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NEW YORK, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Naveen Andrews says he wanted to portray the patriarch on The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh because it was a rare opportunity for him to play a comedic role. "I've never worked in this particular form," Andrews, 55, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
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"Half-hour sitcom is a particular kind of discipline that I've never worked in before .... I don't think I've played a character [Mahesh} who is so relentlessly optimistic, almost irritatingly optimistic," said the actor known for roles in Lost, Sense8, The Dropout and Instinct. "He genuinely has no rank or bitterness in his heart."
Now streaming on Prime Video, the show is inspired by the experiences of Vijal Patel, an Emmy-nominated writer for black-ish and The Middle.
His latest endeavor follows the Pradeeps as they move from India to an industrial Pennsylvania town in the middle of winter for Mahesh's exciting new career opportunity.
Andrews, whose real-life parents immigrated from India to England in the 1970s, said Mahesh's love for his wife and three children gives him the courage to seek his fortune in America.
"That's an important part of it, but it's also the love that he seems to have and genuine childlike curiosity he has for other people," he said, pointing to Mahesh's blossoming friendship with his new next-door neighbor, Jimbo (Ethan Suplee), as an example.
"It's almost to the point where you feel like their wives are becoming obstacles," he quipped.
The show's narrative device sees the entire Pradeep family interrogated by authorities about a fire at the Mills house.
Each member takes a turn explaining their side of the story, which shows Mahesh's wife, Sudha (Sindhu Vee), warring with Jimbo's better half, Janice, while Mahesh's teen daughter, Bhanu (Sahana Srinivasan), strikes up a romance with Stu Mills (Nicholas Hamilton) against Sudha's explicit wishes.
Asked if Mahesh is the most reliable narrator, Andrews replied: "I wouldn't say that by any means."
"I approach it like a Rashomon film," Andrews said. "We're all the main characters in in our own play, so to speak, and it's very interesting that human relationships, who we really are in real life, is only our perspective."
Although the scenes are mined for laughs, Andrews said a serious undertone exists, since a police interrogation room is the last place immigrants would want to find themselves.
"That becomes a stage in itself. That becomes like an arena," he added. "In this case, Mahesh and the main interrogator (Pete Homes) develop a relationship that is based on curiosity."
Working on the series, Andrews said, helped him understand what it must have been like for his parents -- psychologist mom Nirmala and businessman father Stanley -- to leave everyone they knew for the chance at a better life.
"There was a lot that I could empathize with, even though that was a different time, of course," Andrews said.
"My parents were professional people, so I have no concept, no idea what they went through, yet it gave me a newfound empathy for for them."
While Andrews doesn't have a lot of comedy experience, he expertly delivers some of the best zingers of the series. So, how did he keep a straight face?
"Hopefully, there's a certain amount of discipline involved, especially with this form, because it's all about timing and pace and a certain kind of energy that has to be reached in order for the scenes to flow," the actor said.
"I think this applies to nearly everything," he added. "I relish the moments in this profession where I can work with people, where things just happen organically and it really happened a lot with the Ethan, where there was stuff that we did that transpired that wasn't actually in the script.
"Really, all of a sudden, [the humor] just organically happened."
