“The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh” star Sindhu Vee said she knew a celebrity would be stepping in for a cameo appearance in the season finale, but seeing “Shark Tank” star Mark Cuban was a total surprise.
Caution there are spoilers from “The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh” Season 1, Episode 8 ahead.
“[Production] had given me a series of people that they were going to go to, so I had to [say my lines] repeatedly with different huge celebrities, and I didn’t have them in front of me,” Vee, who plays Sudha Pradeep, shared with TheWrap. “So I had to be like, ‘What if it was this person I was talking to? What if it was that person?’ I didn’t know which one would happen. But the energy I had to bring was as if they were there. So when I saw it and it was Mark Cuban, I was like, ‘This is so funny. This is so mad.”
Cuban pops into the series minutes into Episode 8: “Interrogation Log #8,” as one of the several big name investors Sudha contacts in hopes of landing some financial backing for her husband Mahesh Pradeep, who needs funding to in for his rocket company, which is the entire reason they moved to the States in the first place. After some fictional hard nos from notables like Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Dre, Cuban appears.
“I’m at work, I’m at an event. Who gave you this Zoom link?” Cuban questions before abruptly leaving the call.
Patel says the Dallas Mavericks co-owner agreed to the cameo and recording his own video for it almost as quickly as it was requested.
“This is how awesome Mark Cuban is. We we were like, ‘Hey, we want a cameo from, like, a billionaire because of the story point, and it just has to be this thing. Who can we get? And Sony, who does ‘Shark Tank,’ they’re like, ‘Hey, what about Mark Cuban? Let’s ask him if he will engage.’ Because you got to engage and do the contract,” Patel explained. “They asked him, the person called him, he was at an event. After the ask, he sent the video. He just did it himself and sent it to the person. He goes, ‘Mark has already done it.’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean?’ He goes, ‘He was so game to do it.’ He just recorded it and sent it to us. I’m like, ‘There’s no paperwork.’ He’s like, ‘Well, don’t worry, we’ll take care of that.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, thank you. Mark Cuban.’”
He continued: “So what’s normally, like, a nine-month process… Mark, was like, ‘Yeah, okay, I’ll do it,’ and then he sent it, and I’m like, ‘What a what a baller.’ So that was, that’s how that came about. And we were like, ‘Thank you, Mark Cuban.’ Amazing guy, team player, and I think he was just a fan of the idea of the show.”
Vee said unpredictable moments like Cuban’s cameo and how the show provides a platform to show the world the diversity of Indian families.
“What I loved so much is this show went so unpredictable that for a moment, you [think] there’s an entire non-Indian cast somewhere looking at this thing [like], ‘Why didn’t I make this show?’ It’s that available to anyone who likes comedy and unpredictability, and I love that,” Vee said.
She continued: “Because when I see the world, I see it through Indian eyes. So I’m not thinking, ‘Is this very Indian that I’m saying it’ — I’m just being in the world. I’m swearing and I’m cussing and I’m talking about sex or I’m disciplining my kids. But I’m not thinking, ‘Is it very Indian?’ But then when you see the show, you have Sudha operating in the world, talking about anal sex and vagina and this and that, and going through her business. And a lot of people who are not used to it, I think, who are in the West, look at Sudha and say, ‘Do Indian women say things like that?’ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We’re not another species, absolutely. And that is very nice for me about this show. And I think in the finale, it really goes to places where I think some people might be, like, really an Indian family, yeah, yeah, yeah. We’re not that different.”at is very nice for me about this show. And I think in the finale, it really goes to places where I think some people might be, like, really an Indian family, yeah, yeah, yeah. We’re not that different.”
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