Casting people of colors in roles that demand they speak in regional accents they don’t have is insulting, but what if – what if – a movie directed by an Indian-American woman (Lena Khan!) cast an Indian-American actor (Danny Pudi!) as a guy from India and thus required him to adopt an Indian accent?
I’m not sure how to unpack that, but I tried in my review of Khan’s The Tiger Hunter, available for your reading pleasure at the fine online establishment I call “Paste Magazine” (because it is Paste Magazine). Is it weird? Is it insulting? Is it as much of a problem for Khan to make that casting choice as it is for, say, Walt Becker? My gut says “no.”
Either way, though, the movie is pretty okay, bumpy to start and good fun once it finds its legs, but now you’ve got me writing a whole other review of the movie. Stop that. That’s not cool, gang.
A Constant Visual Feast 