History Main / BollywoodNerd

Another reason for this trope emerging is that East AsianAndNerdy has become a mostly DiscreditedTrope due to the real life consequences of the “model minority” stereotype. So South Asian And Nerdy is seen as a more acceptable alternative for a FunnyForeigner white-collar worker, nerdy kid or EducationMama, along with being “positive” stereotypes for developing countries.

Another reason for this trope emerging is that East AsianAndNerdy has become a mostly DiscreditedTrope with significant backlash from Asian-Americans, as the "model minority" stereotype has caused many real life consequences for them. So South Asian And Nerdy is seen as a more acceptable alternative when a FunnyForeigner white-collar worker, nerdy kid or EducationMama is needed. It's also seen as good PR for “third-world” countries.

* ''VideoGame/Uncharted:'' ActionGirl Chloe Frazer, first introduced in ''VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves'', initially was an AmbiguouslyBrown AwesomeAussie. In her main game, "VideoGame/UnchartedTheLostLegacy'', she's identified as half Indian, and she knows a lot about ancient civilizations thanks to her archaeologist father. ''The Lost Legacy'' also has another Bollywood Nerd of the evil variety, BigBad Asav. Asav is a former doctor turned terrorist bent on starting a civil war in order to reinstate the ancient Hoysala Empire, from which he claims descent. Apart from being just as intelligent as Chloe, he's also a GeniusBruiser.

** 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.

* Baljeet from ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' is a prepubescent BollywoodNerd, and even gets his own UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO5mSAXIzKQ&feature=related musical number]] about it in "The Unfair Science Fair".

This trope is not as common in Great Britain, where a higher percentage of the population is of South Asian ancestry. However, it did exist to some extent in colonial India, where the British were fond of stereotyping the different ethnicities on the subcontinent. There were some exceptions, but in general Punjabis (from northwestern India and Pakistan) were seen as tough and brave and were popular choices for [[KiplingsFinest sepoy troops]], while Bengalis (from northeastern India and Bangladesh) were supposedly weak and cowardly intellectuals. In a nutshell, Punjabis = jocks, Bengalis = nerds. This was an egregiously odd racial profile to give them given that the sons of prominent Bengali warrior families constituted more than half the entire British East India Company's mercenary force - indeed, the move to reduce Bengali recruitment and diversify the force was a major contributing factor to the 1857 mercenary rebellion which resulted in the company's dissolution - but then again Racial Profiling is by definition neither a logically-consistent discipline nor one founded in reality.

This trope is not as common in Great Britain, where a higher percentage of the population is of South Asian ancestry. However, it did exist to some extent in colonial India, where the British were fond of stereotyping the different ethnicities on the subcontinent. There were some exceptions, but in general Punjabis (from northwestern India and Pakistan) were seen as tough and brave and were popular choices for sepoy troops, while Bengalis (from northeastern India and Bangladesh) were supposedly weak and cowardly intellectuals. In a nutshell, Punjabis = jocks, Bengalis = nerds. This was an egregiously odd racial profile to give them given that the sons of prominent Bengali warrior families constituted more than half the entire British East India Company's mercenary force - indeed, the move to reduce Bengali recruitment and diversify the force was a major contributing factor to the 1857 mercenary rebellion which resulted in the company's dissolution - but then again Racial Profiling is by definition neither a logically-consistent discipline nor one founded in reality.

This trope is not as common in Great Britain, where a higher percentage of the population is of South Asian ancestry. However, it did exist to some extent in colonial India, where the British were fond of stereotyping the different ethnicities on the subcontinent. There were some exceptions, but in general Punjabis (from northwestern India) were seen as tough and brave and were popular choices for sepoy troops, while Bengalis (from northeastern India) were supposedly weak and cowardly intellectuals. In a nutshell, Punjabis = jocks, Bengalis = nerds. This was an egregiously odd racial profile to give them given that the sons of prominent Bengali warrior families constituted more than half the entire British East India Company's mercenary force - indeed, the move to reduce Bengali recruitment and diversify the force was a major contributing factor to the 1857 mercenary rebellion which resulted in the company's dissolution - but then again Racial Profiling is by definition neither a logically-consistent discipline nor one founded in reality.

Another reason for this trope is that East AsianAndNerdy has become a mostly DiscreditedTrope due to the significant backlash from Asian-Americans, as the "model minority" stereotype has caused many real life consequences for them. So, South Asian And Nerdy is seen as a more acceptable alternative when a FunnyForeigner white-collar worker, nerdy kid or EducationMama is needed. It's also seen as good PR for a country that is otherwise stereotyped as primitive, backward and impoverished.

** Silver (Sakti Chandrasekhar) wants to be a mechanical engineer, and Kaiju Sadhira Patel is an electronics prodigy (from natural talent, not due to mutant powers). Unfortunately for them, their powers didn't cooperate; Silver's ability to produce {{Mithril}} meant she needed to study magic (if only to protect herself from those who would exploit her), while the side effects of Kaiju's manifested quasi-saurian PK shell is turning her into a CuteMonsterGirl.

* {{Downplayed}} on ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaIsland:'' WordOfGod says that [[TeenGenius Noah]] is Indian, but he's AmbiguouslyBrown without any of the usual stereotypical cues. While something of an InsufferableGenius, he's also BrilliantButLazy and more prone to [[DeadpanSnarker sarcastic quips]] than typical nerdy clichés.

* Downplayed with [[CuteBookworm Connie Maheswaran]] on ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', who doesn't fit too many nerd tropes despite her intelligence. She does display several "geeky" qualities towards anime and books though. Her mother's a doctor, too!

Note that actual UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} films rarely use this character type. That's because [[CaptainObvious Indians are pretty common over in India]], so they don't have any trouble giving them diverse roles.

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