Apu is back on “The Simpsons”… and he sounds a little different.
Springfield’s friendly Kwik-E-Mart owner spoke for the first time in nearly a decade in Sunday’s episode of the long-running Fox cartoon, and the words came from a new voice actor: Sunil Malhotra (“Grey’s Anatomy”) will voice Apu on the show going forward, TVLine has confirmed. (Variety first reported the news.) He replaces Hank Azaria, who voiced Apu from the show’s premiere through 2020, when he stepped aside amid mounting criticism of a white actor voicing an Indian character.
Apu will be seen and heard more often on the show now that Malhotra has been cast, executive producer Matt Selman tells Variety: “We love this character, and wanted to bring him back in a smart, ‘Simpsons’-y way that allowed him to evolve. We’re excited by what Sunil has already brought to the role, and look forward to seeing more of Apu in the future.” This week’s episode also saw the debut of Janina Gavankar (“The Morning Show”) as Apu’s wife Manjula, a role formerly voiced by Jan Hooks and Tress MacNeille.
Sunil Malhotra is best known for his voice work in animation
Born in India and raised near Chicago, Sunil Malhotra has a number of live-action TV credits to his name, including appearances on “Grey’s Anatomy,” “House,” and “The West Wing.” But the bulk of his credits come from the world of animation voice-over, including Prime Video’s “The Legend of Vox Machina” and Nickelodeon’s “The Legend of Korra” and “Monster High.”
Malhotra takes over the role of Apu from Hank Azaria, who played the role of the Indian convenience store owner for nearly three decades until a growing number of voices took issue with a white actor playing the role — including comedian Hari Kondabolu, who explained in the documentary “The Problem With Apu” how the character of Apu led to demeaning stereotypes of Indian-Americans like him. Azaria announced he would no longer play Apu in January 2020, later explaining: “Once I realized that that was the way this character was thought of, I just didn’t want to participate in it anymore… It just didn’t feel right.”
At the time, it wasn’t clear if the character of Apu would be retired, or if a new actor would take on the role. Since then, Apu has been relegated to non-speaking appearances on the show, with Azaria’s last performance as Apu airing in October 2017.
“The Simpsons” fans, what do you think of Apu’s new voice? And are you looking forward to seeing more of him and Manjula on the show? Let us know in a comment below.