The masala-flavored sitcom “Outsourced,” which was just picked up for a full season, has quickly become an important part of the NBC Thursday night line-up. The show takes place in India at a call center for an American company and is the first major American television show to feature a primarily South Asian cast. Rizwan Manji, who plays assistant manager Rajiv on the show says, “It’s definitely an amazing experience. The first time that I got to really do anything with a primarily South Asian cast was a film that I did about almost a decade ago – ‘American Desi’. As you know on TV we were lucky if there is one South Asian person in the show, so this experience is quite amazing; everyone is wonderful.”
But just because he has hit it big in Hollywood, doesn’t mean that he hasn’t heard the siren song of Bollywood. When asked if he would ever want to do a cross-over Bollywood role like Omi Vaidya did in “3 Idiots,” Rizwan says, “I would love to!” exclaims Rizwan. “I think I was sitting there so jealous [while watching ‘3 Idiots’.] He was so, so brilliant but it was one of those times as an actor that you’re like, ‘Why didn’t I get a chance to audition?!’ I loved his performance so much that I just wanted to have that part. It was such a juicy, nice part and he was so great in it.”
Rizwan continues, “My Hindi is not that great and I don’t have the Bollywood star looks that they want but if somebody is going to knock on my door, I am not going to say no.”
