Sunil Maholtra Turned Down Stereotyped Roles, Then Took On Apu
After years of turning down stereotyped parts, he saw the Simpsons shopkeeper as a character he could make his own.
The Headlines · The Fight to Tax Billionaires, and Why NDAs Are Everywhere NowSunil Maholtra, an actor of South Asian descent, had turned down jobs playing South Asian parts he thought were exaggerated stereotypes. Then he agreed to voice Apu, the Indian convenience store owner on the long running cartoon The Simpsons. Speaking to Variety about the decision, he asked: "Could I make the character my own and reclaim him in some way?"
Apu, who runs the show's convenience store, had been off television for almost a decade. His return put Maholtra behind the microphone as the new voice.
Apu was played for close to three decades by Hank Azaria, a white actor, using an over-the-top Indian accent. The problem, in plain terms, was that a white performer was putting on an exaggerated Indian voice to play a supporting South Asian character.
In 2017, Hari Kondabolu, a comedian, released the film The Problem with Apu. The film surfaced what many South Asian viewers had long felt, that Apu was a clumsy stereotype. In it, Kondabolu said Azaria's performance was "a white guy doing an impression of a white guy making fun of my father," and asked the interviewer how he felt about that.
Azaria said almost immediately that he was uncomfortable with playing the role. "Part of me feels like I need to go to every single Indian person in this country and personally apologize," he said. He did not return to the part.
Maholtra said he had passed on other jobs voicing South Asian parts he viewed as caricatures. But with Apu, he said, he saw a chance, asking whether he could make the character his own and reclaim him.
Questions people ask
What did 'The Problem with Apu' argue?
Kondabolu, the son of Indian immigrants, argued that Apu was the rare South Asian face on American television, and that the accent and punchlines mocked people like his father. The film included interviews with actors and writers debating whether a joke character voiced by a white performer could represent a whole community.
How long has The Simpsons been on television?
The Simpsons debuted in December 1989 and has run for more than 35 seasons, making it the longest running American animated series and prime-time scripted show. That longevity is why a supporting character like Apu, the Kwik-E-Mart clerk, became familiar to multiple generations.
Have other cartoons recast roles the same way?
Yes, and Apu is not the only example. In recent years, animated shows have recast Black, Asian, and mixed race characters originally voiced by white actors, often with performers who share the character's background. Producers have framed the changes as a way to bring lived experience to roles that had been treated as impressions.