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The Officehad multiple iconic episodes across its 9 Seasons and 201 Episodes. But Season 3 Episode 6 titled “Diwali”, written by Mindy Kaling is a standout not only for beautifully portraying the Indian culture but also for setting a high standard of representing diversity in Hollywood.
Besides starring as the Indian-American Dunder Mifflin employee Kelly Kapoor, Mindy Kaling also wrote many memorable episodes fromThe Officeincluding “Ben Franklin”, “The Dundies”, and “The Injury”.
However, the “Diwali” episode written by her became an instant fan favorite. Appearing on theOffice Ladiespodcast, Kaling shared that just like her on-screen version, being an Indian-American, she also did not know much about the festival. However, Mindy Kaling used this aspect in the episode’s favor and led Steve Carrell to give one of his best performances as Michael Scott.
Mindy Kaling unleashed an insanely crazy version of Michael Scott in the Diwali scene
Numerous aspects of “Diwali” make it such a remarkable watch. From the use of Indian songs in the background to the food, attire, and grandeur,The Officenailed in portraying the Hindu Festival of Lights. But there is also another portion that the writerMindy Kalingbrought in the episode-one of the craziest versions of Michael Scott.
There are multiple scenes from “Diwali” featuring some comments by Michael Scott that can offend many. As the episode starts with Mindy Kaling’s Kelly Kapoor inviting her co-workers to a Diwali party, Steve Carrell’s character describes the festival as a “Hindu Halloween“. Michael and Carol even appeared at the festival in costumes as the Dunder Mifflin regional manager thought it to be a costume party.
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Later Michael Scott also went “yuck” at Indian food, sang a weird song, and appeared obnoxious throughout the entire event. During her visit to theOffice Ladiespodcast, Kaling shared that she is extremely thankful that the showrunner Greg Daniels approved the episode. She added that her lack of knowledge about the festival but talking about it was challenging, yet contributed to the episode’s core theme and gave us many hilarious moments.
One of the harder things when you write the ‘Diwali’ episode is that we couldn’t believe Greg said yes. I had to kind of confront the fact that I’m Indian-American, I don’t know very much about the holiday, and the bad experience of being Indian-American and talking about how you don’t know very much about the holiday kind of became a big part of the episode, which I loved.
Mindy Kaling continued that she liked how Kelly did not know much about Diwali except the fact that it was very important. This theme helped her to pull off the representation in a unique manner but also to portraySteve Carrell‘s Michael Scott in his truest form.
The episode has countless potential offensive elements from Michael and the other actors. But unlike controversial moments shown in series likeFamily Guy, the hilarious moments in “Diwali” mostly stem from the lack of knowledge about this culture among the Dunder Mifflin workers. It should be also accepted that Kaling’s personal resemblance to Kelly’s character added more authenticity to the story.
Mindy Kaling’s parents were also a part of the Diwali episode
It is very intriguing to note that Kelly Kapoor’s on-screen parents in the episode were the parents of Mindy Kaling – father Avudaiappan Chokalingam and the late mother Swati Chokalingam. The 45-year-old actress shared that her parents were the showrunner Greg Daniels’ favorite.
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In theOnly Ladiespodcast, Mindy Kaling explained that they auditioned uncountable people for the part but Daniels could only find the right balance of acting skills in Kaling’s parents. She accepted that her parents were not perfect but the showrunner approved as they had a familial resemblance to her.
We only cast my parents in it, which just seems like a complete act of nepotism and favoritism, because we had auditioned the parts and Greg felt that the actors we found in that age group (late 50s/early 60s) were either too theatrical for the style of acting on our show, or too stilted, because they had no acting experience. Now, I’m the first to say that my parents’ acting was also very stilted, but [Greg] was like, ‘At least they bear some familial resemblance to you, so we’ll put them in there.’
Kaling’s parents’ appearance was even praised by the director Miguel Arteta who loved her father’s acting. Even herThe Officeco-star Angela Kinsey could not stop to sing praise for Mr. Chokalingam who aced a particular moment withMichael Scottin the episode.
Going forward, Mindy Kaling also incorporated another Hindu festival “Ganesh Puja” in the popular Netflix seriesNever Have I Ever, created by her.
The Officecan be streamed on Netflix.
Subham Mandal
Senior Writer
Articles Published :1461
Subham Mandal is currently working as a content writer for FandomWire with an ardent interest in the world of pop culture. He has written more than 1000 articles on different spheres of modern pop culture and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He’s also an experienced student journalist having demonstrated work experience with the Times of India. He aspires to be a column writer in the future.
