Sanjay Shah to produce new show for Fox.
By Raif Karerat
Indian American rapper Himanshu Suri, colloquially known as “Heems” of the alternative hip-hop group Das Racist, could soon be the subject of a television show loosely based on his life.
In an email to NBC News, Suri confirmed that Fox reached out to “Fresh Off the Boat” co-executive producer Sanjay Shah to produce the new show, which will be called “Eat, Pray, Thug.” The show takes its title from Suri’s debut album released earlier this year, which was his first since Das Racist disbanded in 2012.
“It’s a show about an [Indian-American] rapper who chooses to hang out at home with his Indian parents because they’re funny and maybe because they cook really well,” Suri told NBC News in an email.
He also informed NBC News that he is slated to serve as a producer and consultant for the show.
Actor Utkarsh Ambudkar, who has appeared on “The Mindy Project” as Mindy Kaling’s younger brother, is attached to “Eat Pray Thug” as its star.
According to Suri, Utkarash is a great choice for the lead because he represents a new, non-stereotyped face of South Asian artists in American pop culture.
“He transcends those pigeonholes the same way I do, being Indian yet a professional rapper. Most importantly, he knows his hip hop,” Suri said.
Suri, who is of Punjabi descent, was born and raised in Flushing, Queens, New York. He attended Wesleyan University where he studied economics, after which he moved back to New York to work in the financial sector until finding success with Das Racist.
Suri formed Das Racist in 2008 with his college friend Victor Vazquez, and the duo were joined by Suri’s high school friend Ashok Kondabolu — who performed the role of hype man — shortly after.
Das Racist’s style is as polarizing as it is eclectic. The New York Times wrote, “Das Racist’s lack of piety has become an aesthetic of its own, with songs that are as much commentary on hip-hop as rigorous practice of it,” while The Root said Das Racist could speak for both “the ‘hood or the nearest gated community.”
Das Racist first found success on the internet with their 2008 song “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell,” and then quickly established themselves within the underground rap scene with their 2010 mixtapes “Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man,” both of which earned them widespread critical acclaim.
The solo album “Eat Pray Thug,” was released in March 2015. The album was recorded in Mumbai and Brooklyn and has been described by Suri as “9/11 and Heartbreak.”