Sendhil Ramamurthy sets the record straight about the ‘thakkali sambar’ controversy from ‘Never Have I Ever’

In an Instagram Live with The Hindu Weekend, the actor also announced he has done voice-work for two major video games, while chatting about his experiences as one of the few actors-of-colour in early 2000s Hollywood

One would think requesting Sendhil Ramamurthy to hop onto a live session at 10 am EDT would put a damper on his Saturday. But the minute he comes on, he is grinning from ear to ear. The actor is punctual, sporting a quarantine beard and a baseball cap, while occasionally sipping on his morning cup of coffee, undercutting some of the nerves the interviewer — yours truly — was already feeling.

When the actor posted about his live session with The Hindu Weekend, he received support from fellow Indian-origin actors Manish Dayal and Rushi Kota, who plays Prashant on Never Have I Ever (NHIE). Does he chat with other Indian actors during his off-set time? “I talk to Poorna Jagganathan all the time and we had never met before NHIE. I have known Manish and Asif Mandvi for many years. Then there’s Kal Penn, who is always such fun. And Mindy [Kaling], obviously. There’s a growing community of Indian actors for sure. On the set of NHIE, I didn’t know anyone and getting to know them was the coolest part of the job. It has always been a set of white people.”

Watch the full IGTV of Sendhil Ramamurthy for #LockdownWithWeekend here.

The comments’ section in the live had Rushi Kota occasionally popping in with some laughing emojis. A welcome presence if Ramamurthy’s chuckles and slight trolling of Kota is anything to go by. “Come on, Rushi Kota, don’t just write ‘LOL.’”

In NHIE, Ramamurthy’s character, Mohan, is a true tennis fan. Ask if he’s Team Federer or Team Nadal, and he does not even blink as he responds, “Federer, hands down. I don’t even need to think about it.” He admits that down the line, the tennis fanatic would love to work on a sports documentary.

And, of course, we put him in the hot seat about his pronunciation of thakkali sambar (tomato sambar), which he pronounced as thakli sambar, much to the chagrin of Tamil audiences. He takes the mistake in stride and laughingly says, “If there is a second season, I’ll get Mohan to say thakkali sambar at some point. Even if it’s not in the script!”

Ramamurthy, who shot to viral fame for his brief role in The Office as Kelly Kapoor’s (Kaling) boyfriend Ravi, ponders his characters’ potential present situation. Kelly had broken up with Ravi to be with Ryan (BJ Novak) and Ramamurthy says firmly that he is Team Ravi. But he explains that Ravi is “probably married with a couple of kids... but he definitely has not recovered from Kelly. He still thinks about her for sure”.

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Playing anti-heroes

One fan, in full capitals, ordered Ramamurthy, “Bring back Heroes!” At this, the actor laughs. “Listen, they tried that, two or three episodes, but it didn’t go down very well. If you bring back Heroes, you’ve got to bring back the original cast. I haven’t seen Heroes Reborn. Don’t hold your breath for a Heroes comeback, though,” he shrugs with a smile.

“Anti-hero roles are the most fun to play, as an actor. In American film and television, especially, there’s a big thing with likeability. It’s difficult to do that because any one thing can be unlikeable by any audience member. When you’re playing an anti-hero role like Bloodwork in The Flash, you don’t need to think about that. I was pleasantly surprised with the response to that character; there have been so many amazing villains on The Flash and you don’t know where you’ll fall in the pantheon of villains. Eric Wallace, the showrunner for The Flash, told me the whole arc of Bloodwork through the nine episodes when he pitched to me. You are there to wreak havoc; you have that monkey off your back. Plus the writing has to support the character, too.” He tacks on, “If you’re starting out, take what you can get! I started playing a lot of good guys then I got to intersperse that with these roles of full-on villains, which is great for expanding my acting range.”

But if Ramamurthy were to pin down moments where he truly “flexed an acting muscle”, he gives a shoutout to the theatre scene where he first started out. He advises young actors to try theatre to truly manoeuvre acting into your own experience and develop momentum. But what about voice-acting in the gaming industry? Ramamurthy pauses, and responds, “I just did a lot of voice work on two massive video games, and I’m not allowed to say what they are! I started recording them in January. Hardcore gamers out there might know what they could be.” We will be keeping our eyes out for those projects.

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