Exclusive: Filmmaker Kabir Akhtar on his show Never Have I Ever, diversity in Hollywood and more

In recent times, movies and television series and web content, based on Indian characters have become quite popular. With creators such as Mindy Kaling, Lang Fisher, Smriti Mundhra andKabirAkhtarpeople of colour, mainly hailing from the South Asian part of the world, have found a place on-screen too. In an exclusive tet-a-tete with WION, director Kabir Akhtar, who created history at the Emmys in 2016, by becoming the first brown person to win the award in single camera, comedy editing, shared with us that nearly 30 years ago, life was completely different for a brown person living in the US.

Even forAkhtar, who hails from an influential family in India.He is the nephew of Indian lyricist JavedAkhtar, and cousin of directors Zoya and FarhanAkhtar. Well known for his works in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Arrested Development, in recent times, he has regained his popularity againfor directing some of the episodes of the Netflix show, Never Have I Ever. The series is based on an Indian teenager who grows up in the U.S.

Excerpts from the interview:

So tell us about your experience of being theAkhtarin the Hollywood block.

You know it's funny, I did not grow up intending to go into film and television. I think most of the family sort of didn't. I sort of came to this path because, I had worked in theatre, now, when I look back of course and it is easy to see the straight line, from family business to here. But you know as the family is sort of always pointing out, I sort of made this path on my own in Los Angeles. When I moved here out of school, I didn't know anybody.

So being from an influential family didn't really have an advantage in Hollywood?

Not really. I think it's very popular now, in 2023 to be Indian, Indian-American, or you know, have Indian descent. Here, it's viewed that way. But like 20 years ago, or 25 years ago, okay let's say 30 years ago, it was not that way. I mean the representation of Indians was not that good on American TV and movies. I mean when I grew up watching when there was an Indian person he was sort of the butt of all jokes, or like the funny next-door neighbour, at some point, they started portraying Indians even as terrorists for some reason. I don't think the culture was respected or treated well as it is now. So, it didn't really make much of a difference in the family stature in the homeland.

How is Hollywood looking at the Indian market particularly right now?

I think there is a lot of interest, you see a lot of big companies are now very interested in inroads in India. Because I think people have realised, America has 300 million people and India has three times that, and we know that Indians love movies. It's been deep in us for so long. So you will find a lot more interest there, I'm certainly hearing that more and more people are planning to involve more Indians and India in the story-telling process. I think it's really interesting.

Can you talk about your personal experience of growing up as a brown kid in the US?

When I grew up as a brown kid in the US, it was in the 80s and the 90s. It was not cool at all to be brown back then. Right now you see everybody going and ordering chai, doing yoga, and all these factors which are coming from India, they have been reappropriated and changed, but none of this was familiar to most people here at all. I was like this skinny kid with a funny name, which is a thing Barack Obama used to say about himself which I like and I'm stealing, although he is much more successful than I am, it's true you know, I mean I think that nobody really understood the culture or wanted to. Right now you see people talking about all kinds of things like Diwali parties at the White House, and then Kamala Harris becoming the Vice President of the US, these are incredible. You couldn't imagine this happening 40 years ago. One thing that I have realised is that because Indians were allowed to come to this country in the 60s or 70s now those of us who were born here, that is the first generation of Indian-Americans and have achieved some level of success, they can change the way television and movies look at the Indian community. So, I always think about the next generation, for the kids now, and right now, it's normal to see other brown kids on tv looking cool, which I wish we had, but we didn't.

How did your cousins FarhanAkhtarand ZoyaAkhtarreact when you started becoming popular in the US.?

The whole family is very supportive. I love my family so much and everyone has always been very cool, I mean we grew up spending summers with each other, sometimes here, or we would go to India. So the four of us, (Farhan, Zoya,Kabir, and Nishaq) grew up together. Back then we weren't thinking about all this, we were just watching movies, consuming them and having fun doing that. It's great now, they have achieved a lot more success in India and they are coming here now for meetings and projects, so it's great that we get to see each other a lot more. Hopefully, we will also get to work together on something again. It will be a super fun thing to get the whole family together.

Have you ever thought of directing a Bollywood film?

I would love to come work there. We are constantly trying to talk about it and trying to find the right project. I think that having grown up here but having an entire generation of the family from India and spending a bunch of my childhood there I think I understand both cultures in a way. That's cool and exciting and I want to put that to good use.

You said the right project. What according to you is the right project?

You know finding the right project is like finding the right boyfriend or a girlfriend or friend whom you get along with. Sometimes you just know it when you see it. It speaks to you and you can feel that it's authentic. You want visually interesting storytelling, stories with multiple genres, something that's fun, fascinating and interesting to watch. And I have always enjoyed making those.

So now, I'm gonna ask you about Never Have I Ever. How did you land as a director?

When Never Have I Everwas announced it was part of what you and I were talking about, it was the beginning of a first-generation Indian family who lives in America. When I heard about it I raised my hand, although I was at home. I was like Oh my god, how do I find a way to work in this, so I just made phone calls, my agent made phone calls, and I ended up directing few of the shows. It was a dream come true. Everyone was amazing to work with, the cast is great, the crew is great, the scripts were great, and I ended up directing more episodes than anybody. I'm very proud of the work which I did and everybody did, it was a big team effort and created a big difference. What Mindy Kaling has done to promote Indian culture is amazing.

An important element in the series is how diversity is so ingrained. I don't see Paxton as a Japanese-European guy unless he says it, and neither do I see anyone as Chinese or African. I see them as teenagers. Who should be credited the most for it?

I think that goes back to the creators of the show, Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher, who did a great job of making the show very much about people. People who are not just in high schools but people with relatable problems, and relatable backgrounds, aren't really calling attention to themselves too much.

It's not really about, oh Eleanor is from wherever she is from, or Paxton is half this half that, it's interesting, it provides context for characters and their choices, their decisions. Like for all of us. It's not about their race. It's been very exciting to work on projects with three-dimensional characters, you can see yourself in so many other people.

I mean, I watch shows with Latino women characters and I am like oh yeah, we have some of the same stuff. It's not like we are different, but more like, oh we are the same.

Along with you, I see various other names, such as Smriti Mundhra, Anu Walia, Lang Fisher too. How is the call taken on who will direct which episode?

I think a lot of it has to do with everybody's schedule. It's not a fun answer, but it's more of a simple answer. Everybody is working on different things, the assignments are handed out based on availability. But it's great, that so many South Asian directors, and Indian-American directors, connect more and collaborate. I guess that is a dream come true.

So Devi is a topper in her class, Kamala is a PhD Student, and Nirdesh, as mentioned in the series itself, is a combination of Ben's brain and Paxton's look, he is a hot Indian dude, who excels in his class. When are we ever gonna have an Indian student who is bad at studies?

I know, tell me about it, my family also keeps asking me that question, for the wrong reason. I think it's interesting, because when the show first came out, a couple of years ago, a lot of feedback that I heard was that it's great to have a show on Indian people, but it's not my story, you know, it's not me. That's what people would say and I'm like yes it is impossible to represent the culture of a billion people in one show. But I think what this show did was it sort of broke the ceiling. Hollywood and the studio system many ingrained the old cultural idea, and they said no one would watch this show, about an Indian family, but then it became number one on Netflix. It was an eye-opener. There are more shows coming along, a lot of people are starting these other shows, about Indians who aren't the model minority, which is great you know. It would be great in a way, they won't be used as dumb people, people to laugh at which it used to be 30 years ago, 20 years ago even 10 years ago.

What to expect from season four of Never Have I Ever?

Well, we filmed season four last summer, it's been a long time, I think people are really gonna like it, I think it provides a really wonderful ending to the whole story and it's just more fun, there's a lot of great emotional stuff in it. I think everyone is really gonna like it.