Whether it is cinema, television, Standup performance or millions of memes distressing the Internet, the Stereotypical Indian family has always been an object of ridiculous. Moms control too much, the food is uncontrolledly spicy, the buttocks are boring, the intimacy is obsolete, academic excellence flows through generations, well … The list is too long to summarize here. But if you want a catalog of these, Prime Video could have exactly what you are looking for. His latest series, The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh, is a disarticulated compilation of these comic family laws to which the Indians remain and give a shameless comment of 228 minutes on the same.
The show also adds the delicate nature of conversations around privacy in Indian families
The series of eight episodes follows a typical Indian family, the Pradeeps, which have moved to Pittsburgh in the United States – the country of opportunities, as they call it. The family is led by Mahesh (Naveen William Sidney Andrews), the father of the optimistic engineer who has passed everyone through the planet for a SpaceX contract, and Sudha (Sindhu Vee), the brain-châvetment mother who has trouble obtaining her medical license in the new lands on the Rules. Children include the teenager Bhanu (Sahana Srinivasan), the eldest daughter who is desperate to integrate into the new culture; Kamal (Arjun Sriram), an introverted and shy young man with a bunch of phobias; And Vinod (Ashwin Sakthivel), an optimistic high school which considers the world through his glasses tinged with rose and remains positive even when he is a victim of intimidation.
However, it is not just the story of an Indian family that has trouble adapting to foreign land. Pradeeps are also the main suspects in an in -law investigation into a mysterious crime involving their Christian neighbors – later revealed in the series. Now under the scanner of immigration services, the family is questioned about serious crime, with a possible risk of deportation.
The hilarious criminal investigation takes place in the program with the Pradeep family as a prime suspects!
The whole series is a sequence of flashback stories with the two officers in charge trying to break these difficult nuts by admitting. Pradeeps face groups, trios, couples and even in isolation, but the brown family could not be more disinterested, and even less being intimidated, by colorful investigation tactics.
The show is motivated by the nonchalance of its characters and their extremely different perspectives for each incident. Although Sudha remembers a snowstorm causing the fact that their car slides in slow motion before igniting – “We, the Indians, like to add a little masala to our stories” is the way she would justify exaggeration – Mahesh would describe the same day as a new one that brought a new start to their lives. The oscillating stories also extend to the neighbors, who have their own twisted versions, adding to the confusion.
Each version seems to be the revealing truth until the next person passes with a completely opposite version. The show even tries to portray the humorous similarities between Indian mothers and religious Christian mothers at a given time.
The episodes are short, crisp and transition effortlessly. The general tone remains light and humorous. Even when it comes to serious themes like racism, the show does not become serious at any time. Pradeeps of Pittsburgh is done as an insane high school drama where the protagonists have not yet encountered the hardest realities of life.
The character of Ashwin is fascinated by the comfortable life of us Garbagemen, contrasting with their counterparts suffering from malnutrition in his country of origin
The show, however, is delivered with a chain of too used stereotypes and controversial dialogies and analogies that could offend certain people. For example, in a scene, Bhanu describes India as a “mannequin with diarrhea”. His explanation? Well, the country is magnificent to look at but does not offer much to a teenager due to societal restrictions and fire covers. In another scene, we see a disabled white child laughing at a note of 500 rupees and calling Gandhi an anorexic Charlie Brown. There are also references to a shy Indian boy who gets excited after hitting the cow. No wonder the series is not published aggressively in India.
Although a little harmless humor does not hurt, when a show is presenting on a global scale, it is accompanied by the responsibility to balance the representation to a certain extent. Although I do not call exactly a monochromatic image with the achievements of the nation, or a singularly patriotic story that depicts the country as the largest on the planet – let this our extremely talented politicians – a little more sensitivity could have gone far. I do not want to digest the debate on art and cinema which influence the point of view of the public, but for viewers who have never visited India, these representations can build a certain story. As a person who lives in the country in question, I can assure you that we are not preparing in sparkling saris and sherwanis just to go out for a plate of PanipuriAs pradeeps could make you believe.
All the episodes of Pittsburgh PS PS PS are short, crisp and effortlessly transition
Pittsburgh Pradeeps are not the first American show to opt for this ill -informed performance. Big Bang theory, perhaps one of the most popular sitcoms of its time, also uses certain harmful stereotypes on Indians. Raj, one of the main characters in the series, could not speak to women, relied on his father for his expenses and sought to control the love life of his sister – justifying his actions with old scriptures that declare women as a property of her father or his brother. All this despite being a gifted astrophysicist and a scientist. It is time that we have left these stereotypical representations during the last century, where they belong, and opt for a more realistic representation.
Pittsburgh pradeeps, however, work like a light comedy on familiar Indian diaspora disorders in the United States – nothing more. The show is full of brain rotations and superficial jokes around sex, religion, parenting and all brown, and although certain stereotypes are exaggerated beyond reason, an Indian audience will easily find moments of relatability. But if you are easily offended, or if you are often engaged in animated arguments on Twitter (yes, we know that this is called X now) with foreigners, and you have a great interest in canceling the culture, you should probably jump it. That being said, I really like my nation. Please do not cancel me for recommending this series.
Note: 6/10
