Code-Switched
Code-Switched (2020)
Created, written, and directed by: Karan Sunil
Television loves an ensemble. Some of the most popular series feature casts of three or more characters who share the plot equally: from friendship based series like Friends, Living Single, Girlfriends, Seinfeld; workplace comedies and dramas from MASH to Abbott Elementary; and an innumerable number of family sitcoms that date back to the earliest histories of the medium.
Yet virtually none of these feature South Asian characters, which makes Karan Sunil’s Code-Switched all the more innovative, beyond its mastery of comedy writing, acting, and directing.
“I personally don’t think America understands South Asians. They just look at brown and they’re scared. There’s so many different kinds, but at the same time, we are very fractured as well,” he says.
As befits the genre, Code-Switched explores very different characters who have vastly different struggles. Some people are focused on finding love and navigating parental expectations, others are looking for work or trying to get promoted at work. For each person, national or religious identities have varying effects on their journeys, but at no point do they feel written generically.
This is because Karan, who was born and raised in India, did a lot of research and development to understand the diverse experiences in his community.
“I spoke to focus groups of South Asian millennials between 18-25 in Chicago and Seattle about their experiences. I handpicked the cast, who are mostly comedians, stand-ups, and improvisers. I scouted comedy shows in Chicago for months, everything from paid tickets to open mics at Mexican restaurants and sports bars. I wanted to find five people that embody the character’s roles in some way.”
What stands out in Code-Switched is its comedic precision. The first episode–originally the third but Karan scrapped two episodes to present the strongest series possible–ends with a whipsmart poke at stereotypes. In it Mitra (Minita Gandhi), mother of Priya (Sonal Aggarwal), comes up to her to take about a potential suitor as Priya takes a bite of an hors d’oeuvres. Priya immediately starts choking–perhaps a subconscious refusal to engage–and her mother screams: “is anyone here a doctor?!” Nearly all the men in the rear raise their hands and the episode ends. The scene shows a self-awareness of the roles and narratives South Asian people find themselves in – arranged marriages and prestigious professions – while poking fun at how flattening these can be.
In the series, these tropes are further subverted by the inclusion of characters who are single and decidedly unsuccessful. Few of the characters have the life they want in terms of work or relationships. Rahul (Saurabh Pande) is an aspiring actor who can’t catch a break because they don’t meet the stereotypes directors are looking for. Whereas Zara (Sabeen Sadiq) is up for a promotion at work, where she’s doing well, but questioning what her goals are after and the ways she has prioritized career and deprioritized dating.
But Code-Switched doesn’t limit itself to South Asian characters. True to the diverse friendship groups that many millennial people of color living in cities, the show also reserves storylines for the likes of Kevin (Peter Kim) a gay Korean man who works with Zara and struggles to hold on to a relationship, date within his race, and come out to his mother.
The series also discusses Black-Brown solidarity in a number of ways. After commiserating with his friends about being the only Black guy at work – which “has its perks…I’m an expert on kombucha now” – Nate (Nnamdi Ngwe) tries to rent an apartment on the north side to a Black couple who are concerned about racism and gentrification, who receives moral support from Krish (Vikram Pandya). In the previous episode, one of half of that couple, Max (Max Thomas), talks to some of his friends about hearing Indian folks using the n-word, which Karan noted to me, is a real thing that is common but never discussed in the media. “It’s just these Brown boys trying to be Black,” says Jordan (Jordan Stafford). The scene is bookended by several showing the love Black and Brown people both have for hip hop and the slipperiness of identity’s borders. The episode ends with all the friends talking about music, with Rahul mentioning that the rapper discussed in the previous scene, about whom the n-word was used, is actually Indian, to which Devin (Devin Middleton), the third Black actor in that scene, says: “Still my nigga tho!”
Code-Switched’s sensitivity to authenticity and its irreconcilable ironies made it a popular and resonant series with audiences in Chicago and online. Its pilot premiere at the Museum of Contemporary Chicago drew raucous laughter from a diverse audience, mostly not South Asian folks and including lots of Black and Latinx people. When it livestreamed the first season on YouTube one day after dropping on OTV, it racked up hundreds of thousands of views and hundreds of comments, many of which praised the culturally specific details Karan injected into each scene:
“Oh God that glass container of dal in the microwave. So me everyday!”
“Dude, it looks like even AB-desis have similar struggles….all we can do is suck it up and overcome the great misery that is life.”
“I really want a lot more of this. Finally something us brown kids can relate to”
“Too real...cant stop laughing! Hahahaha Love it!”
With its crackling writing, stunning cinematography, and confident direction, it’s no surprise that Karan instantly got interest from Hollywood, specifically Hulu, in developing what would be a landmark series. Ultimately a series order did not materialize, but that in no way diminishes its significance to television!