The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh is a new Amazon Prime comedy that follows the story of an Indian family and their experiences as new immigrants to Pittsburgh. Told through a series of flashbacks in an FBI interrogation room, the Pradeeps find themselves in the middle of a polar opposite neighborhood family, leading to romantic, personal and professional strife.

Series creator Vijal Patel based the series on his own experience immigrating to the United States from India as a child and growing up in Pittsburgh. Patel graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with engineering and business degrees before becoming a television writer known for his work on the shows. blackish And Middle.

90.5 WESA’s Priyanka Tewari sat down with Patel to talk about her journey from India to Pittsburgh, her career in finance, and what choices she makes when writing South Asian characters on television.

Priyanka Tewari: You graduated from the Ivy League school of the University of Pennsylvania with engineering and business degrees. So what drew you to comedy and screenwriting in the first place?

Vijal Patel: I love finance. I love math. I am Indian. Saying this is not racist. I’m just doing it.

(And at the end of college) I accepted a job at Goldman Sachs. A week before graduation, I was shopping for suits to work at Goldman Sachs and move to Manhattan when my best friend from college called me.

He said: “I’m going to give you the craziest sound you’ve ever heard in your life. I think you should move to Hollywood to become a comedy writer. The whole time I knew you, all you did was tell funny stories for 20 to 22 minutes at a time. That’s what television writing is all about.”

And I said, “Yes, I should try it.”

That’s how I got into this business.

Let’s talk about the show. Of all the gin joints in every town in the world, why Pittsburgh? Why did the Pradeeps have to land in Pittsburgh?

Pittsburgh is near and dear to me because when you watch the show, the first 15 minutes of the first episode is (my family’s story).

We moved from Ahmedabad, India, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the dead of winter. We didn’t have winter coats because you can’t buy winter coats in India. When you come from a temperate climate, there isn’t a Target where you can just buy a parka. And we had kurtas, we had pajamas. My mother was wearing a sari. All this in the middle of winter.

We even had the incident in the first episode where one of the Pradeeps put dead rabbits on their front porch. People cringe when I tell this story. ‘Oh my God, was there a racist incident the first day you moved here and you made a show?’

Yes, but this is funny. Because yes, it sounds embarrassing, but for immigrants, that’s not the worst thing that happened to them that day. They turned their whole lives upside down. This is not a disaster.

So, I’m the little kid in the show. Vinod Pradeep is my deputy. My optimism and love for Pittsburgh were off the charts. It was magical for me. As magical as India was to me as a little kid—(there were) monkeys and peacocks and elephants—Pittsburgh was something completely different. It was the forest, the snow, the hunters, the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’ve never seen football (before).

This was all my childhood and I love Pittsburgh. It’s part of my DNA. So I wanted to put that in the title because it was truly a formative part of who I am and who my family is.

I get really excited when I see immigrant stories and brown people on a Western platform. I also pause when I see certain stereotypes. As the creator of a series, how do you decide when to take into account stereotypes about Indian culture and when to break them?

That’s a great question because when people watch this show they’ll say things like, “Oh, I thought we were over that.”

In the first minute of the show, there is a customs inspector who completely cuts out the Pradeeps’ names.

Their names are Mahesh, Sudha, Vinod, Bhanu and Kamal. And the inspector said, “Okay, who’s here? Soda, Mohawk, Bonaroo, Camel, and Window.”

Then Naveen Andrews’ character Mahesh corrects him. “No, actually Sudha, Mahesh, Bhanu, Kamal and Vinod.”

And people say: ‘Oh, you’re making fun of Indian names.’

(But) I always had to tell people what my name was. Always. Vigil? Virgil? Vagil? Nobody can get my name right. Even in this day and age, I have to tell people my name.

And my litmus test is, if that happens to me, I’m going to put it (on the show). I had South Asian writers and Indian writers on staff who had these experiences. Whenever I say something and they laugh or I laugh at what they say, I say, ‘Okay, that’s a relatable idea. Let’s put that in.’

What’s next for the Pradeeps and you, Mr. Patel?

The show is doing really well. It is the number one TV comedy on the Amazon platform. And so hopefully there will be a second season for the Pradeeps.

I love telling the story of this family and want to continue telling the story of the Pradeeps because the message, joy, fun and personalities are universal.

Season 1 Pradeeps of Pittsburgh is currently available on Prime Video and Amazon Freevee.