History Main / BollywoodNerd

* Anji Kapoor, from the DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse. She's a futures trader and damn good at it, watches documentaries about economics for fun, and occasionally reads JaneAusten, although, like many examples of this trope, she's not actually geeky[[hottip:*:especially in contrast to [[BadassBookworm the Doctor]] and [[AscendedFanboy Fitz]]]]. Also, she was the first recurring ''DoctorWho'' character of Asian descent, though Rani from the {{Whoniverse}} series ''TheSarahJaneAdventures'' has appeared subsequently.

* Dileep Rao seems to be the go-to guy to play this kind of role in Hollywood, as evidenced by his roles in ''{{Avatar}}'' and ''{{Inception}}''.

* Averted by [[TheLeisureSuitLarry Lester Patel]] in ''{{Chuck}}''. He knows enough about computers to scrape by working in the [[BlandNameProduct Buy More Nerd Herd]], but when the only person below you on the Buy More totem pole is [[TheAlcoholic Jeff Barnes]], you're not exactly a genius.

* ''HaroldAndKumar'' attempted to avert this, but eventually ended up admitting that Indians just make good doctors for some reason. The far straighter use of this trope is seen in that Kumar comes off as far less nerdy than his AsianAndNerdy friend Harold (though they both smoke pot).

** This was more subversion than aversion. Kumar was actively trying to defy this trope. Even though he was highly intelligent and had a natural talent for medicine, he didn't want to be seen as a stereotypical BollywoodNerd, so he dropped out of med school and spent his time getting stoned. Then he realised that being a doctor would actually be pretty cool.

** Averted slightly in the {{anime}} film, however; that version is just a generically wise holy warrior.

* Partially subverted with Zaboo of TheGuild. He has the intelligence and computer savvy but not the work ethic.

** Not to mention he owns the Kwik-E-Mart.
** And his 8 children were the result of the LawOfInverseFertility and attempts to defy it with birth control pills...
** Then again, he can recite pi to 40,000 digits.

* Doctor Sivasubramanian Chandrasegarampillai (also known as Dr. Chandra) from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

** {{Averted}} in the film, however, where he's played by the white and Jewish Bob Balaban and is always referred to as Dr. Chandra instead of his full name. This Troper didn't realize until reading the book years later that Dr. Chandra wasn't ''supposed'' to be white.

Compare HollywoodNerd, AsianAndNerdy, BlackAndNerdy, and, of course, {{Nerd}}.

* Raj from ''TheBigBangTheory''. At least he's surrounded by other nerds, but is often the ChewToy of the group. On the other hand, women do seem to find him attractive. Too bad he can't talk to them.

* On ''TotalDramaIsland,'' [[SmartGuy Noah]] is Indian according to WordOfGod. Less obvious than some of these because a.) his race [[AmbiguouslyBrown needed confirmation in the first place]] and b.) he comes off as more of an InsufferableGenius than a regular "nerd."

* Hadji in ''JonnyQuest'': In the original series at least, he always knew much more than Jonny. Given the time of the show's production, this was probably done to make his relationship to Jonny [[BrainsAndBrawn more interesting]]. In ''[[TheRealAdventuresOfJonnyQuest the Real Adventures]]'', they made him the MissionControl computer expert.

According to the 2000 census Indian Americans have the highest educational qualifications of all national origin groups in the USA with about two thirds of Indian Americans have attained a Bachelor's degree or more. Around two fifths of all Indian Americans have a master's, doctorate or other professional degree, which is five times the national average. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Indian American men had "the highest year-round, full-time median earnings". So yeah.

* Mostly played straight but sometimes subverted by Kutner from ''{{House}}''. He's a doctor who's interests include ''StarWars'', ''HarryPotter'', ''StarTrek'', etc. Thirteen describes his apartment as "man-boy heaven". During high school, however, he was a bully.

* Ben in ''ShortCircuit'' was a computer scientist Indian guy (even though he was [[FakeNationality portrayed by]] Fischer Stevens). {{Lampshade}}d in one scene:

* For what it's worth, the ''TotalDramaIsland'' [[http://totaldramaisland.wikia.com/wiki/Total_Drama_Wiki Wiki]] says that [[SmartGuy Noah]] is Indian on his page's trivia section.

This trope is not as common in Great Britian, where more people are of Indian ancestrey.

According to the 2000 census Indian Americans have the highest educational qualifications of all national origin groups in the USA with about two thirds of Indian Americans have attained a Bachelor's degree or more. Around two fifths of all Indian Americans have a master?s, doctorate or other professional degree, which is five times the national average. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Indian American men had "the highest year-round, full-time median earnings". So yeah.

Note that the BollywoodNerd is much less pronounced in nerdiness than other character types because of where the stereotype comes from- [[UnfortunateImplication they're intelligent because they're stealing jobs from hard-working Americans]]. As is such, it doesn't make a whole heck of a lot of sense to show them as being lazy. Your typical BollywoodNerd will be a scientist, doctor, or just plain normal guy who has an IQ of 153. In other words, what your mom wishes you were instead of [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife wasting your time]] on this website.

According to the 2000 census Indian Americans have the highest educational qualifications of all national origin groups in the USA with about two thirds of Indian Americans have attained a Bachelor's degree or more. Around two fifths of all Indian Americans have a master?s, doctorate or other professional degree, which is five times the national average. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Indian American men had "the highest year-round, full-time median earnings". SoYeah.

* Raj from ''TheBigBangTheory''. At least he's surrounded by other nerds, but is often the ChewToy of the group.