Comedian Hasan Minhaj will star in, co-write and produce a comedy called “For the Culture” that’s set in the Bollywood’s highly competitive world of college dance competitions.
“For the Culture” was acquired by Amazon Studios in an eight-studio bidding war, and it will be the first feature produced by 186K Films, a new production company Minhaj is launching.
The former “Daily Show” correspondent will lead the company as its co-founder and CEO, and he’ll be joined by Prashanth Venkataramanujam, co-founder and chief content officer, as well as Tyler Babin, who will serve as chief digital officer.
“For the Culture” is described as a high-energy, raucous comedy set in Bollywood’s cutthroat dance world and hopes to capture the vibrant, joyful celebration of Indian-American culture. The film aims to bridge the gap between Western audiences and those who grew up watching Bollywood films in the US and India.
Minhaj is co-writing the script with Venkataramanujam, and he’ll also star in the film. Rideback’s Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich will produce alongside 186K.
“When we first started our careers, the industry wasn’t looking for people like us. We were comedians on the fringes playing characters on the margins,” Minhaj and Venkataramanujam said in a joint statement. “But now, our only goal is to bring the margins to the mainstream. In launching our production company, we want to focus on finding and producing stories that have been deemed culturally irrelevant, but in reality, have massive, universal appeal. There’s a huge audience out there that’s not seeing their experiences, their lives, and their stories on screen in prestige television or studio films. Those are the stories we want to champion.”
Minhaj is a two-time Peabody Award-winning comedian known for his standup special “Homecoming King” on Netflix and his political satire show “Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj.” He’s currently on a 52-city, nationwide tour with his one-man show “The King’s Jester.”
Minhaj is represented by WME, Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman and imPRint. Venkataramanujam is represented by AF Entertainment and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher.
Deadline first reported the news.