making fun of indians?
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zap644 — 18 years ago(June 24, 2007 12:43 AM)
I work with a fair number of Indians and I mentioned this movie to one of them a couple of months back and he had seen it and thought it was funny too.
Peter Sellers is a friggin' genius and I think it's rather bigoted to think Indians would be offended by this movie. Even though Seller's character is a bit of a buffoon in this film, his buffoonery is shared by many of the American characters. In fact, he wouldn't have even been invited to this Party if it were not for the comedy of errors in which the Hollywood idiot who tried to get him blacklisted actually ended up inviting him to the Party.
If someone comes away from this film thinking that Indians are idiots, they probably had that idea to begin with. How many movies have we seen where there were Americans portrayed as less than smart? Quite a few unless you've been living in a cave.
I had the pleasure the other day of reviewing a document that was written for Indian workers who come to the US to work on H1-B visas. I looked over it (skimmed all 94 pages) with an Indian co-worker and some things were right on the money and other things were comical.
A few of the more interesting points were that many Americans believe that India is populated with snake charmers and beggars. I jokingly told him that I would include IT workers among Indians. It also said that many Americans believe that the US is the universe - a point driven home a bit later when we were discussing the largest cities in the US. I typed "biggest cities" into Google and came up with a list of the largest cities in the US. I thought nothing of it, but he pointed out that I only got a list of the biggest cities in the US (after all, that's what we were discussing). I found the "slang" portion of the document quite interesting. It was mostly right, but a few things were off. The thing that really caught my eye was the first word on the list "Acid - LSD". Now why would this be so important for Indians visiting the US to know? Does this give the impression that all people - or at least IT workers - in the US take LSD?
Granted, a consultant from Arthur Andersen once said to me that she thought hallucinogenics probably were beneficial for IT workers, but she was only joking.
Anyway, I'm probably just rambling now, but I will say this - most of the Indians (not all, but certainly most) I have known are very intelligent and speak English almost as well as native-born Americans. And that is how it should be - with 1 billion Indians, you wouldn't expect us to allow the dumb ones into the US on H1-B visas, would you? -
CatBurglar — 18 years ago(September 14, 2007 07:55 PM)
Hey Zap,
Do you know that the group of INS employees in charge of naming different visa types went to a screening of "The Party" one night after work and loved Sellers' character so much that they named H1-B visas after Hrundi V. Bakshi? Their stickler boss vetoed HVB as the name, so they replaced the "V" with a "1".
I may be kidding about that, but I like the idea.
cb -
mrernestjames — 18 years ago(September 15, 2007 03:20 PM)
this movie was made in a time when we weren't afraid to poke fun at stuff we weren't accustomed to. this movie is making fun of everyone.. but thats just it, its fun
sadly, we live in an age where political correctness is being taken to the extreme, often being abused for the advantage of the so-called 'victim' -
bbmaps — 18 years ago(December 29, 2007 09:14 PM)
Yes - I think we all miss Sellers.
He played a bumbling Indian in this movie, and while that may not be exactly politically correct these days, his sweet and sincere performance is pretty inoffensive, even if the character is not very bright. The reason for the controversy, of course, is that he is playing the role in brownface. As if, somehow, his rather sympathetic portrayal of an Indian is offensive, but his British idiot idiot savant in "Being There," French idiot policeman in all the Pink Panther movies, American idiot president AND German idiot mad scientist in "Dr. Strangelove," the openly racist Chinese idiot in "The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu" and a less-than-bright Queen Victoria in "The Great McGonagall" are not still idiots. Somehow, these characters don't give the offense they might, because they are played for laughs by a comedy genius and there is a sincere truth to what they do. The harder they try, the more trouble they cause, but they keep on trying.
Even though this was 40 years ago, his performance still comes off as a hoot. Hrundi is not smart, but he is sincere, tries as hard as he can, and gets the girl. I think they brilliantly zapped the shallow nature of people in the entertainment business in this film, all of whom are sure they are the smart guys. Hrundi rescues Michelle from the sleazy slob producer, Mr. Divot, and looks to have the start of a nice relationship - and maybe a happy life. The rest of the characters in the movie are pretty much confused, molesters, unhappy or drunk. Hrundi is sober, happy and knows who he is. He is " Not your sugar."
This was a full year before the infamous Star Trek kiss - the first interacial kiss on American TV - which stations in the South refused to show. In how many other 1968 movies did the brown guy romance the white female lead and there wasn't any hint of controversy? -
DD-931 — 14 years ago(March 26, 2012 01:57 PM)
This movie is making fun of Hollywood. Period. The reason Bakshi is a fool is not because he is Indian, but because he is so desperately trying to fit in with a group of people who are themselves pompous self-centered fools. Trying to fit in with them virtually FORCES Bakshi to become a fool. One could argue that Bakshi's physical "misadventures" are a subconscious attempt by the character to sabotage his own attempts to fit in. Almost like an inner voice is saying "No! I don't WANT to be like these people!"
If there's an insulting stereotype in this movie, it's the cowboy movie star. The very definition of a cartoonish version of those from the American West, bad enough that if that character had actually tried to walk around in, say Oklahoma or Texas, he might not have survived the experience.
Of course, if you're from Europe or the East Coast of the U.S. (or even India itself) you might not realize what a terrible cliche the cowboy character is. Which would be insulting in and of itself, if it weren't for the fact that Hollywood itself is responsible for perpetuating this mindless cliche. -
jack-upland — 12 years ago(February 20, 2014 07:59 PM)
In reply to the OP: Hrundi has a "sense of morality"? He floods someone else's bathroom and then climbs out the window to avoid responsibility?
In reply to the last post: Hrundi is a fool from the start, and most of his bumbling has nothing to do with fitting in. And how is this movie making fun of Hollywood??? Most of the characters are behaving in a normal, inoffensive way until Hrundi creates chaos. -
cirvin1258 — 11 years ago(July 08, 2014 09:18 AM)
I love it when people try to analyze something that was created decades ago
You forget the era in which the film was made - there were NO Indian actors working in Hollywood, California, at that time! And if there were, their names had nowhere near the recognizeability (is that a word?) as Sellers' did.
Really - even the number of American Indians working in Hollywood at the time, can be counted on less than one hand. Same goes for most other races.
It's just how it was back then.
That said, if you place Hrundi into the locale, driving his Morgan 3-wheeler (still a popular English car at the time, though it was already some 30 years old), he's a pretty intelligent guy - a klutz, but still, a pretty intelligent guy, that's just trying to live the American dream, just like the rest of us. And, for him to even have a job in Hollywood in that era - let alone being in the States in that era, he must be doing something rightuntil he gets fired! Even the scenes with the elephant: Sellers was a class act, demanding that all of the paint be washed off of the elephant.
Think about it: at that time, all that the average American really knew about India, we learned from The Beatles! Technology was nothing like it is today - no cell phones, no personal computers, hell, most airliners still had piston engines, and propellers in 1968, and having that Morgan shipped over here privately would have cost a fortune. Anything that Hrundi would have learned about the States before coming over here, he would have learned from magazines or films, and we all know how accurate those can be.
Yeah, Hrundi was doing pretty good. I can't possibly see how anybody can consider that in itself, to be offensive, when we have thousands of people flocking over the border nowadays, just to setup their gang and drug networks.
If you read the trivia, you'll see that the entire film was improvised - there was no script, just a storyline to go by. That in itself says a lot for Sellers' portrayal. Not bad at all, for somebody who was a royal PITA to work with (Sellers).
Bravo. -
DD-931 — 11 years ago(July 31, 2014 02:28 PM)
Jack, if you can't tell how this film is making fun of the pompous, self-centered characters in Hollywood, I can't help you. I'm watching the film right now, as Hrundi is going around apologizing for the dinner table fiasco that he didn't even cause. You need to watch this film again, because most of his bumbling at the Party is indeed out of trying to fit in. And the ordeal Hrundi goes through to FIND a bathroom, (during which he surreptitiously prevents a rape) ends with a sequence where the malfunctioning toilet and toilet paper dispenser (a hilarious prop) have as much to do with the disaster as his efforts. After which he almost drowns from falling into the swimming pool, and then is forced to drink alcohol by the host when drinking is against his beliefs. The comedy comes as much from what he endures as what he causes. Not to mention the disasters caused by that drunken waiter (a marvelous performance by Steve Franken).
Hrundi is a fool from the start because he's trying to fit into Hollywood from the start, including on the movie set. And who leaves a detonator sitting around unguarded in the first place? Not to mention that the jerk director is the one who nearly rapes Claudine Longet and who Hrundi stands up to in the end to protect her. No, Hrundi makes a lot of mistakes, but still shows more of a sense of morality than most of the other characters in the film.
EDIT: Wow. The host's daughter causes MUCH more chaos at the party than Hrundi ever dreamed of. -
swadhin999 — 9 years ago(May 03, 2016 07:21 AM)
This film is not racist then what is racism? People here talking about laughing at ourselves. I agree with them. But can anybody tell me what was funny in not getting a chair to sit beside everybody else in party? And why he had to sit lower to everybody? Was that funny? Oh sorry I forgot to laugh! This film propagate typical neon-colonial sentiments and stereotype In Indians to a great extend. Like every Indians have a monkey, Indians paint elephants etc. And hence Indians are not equal to white and can't sit beside whites as equals. This movie was shameful and racist to even somebody like me who don't mind laughing at myself and always appreciate good humor.
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cirvin1258 — 9 years ago(July 24, 2016 11:53 AM)
Geetalk about being so hateful, that you miss the storyline!
He didn't sit at the same height as everybody else, simply because HE WASN'T EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE THERE!!! HE WAS NOT ON THE GUEST LIST!!! HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
So many guests, so many chairs - that simple.
Geez, get a life! -
jsk32870 — 9 years ago(October 05, 2016 02:54 PM)
Actually, he was on the guest list, albeit accidentally.that's how he received an official dinner invitation. I'm not sure how he can receive that in the mail, but somehow
not
be counted for dinner. I suppose it's possible. But he was
definitely
on the guest list for invitations, added at the last minute by hand. -
wisable — 9 years ago(January 02, 2017 01:09 AM)
His being a last-minute, scribbled addition (apparently) to the guest list may have thrown the hostess a bit, as she clearly wasn't expecting another person (when he wandered around, trying to be part of the banter, she looked at him quizzically like "who's that?" .. so she hadn't really been prepared), but she was gracious as she could be under the circumstances, and did her best to go with it .. tho' I can't figure out why, in a house like that, they wouldn't have another normal-sized chair available.