that I have.’”
Once Kaling was on board, she reached out to ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ co-creator Dan Goor to co-write the script with her, based on a concept Chopra Jonas and Kaling worked out together.
“He’s married to an Indian woman, so he has this window into Indian female culture,” Kaling said, while adding that she and Chopra Jonas will play first cousins, which will be centred on a wedding in India.
It’s been rumoured that Chopra Jonas was even keen on directing the film herself. When quizzed at the time, Kaling responded by saying: “I haven’t even heard that rumour, but what a dream. I mean, I hope it’s true. We always are trying to get women, particularly women of colour, to be able to direct. And this is...an actual studio film, you know? So I would be thrilled if she wanted to do that. I have so much faith in her, so that would be a joy.”
