Representation of South Asian Women in Western Media

Every time I see a brown girl in Western media, I get excited. Seriously, my heart skips a beat and I really can’t help it.

Growing up, the only brown female characters I’d see on American television were Princess Jasmine and Manju (Apu’s wife from The Simpsons). And they weren’t even real people. A couple of cartoon characters… that’s all the representation I had to work with!

Even now, I look for brown women in the media everywhere. “Brown” or “Desi” are terms that loosely define people from the Indian subcontinent. Whether it’s in art, politics, music, film, or books—I’m always searching for a more well-rounded display of South Asian women.

In close proximities, it wasn’t that hard to find. I grew up watching Bollywood actresses busting sexy dance moves at the drop of a hat and I spent a large part of my life with a close-knit Bangladeshi community here in the States.

But outside of my tiny bubble, I rarely found women on the big screen who I could identify with. South Asians are either lumped together in the same group as other peoples of color or misrepresented through stereotypes created by the ignorant majority.

Every now and then, when I did see a brown face on T.V., they were almost exclusively males playing cliche roles like doctor, taxi driver, 7-Eleven owner or just your regular nerdy dude. The few brown women I saw on mainstream television had it even worse with the damn stereotypes. Usually seen in degrading roles like sad oppressed housewife whose only purpose in the world is to have babies and cook curry.

And everyone speaks in a heavy Indian accent.

It’s like other people wrote our stories for us. And those are the same stories that end up being sewn into the social fabric of our society. Deeper complexities, accurate representation or display of character development are completely lost. It’s as if our brownness only exists in this black and white perspective.

There’s such an extreme lack of true representation for Desi people in the West. And no, it’s not that we don’t exist. There are millions of us living in the United States right now, still seldom portrayed in mainstream media.

As a direct result, I struggle to relate with the girls and women I see on screen. So you can imagine why I get so happy when I see real brown people finally beginning to scratch the surface in the U.S. – not just as the token brown friend, but in leading roles! Yay progress?

I started noticing a jump in the early 2000’s. Like when Kal Penn brought shame to Desi parents worldwide when he co-starred as a lead pothead in Harold and Kumar (if you haven’t seen this cult classic yet, guess which one is him), or when Bend It Like Beckham and Slumdog Millionaire first came out in regular theaters (because Bollywood theaters don’t count as “Western media”).

One of my fondest moments of representation was watching two Bangladeshi girls play the Patil twins in my childhood obsession, the Harry Potter series. And how could I forget the dreamy Dev Patel’s first break on SKINS and Kelly from The Office, or Cece in New Girl, and when Priyanka Chopra announced her lead role in Quantico.

I practically fell out of my chair when Lilly Singh became the first female late night comedy show host and when Liza Koshy hosted Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.

We have A-list comedians now, like Hasan Manaj, Aziz Ansari, Hari Kondabolu and Russell Peters. We also have Pulitzer Prize winners and best-selling female authors like Jhumpa Lahiri, Rupi Kaur, Samira Ahmed, and Rabia Chaudry. There’s even the influx of Netflix originals starring South Asian casts like Brown Nation, Meet the Patels, The Big Sick, and Master of None.

The mainstream media is finally recognizing us for who we really are—and we are a culturally rich people with big personalities and complex stories.

Though long overdue, there’s no time like the present. I truly believe that my generation will be the first to demand a seat at the table for South Asian women and men in America.

Freedom and accessibility of the digital age is a large part in why we are seeing progress in the representation of brown women. When the ability to publish and share your work on the internet are a couple fingertips away, it’s no wonder more authentic voices of real brown women are entering front and center. Directing our own stage will allow space for pushing the boundaries that have never been pushed before.

We must be the ones to write our own stories and create content that exhibit our truths.

We must claim every opportunity to question the status quo.

We carry the weight of our mothers great grandmothers. 

Because we have been the silent sufferers for too long. Now is our time to change that narrative.