Raquel Laguna/ SUCOPRESS. Actors Naveen Andrews and Ethan Suplee star in The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh, the new Prime Video Original comedy series from creator and showrunner Vijal Patel. In this interview, Naveen and Ethan talk about working on the show. Arjun Sriram and Ashwin Sakthivel also talk about their characters in the series. The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh follows the Pradeep family and the events of their life in America after moving from India. As told through hilarious (and often conflicting) flashbacks from an interrogation room, the Pradeeps quickly find themselves embroiled—romantically, personally, and professionally—with a polar-opposite neighborhood family, leading to a predicament with many surprising twists. The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh, now on Prime Video and Amazon Freevee.
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00:00Personally, my experience as the child of immigrants growing up in London in the 1970s
00:06was very different. There was a lot of hostility, violence, etc. And, you know, darkness, it wasn't
00:16particularly pleasant. And with Mahesh, I had to draw from what Vijal told me about his own father,
00:25because his dad shares a lot of the traits of Mahesh's character. Someone who genuinely has
00:33no malice or rancor in his heart. Someone who genuinely believes that he and his family are
00:39somehow going to prevail in a foreign country by goodwill and love even. The idea of me playing a
00:48father and husband, which are the two things I identify as most, was super, super exciting and
00:54appealing. And then the other thing was that I imagined that at first sight, I could be the worst
01:02possible idea for a neighbor. And then it turns out I'm like the best, nicest, kindest one. And
01:10so that was fun. Very much felt like a big family. You know, that was the tone that Vijal set.
01:16I think it was because it is so close to his heart. It is a maybe slightly hyperbolic version
01:26of his childhood, that it was a very familial vibe. When I first arrived to my hotel, he was in the
01:36lobby with some of the kids. And it was like I was coming into this family event. And then I was
01:45very quickly welcomed and made a member of the family. The audience, other than enjoying a damn
01:54good piece of storytelling, managed to get what I think is suggested through comedy, which is
02:05not necessarily complex, but I think incredibly important, you know, that we remain
02:13curious about each other as human beings. And don't judge a book by its cover.
02:18You know, don't take things on face value.
02:22Definitely the fact that it was finally representing Indian people in a different light,
02:26where most of the auditions that I'd usually get would be, oh, you're going to be the best friend,
02:31or you're going to be the little side character that doesn't have many lines, but it's just kind
02:35of there. It's the first time that I feel that Indians are being represented or Desi people are
02:40being represented in this kind of light, which I feel like it's a story that needs to be told,
02:45the immigrant tale that many people go through. It's a universal experience. So that's really what
02:51got me super hooked and obsessed with being a part of this.
02:55For me, it was very similar to Arjun's reason, but it was the portrayal of the story of an
03:02immigrant family. But it was given a comedic spin, which is something you don't really see
03:11on TV nowadays.
03:12When I read the script and noticed how he kind of starts off as this really quiet, timid,
03:18nerve wracking, not very outgoing character, that's very, very different for me. So I was
03:23always, I have a friend who, he's really, really cool and super, super sweet, but he's very much,
03:29you know, kind of closed off. And I talked to him and I asked him like, Hey, am I am I
03:33doing this right? Is this how you would feel if you were to be in this sort of situation? He
03:38told me different ideas of kind of how to portray certain things like little stuff like, you know,
03:42biting your fingers or kind of playing with it or whatever. So I definitely learned a lot from that.
03:48And also just as an actor, getting to do stuff that you don't really see yourself in, but you
03:52get to kind of step into those shoes for the first time and learn through it was something
03:56that was really, really fun for me.
04:00Yeah, for me, becoming Vinod Pradeep, I wouldn't say was too much of a struggle because I would
04:07like to think I'm optimistic. And my parents would agree with me on this one that I'm the
04:13joker of the family, which Vinod is as well. And he's quite daft as well. You'll see that he
04:20falls in love with a garbage truck. So I'm pretty pretty daft. Yeah.
04:27I think that comedy is definitely definitely really, really important, especially in the
04:32world we're living in today, where there are a lot of, you know, problems, socially,
04:36politically, just crazy things that are going on. But this is a comedy series, and it's on
04:41a subject that is universal, and isn't always shown in the best light. But finally, for the
04:47first time, it's it's being seen in a much more comedic level. And there's so many people that
04:52have gone through what the Pradeeps are going through. And some people that have not will
04:56definitely be able to watch this and, and have a better, more knowledgeable understanding of that.
05:03For me, I feel like this is very important, because the message I feel that should be
05:11listened to from this show is that, take everything with a pinch of salt, I like to say,
05:17because the Pradeep family are going through a lot, moving from a completely different country
05:25to America, and adapting, having to adapt to this country. And they don't forget to have,
05:34sit down and have a laugh sometimes. So I feel like take everything with a pinch of salt and
05:38don't take anything too hot.