Ravi Patel Almost Turned Down MASTER OF NONE Due To The Episode Subject

Let me preface everything I'm about to say with if you haven't seen Master of None...see it. It's definitely an indie comedy, but the way Aziz Ansari covers some really deep issues in today's society is insanely good and real. So real, in fact, that actor Ravi Patel almost didn't take the role in the "Indian Actors" episode.

For those that haven't seen it, Dev (Ansari's character) gets offended after an audition when the casting agent requests he do an "Indian accent" when auditioning for a normal role on television. It then talks about how many Indian actors who appear on television have to be portrayed as guys who are fresh over from India or they don't seem to get hired. Patel took offense to Ansari's take on the issue and almost bowed out of the role according to Business Insider...

"When I read it I thought it was kind of condescending to the blue collar Indian actor," he explained. "He was talking a lot about how he doesn’t do the accent. I felt it was condescending to guys who do do the accent. I'm one of those guys, and I’m also friends with all of those guys, and I just have a lot of sympathy for the inherent kind of s****y role exposure that you have to endure if you're a blue collar actor... just trying to work your way up to get to a place where you can say no..." 

It's awesome because the two have a seemingly improvised discussion about it in the episode, and it's really good. I especially liked it because I never even realized how weird and almost offensive it is that Indian-Americans are expected to play that role as they do. Once again, if you haven't seen the show, watch it on Netflix!