Is it racist if I say I confused the two American actors of
Indian descent who can both rap?
The incredible performance by Utkarsh Ambudkar at the Oscars
– he not only wrote his rap as the show was running, but also memorized it –
reminded me of the other times I have enjoyed Ambudkar on screen, including Brittany
Runs a Marathon and Patti Cake$. (Not so much Game Over,
Man!, which was my least favorite movie of 2018.)
Only Ambudkar is not in Patti Cake$. That’s Siddharth
Dhananjay.
My confusion came when I watched Brittany, actually.
I was trying to place Ambudkar and I thought “Ah yes, that’s the guy in Patti
Cake$.” When in fact I was probably remembering him from Game Over, Man!, if from anything at all.
Plus, they both rap, so there’s that. I didn’t know
that when I saw Brittany, as rapping is not part of the character Ambudkar
plays in that film. It is, however, the central part of Dhananjay’s character
in Patti Cake$, so when I saw Ambudkar rapping at the Oscars, it only
increased my certainty that they were the same person.
Before you go saying “What, all people of Indian descent
look the same?”, let me show you a picture of them side by side. You have to
admit the physical similarity. That’s Ambudkar on the left and Dhananjay on the
right.
Okay, they’re not identical twins or anything. But they have
a similar build and I do think there are similarities in their faces.
The scarcity of American actors of Indian descent also helps
with the confusion. You’ve got Aziz Ansari, Kal Penn and (no, not Kumail
Nanjiani, he’s of Pakistani descent). Internationally, you’ve got Dev Patel. In
other words, there are few enough guys out there that if two of them look
similar and they both have the ability to rap, it’s easy enough to assume they are
probably the same guy, without committing a hate crime or anything. (Plus, Dhananjay wears a durag for most of
I really enjoyed Dhananjay in Patti Cake$ so I’m kind
of disappointed his career hasn’t really taken off. Then again, I guess that’s
not fair to say – he’s continued working, it’s just I haven’t seen anything
else he’s done.
Maybe after the Oscars, Ambudkar’s career will take
off.
In either case, now that I’ve done this little exercise, I
won’t confuse them again.
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