History Main / BollywoodNerd

The West tends to portray Indians as nerds. While many Indians do speak English, this was under Imperial British rule. One possibly apocryphal story relates UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan being asked a question about the 1975–77 Indian Emergency and he mistakenly thought he was being asked about American Indians on US reservations.

So as far as Indian characters go, we really only know a few things: One, they have funny accents. Two, they drive cabs and [[AsianStoreOwner run convenience stores]]. [[OnceAcceptableTargets Yeah, those ain't gonna fly anymore]]. Three, Indians are so intelligent, they are the source of many white collar job outsourcings as well as stereotyped as doctors. So, obviously, all Indians must be geniuses. And therefore, nerds.

A subtrope of {{Nerd}} and AsianAndNerdy. Compare BlackAndNerdy, JewishAndNerdy, and {{Geek}}.

* Asok from ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' is so smart and his school is so good that they taught how to use psychic powers. Which the great Indian hierarchy may remove from him if he abuses them too much. The dullness of his job strains his ultra-powerful brain into near bouts of madness.
** When he did break the rules with his powers in order to save the day, he was sentenced to go back to his cubicle at the office.
** In ''Seven Years of Highly Defective People'', Scott Adams admitted that he wrote Asok the way he did because he didn't think he could get away with making a minority as moronic as the rest of the cast.
** Tiny, tiny bit of TruthInTelevision in this. Asok's intelligence and, more importantly, his psychic powers are more due to the fact that he attended an Indian Institute of Technology school, consistently ranked as the best in India. You gotta be ''real'' smart to get through there.

* ''Series/NeverHaveIEver'': The protagonist, Devi, is an awkward, unpopular, and overachieving high schooler of Tamil Indian descent who wants to go to Princeton. That California-based Indian-Americans are highly educated is part of the setting; in one episode, Devi speaks to a white college admissions counselor who tells her that smart Indian kids who could go to Ivy League schools are dime-a-dozen and she will have to do something that will make her stand out.

* ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle'' attempted to avert this, but eventually ended up admitting that Indians just make good doctors for some reason. The straight use of this trope is seen in that Kumar comes off as far less nerdy than his slight AsianAndNerdy friend Harold (though they both smoke pot).
** It wasn't so much that he was a good doctor by virtue of being Indian so much as by the end of the first film he (at least temporarily) decides that he should go to his medical school interview and take it seriously because he now appreciates his father more and wants to make him happy.
** Kumar was actively trying to defy this trope. Even though he was highly intelligent and had a natural talent for medicine, to the point where he was able to perform a surgery despite not having a medical license, he didn't want to be seen as a stereotypical Bollywood Nerd, so he dropped out of med school, sabotaged various med school interviews and spent his time getting stoned. Then he realised that being a doctor would actually be pretty cool.

** Averted in the {{anime}} film, however; that version is just a generically wise holy warrior (which is accurate with Dhalsim's MartialPacifist role in the games).

** {{Averted|Trope}} 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.

* Dr. Mohinder Suresh from ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. Now, granted, he and his father were both college professors, so it makes sense for them to be smart. But like AsianAndNerdy Hiro, the implications of this are pretty difficult to ignore when he's pretty much the only Indian in the series.
** ''And'' he's a cab driver. And so was his father (lampshaded in the series itself, where Mohinder warns his father that Indian academics who migrate to America end up driving cabs).
* On ''Series/TheDailyShow'', Aasif Mandvi once insisted that Jon Stewart introduce him as "Dr. Aasif Mandvi"; claiming: "I'm an Indian American, Jon. We're all born with a certain level of graduate school medical training."
** In fact, as listed on the IMDB, Mandvi has played a doctor at least eleven times (though not usually particularly nerdy ones).

* Rajesh "Raj" Koothrappali from ''Series/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 -- sober.
** This changes in a later season though.

** Every role played by Aziz Ansari seems to subvert this role. His character in ''Series/{{Parks and Recreation}}'', Tom, is also intelligent yet underachieving.

* Mostly played straight but sometimes subverted by Kutner from ''Series/{{House}}''. He's a doctor whose interests include ''Franchise/StarWars'', ''Literature/HarryPotter'', ''Franchise/StarTrek'', etc. Thirteen describes his apartment as "man-boy heaven". During high school, however, he was a bully.
* Averted on the American version of ''Series/{{The Office|US}}'': Kelly Kapoor is portrayed as a bit of an airhead, far too [[GenkiGirl excitable]] and into pop culture for her own good, even if she does seem to be fairly intelligent and good at her job.

* Dr Nayak from ''Series/{{Fringe}}''. [[spoiler:A rare villainous example. Okay, anti-villainous example.]]

* Tammy from ''Series/IAmFrankie'' is both this ''and'' the AlphaBitch!

* ''Series/NeverHaveIEver'': The protagonist, Devi, is an awkward and overachieving high schooler of Tamil Indian descent who wants to go to Princeton. That California-based Indian-Americans are highly educated is part of the setting; in one episode, Devi speaks to a white college admissions counselor who tells her that smart Indian kids who could go to Ivy League schools are dime-a-dozen and she will have to do something that will make her stand out.

* ''Series/NeverHaveIEver'': The protagonist, Devi, is an overachieving high schooler of Tamil Indian descent who wants to go to Princeton. That California-based Indian-Americans are highly educated is part of the setting; in one episode, Devi speaks to a white college admissions counselor who tells her that smart Indian kids who could go to Ivy League schools are dime-a-dozen and she will have to do something that will make her stand out.

[[quoteright:350:Film/PyaarImpossible https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bn.png]]]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bollywood_nerd.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:What a typical Bollywood nerd will look like.]]

* Dr. Rakshata Chawla from ''Anime/CodeGeass'', a [[BunnyEarsLawyer Bunny Ears]] HotScientist. Also, most of China's [[HumongousMecha Knightmare Frames]] are implied to have been designed by Indian engineers.

* Apu in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' is a computer science graduate, first in his class of seven million people. He originally went to the United States to study science under a student visa. In spite of his high intelligence, though, he works at a [[AsianStoreOwner Kwik-E-Mart]], and has eight children. [[MST3KMantra Best not to think about it too much]].
** In-Universe justification was attempted. He works at the Kwik-E-Mart purely because he loves the job (and the authority over the customers it gives him) and the power over others it gives him, and the eight children came about because his [[ArrangedMarriage wife]] was [[NiceJobBreakingItHero irresponsibly given fertility drugs]] by the well-intentioned Simpson family and by Apu, as well as taking them herself when she and Apu were [[LawOfInverseFertility trying desperately to conceive one child]].

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

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

* Dave from ''Pahkitew Island'' qualifies as well. He's pretty much an uptight nerd who's apparently Indian and serves as the voice of reason for his team.

* Ben in ''Film/ShortCircuit'' was a computer scientist Indian guy (even though he was [[Brownface portrayed by]] Fisher Stevens). [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in one scene:

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 [[UsefulNotes/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.

* Doctor Sivasubramanian Chandrasegarampillai (also known as Dr. Chandra) from ''[[Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact 2010: Odyssey Two]]''.

* Rajesh "Raj" Koothrappali from ''Series/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 - sober.

* Ranjid from the German SketchComedy show ''Series/WasGuckstDu''.
** More of a subversion - while being the best known (if not the only) fictional Indian on German TV, he's more of a dork, and not very bright.
* Dr Nayak from ''Series/{{Fringe}}''. [[spoiler: A rare villainous example. Okay, anti-villainous example.]]

[[folder: Radio]]

** In-Universe justification was attempted. He works at the Kwik-E-Mart purely because he loves the job, and the eight children came about because his [[ArrangedMarriage wife]] was [[NiceJobBreakingItHero irresponsibly given fertility drugs]] by the well-intentioned Simpson family and by Apu, as well as taking them herself when she and Apu were [[LawOfInverseFertility trying desperately to conceive one child]].

* Dr. Vindaloo from ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog''.

* Dr. Bellum from ''WesternAnimation/CarmenSandiego''. She's V.I.L.E.'s top scientist, and she is Indian.

* Kamala Khan aka ComicBook/{{Ms Marvel|2014}}. She's Pakistani rather than Indian, but she probably still counts. She is a huge superhero nerd, having intricate knowledge of her universe's superheroes, and she is a keen MMORPG player and fanfic writer. Downplayed, though, because, while she is fairly intelligent, her best friend Bruno (as well as his girlfriend, Mike) are smarter and fulfill the role of the SmartGuy in her solo series.

* Luna Khan from ''Manga/HagureIdolJigokuhen'' is a high-ranking executive at an IT company. She also happens to be an incredibly graceful and skilled master of the ancient martial art kalaripayattu. Her computer skills aren't as prominent as her fighting skills anyway.

A subtrope of {{Nerd}} and AsianAndNerdy. Compare BlackAndNerdy, JewishAndNerdy, and{{Geek}}.

A subtrope of AsianAndNerdy and BrainsVersusBrawn. Compare BlackAndNerdy, JewishAndNerdy, and of course {{Geek}}, {{Nerd}}, and HollywoodNerd.

Note that the Bollywood Nerd is much less pronounced in nerdiness than other character types because of where the stereotype comes from -- 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 Bollywood Nerd 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 having 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 TruthInTelevision to a certain extent.

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

* Ben in ''Film/ShortCircuit'' was a computer scientist Indian guy (even though he was [[FakeNationality portrayed by]] Fisher Stevens). [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in one scene:

* ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle'' attempted to avert this, but eventually ended up admitting that Indians just make good doctors for some reason. The straight 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).

** 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 Bollywood Nerd, 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.

* Real-life Bollywood nerd Divya Narendra was portrayed by [[FakeNationality British actor]] Max Minghella (who is of Chinese and Italian descent), in the film ''Film/TheSocialNetwork''.

American media has very little to go by in terms of Indian stereotypes. While many Indians do speak English, this was under Imperial British rule. Americans know virtually nothing about them. One possibly apocryphal story relates UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan being asked a question about the 1975–77 Indian Emergency and he mistakenly thought he was being asked about American Indians on US reservations.

So as far as Indian characters go, we really only know a few things: One, they have funny accents. Two, they drive cabs and [[AsianStoreOwner run convenience stores]]. [[OnceAcceptableTargets Yeah, those ain't gonna fly anymore]]. Three, Indians are so intelligent, they are the source of many white collar job outsourcings. So, obviously, all Indians must be geniuses. And therefore, nerds.

* Dave from ''Pahkitew Island'' qualifies as well. He's pretty much an uptight dork who's apparently Indian and serves as the voice of reason for his team.