WINNING THE RACE

IN HIS RECENTLY RELEASED MEMOIR, KAL PENN TELLS THE STORY OF HOW HE BROKE HOLLYWOOD’S DIVERSITY CEILING

- Shreevatsa Nevatia

YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS

by Kal Penn

SIMON & SCHUSTER

₹699; 384 pages

When Kal Penn was in high school, his guidance counsellor, Mrs Cummings, called him to her office to discuss his future. Though still in his teens, Penn had a plan. He wanted to be an actor and filmmaker. Once his career got going, he also wanted to do something civic-minded—development or non-profit work. Mrs Cumming’s advice was both a little condescending and cliched: “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.” The title of Penn’s memoir, You Can’t Be Serious, as also its witty, disarming content, seem, in many ways, to be Penn’s response to his counsellor. “I will say I have no malice towards her.”

Speaking to India today over Zoom from his Los Angeles home, Penn, 44, says, “There are tons of kids like me, even today, who have guidance counsellors like that. And I hope that when they read my story, the story of my films—Harold & Kumar, The Namesake— they see that the way to deal with somebody who is simply discouraging you, is to still try and go after all that you have so badly wanted.”