Bollywood spices up Tinseltown

Maybe it's the success of Slumdog Millionaire. Perhaps it's because corporate outsourcing is now a very real - and frustrating - part of Westerners' lives. Or perhaps it's because India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and its influences have finally spread to Hollywood.

Whatever the reason, Indian actors have taken Hollywood by storm, both on and off screen.

Currently, US television boasts of more than a dozen Indian actors who are regular cast members on popular shows such as The Office, 30 Rock, Community, Chuck, Royal Pains, The Big Bang Theory and Covert Affairs.

Aziz Ansari, a stand-up comedian who plays a wise-cracking office worker in Parks and Recreation, was given the coveted job of hosting the MTV Movie Awards in June.

And British-born, Mumbai-raised Archie Panjabi, who plays an investigator in the hit drama The Good Wife, is nominated for a best supporting actress Emmy Award this coming weekend.

Capping it all is the forthcoming new TV comedy Outsourced, about an American novelty-goods maker whose customer-service centre is moved to Mumbai. The cast is almost exclusively Indian.

Vik Sahay, a first-generation Indian actor on Chuck, said the rise of Indian actors in Hollywood has been a "gradual growth that crystallised in the 'a-ha' moment of the success of Slumdog Millionaire".

The 2008 film, which won eight Academy Awards, including that for best picture, has certainly done its part.

"It gave confidence to the US studios that a film taking place in India can work in so many markets," said Christina Marouda, the executive director of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.

Outsourced executive producer Ken Kwapis said the success of Slumdog had a direct effect on his show getting made.

Kwapis had initially pitched the idea for Outsourced after seeing a 2006 independent film it was based on. The development process "was a bumpy road for a while," according to Kwapis, until Slumdog Millionaire hit.

"The film really came along at a great moment in our show's development," said Kwapis. "It confirmed that an American audience would find a show about Indian characters compelling."

Not to mention the show's subject matter.

" Outsourcing has made the world a smaller place," said Kwapis. "We live in a global economy and this is a global issue."

As a result of globalisation, having Indians as part of the Western population is now so common that Hollywood often casts them in roles that have little to do with their ethnicity.

Take Sahay's character, Lester Patel, in Chuck. It was a role that was wide open in terms of ethnicity during the auditioning.

"They added his last name, Patel, after I was cast," said Sahay.

"What you're seeing now is that Hollywood and the general population have accepted that not every Indian is [stereotypical convenience store clerk] Apu from The Simpsons," said Rekha Shah, vice president of distribution and co-production at the Canadian CCI Entertainment.

• Dev Patel, who played the lead in Slumdog Millionaire, was reported in London's The Telegraph recently saying he is unemployed and is "really struggling" to find acting roles.

"Asian actors tend not to be sent Hollywood scripts that are substantial or challenging.

"I'm likely to be offered the role of a terrorist, a cab driver or smart geek . but I want to show that I have versatility."

He went on to say that he hoped to overcome any prejudice that he might encounter and that the film-production industry was changing rapidly.