Kal Penn's Got Balls

by Johnny Mehta

I remember how when I was young, just talking to a girl or sitting next to her at the local Indian Community event raised eyebrows. And lighting up anything other than an incense stick for evening prayer could get me kicked out of the house. 

So when I see Kalpen Modi – aka Kal Penn - on the screen getting laid, smoking doobie, or recalling his sexual experiences in a Playboy magazine interview– man, all I can say is, the dude’s got balls. Not just regular desi bhondha balls, but real thick Bruce Springsteen kick-ass gonads. Still, it takes those kind of balls especially from a Desi-American, to make it. And given his recent appearances on 24, Law &Order SVU , and his leading role in the soon to be released The Namesake, he may just become the first Desi-American to have actually secured star power in Tinsel town.

Kalpen’s endured a lot of the typical hardships an Asian actor might face to get to where he is - like dealing with racist casting directors, having to play an Asian stereotype, or acting in “Vegas Bachelor Party” (if it was as painful to act in that movie as it was to watch, then the man has paid some serious dues.)

Like many other Desi-Hollywood hopefuls, he’s also had the added handicap of simply
being Desi. Hollywood might be tough to conquer, but it pales in comparison to the struggles you face trying to sell the non-medicine/engineering/law career idea to your Desi parents and community or defend your career moves once you're there.

Some succumb to the imposed guilt and shame and end up half-heartedly pursuing careers that puts food on the table, but starves the soul. Then there are others like Kalpen who despite his parents' lukewarmness towards his acting desire, uncles and aunties doubting his career moves, kids at school making fun of him for choosing drama club over playing soccer, or being dissected and evaluated on desi blog sites, courageously pursues his dream and manages to do what a lot of Desi kids only fantasize about: exactly what he wants to. Now that takes balls - balls that I'd say are hard to find on most of the armchair desis critics out there (not that i've tried to look at anyone's balls).

Indeed, Kalpen’s crowning achievement is his ability to value most what’s in his heart. There should be an award for staying true to yourself as a Desi-American…it’s a lot harder to do than scoring straight A’s or getting into Harvard Medical School.

Kalpen should also be lauded for the roles he picks. Sure, he’s had to do the Indian stereotype (i.e. Van Wilder’s Taj) or play a terrorist (24) on his uphill battle against Hollywood racism. But he’s managed to bring to Hollywood the idea that Desi-Americans are a segment of American society that are more than just incense-burning brown people with funny accents and weird head-gear.   Finally, he’s convinced Hollywood that he can play a regular American guy whose character is nuanced by his Desi background, but isn’t caricatured by it.

Take Kumar in “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle”. I knew a few Kumars back in my college days. Maybe they weren’t as obsessed with smoking pot, but they were similarly smart, laid back, regular dudes that  didn’t have irritating, sing-songy accents like Apu, run convenience stores or drive cabs. Despite its dumb humor, it was also a cleverly subversive, table-turning movie where the white folks are pigeon-holed and stereotyped, Jews are searching for hot dogs, a beautiful Mexican-American damsel is won over by a nerdy Asian guy, and the heroes are ultimately two Asian Columbia graduates triumphing over WASP elitism as they search for White Castle burgers (of course, not surprisingly, not all Desis saw it that way).

Then there was the disturbing, delusional janitor rapist “Henry Chanoor” Kalpen played on Law and Order SVU. Henry is just a regular janitor – no funny accent - who just so  happened to arrive at his psychosis because his Desi father was so disappointed in him. Now that’s nuance at its best.

With Kalpen’s upcoming roles in Namesake and Harold and Kumar II it’s possible that Kalpen’s star will only grow. I’m sure the desi community will be closely watching him, judging his characters, and possibly criticizing him whether he succeeds or not. It’s just so refreshing to see him not caring.