In the 1986 science-fiction comedy “Short Circuit” – one of the many “E.T.” knockoffs that permeated throughout the go-go decade – actor Fisher Stevens played Ben Jabituya, an eccentric Indian man with a thick, stereotypical accent. Over the years, the role has been criticized as a work of “brown face,” being that Stevens darkened his skin for the role and has no Indian ancestry.
Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment, Stevens said he often feels guilt for the role and agrees with those who feel offended by it.
“It definitely haunts me,” he told the outlet. “I still think it’s a really good movie, but I would never do that part again. The world was a different place in 1986, obviously.”
In fairness to Stevens, the role he initially signed on for was written as a white man until the filmmakers decided to change the character’s ethnicity after he had been cast. He was 21 at the time.
“They rewrote it, and were like, ‘Can you play it?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I can do it. Let me learn.’ It’s a weird thing when you’re 21 and you’re trying to get a job,” he explained.
Stevens reprised the role in 1998’s “Short Circuit 2.” Yahoo Entertainment noted that Stevens did commit to learning more about Indian culture prior to filming and apparently gave such a convincing portrayal that comedian Aziz Ansari actually believed Ben Jabituya was played by a real Indian man:
Stevens did commit himself to learning about India, a place he had never visited prior to shooting Short Circuit. As he told Indian-American comedian and actor, Aziz Ansari, in a 2015 New York Times interview, Stevens worked with a dialect coach and read multiple books about the country’s history and culture. Later on, he moved to India for a month before traveling to the Toronto set of Short Circuit 2.
All that preparation apparently came across in the performance: in his New York Times article, Ansari remembers thinking that Ben was played by an Indian actor when he saw the film as a child. “I rarely saw any Indians on TV or film, except for brief appearances as a cabdriver or convenience store worker,” Ansari writes. “This made Short Circuit 2 special.”
It was only later on in college that the Master of None creator learned that the character was actually played by Stevens in “brownface,” and experienced a profound sense of disillusionment. “As a child, I thought the villain of the film was Oscar Baldwin. … As an adult, I thought the bad guy was actually Mr. Stevens, who mocked my ethnicity.”
Stevens said that he still gets heat from Indian friends for taking on the role and that his wife will occassionally guilt-trip him. “I have friends who are Indian, and they’re still mad at me. They’re like, ‘What were you thinking?’ My wife isn’t happy about it either. She keeps telling me, ‘Look what you did!'” he said.
Related: Hank Azaria Apologizes To Every Indian For Voicing Apu: The Character ‘Is Practically A Slur’