WHILE many of us consider The Simpsons to be one of the best cartoons ever created, stand-up comedian and child of Indian migrants Hari Kondabolu shares different sentiments.

The Brooklyn-based comedian said he has been “taunted” by the show’s portrayal of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon for the past 30 years.

“Everything with Apu is like this running joke,” he told the NY Times. “And the running joke is that he’s Indian.”

Having watched the show since a child, Mr Kondabolu is now exploring whether the Kwik-E-Mart owner did more harm than good as a representation of Indian-Americans.

Working with the director Michael Melamedoff, the pair have created a documentary called The Problem with Apu, which will debut later this month.

The full-lengh documentary explores how the controversial character was created and continues to exist all these years later.

“I spent a lot of time revisiting Apu episodes,” Mr Melamedoff told the Washington Post.

“Of course, the character has moments of real wit and insight, because the writing team at The Simpsons was great. But a lot of those moments are also blanketed by very cheap jokes that come at the expense of South Asian culture and South Asian experiences.”

The film explores the broader history of Hollywood’s depiction of Indians, including Peter Sellers’s brownface character from the 1968 Blake Edwards film The Party and the Indians from Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which feast on chilled monkey brains.

Mr Kondabolu also enlisted the high-powered help of fellow Indians from Hollywood to bring his point home, with actors Aziz Ansari (Master of None), Maulik Pancholy (30 Rock) and Kal Penn (Harold and Kumar) all making appearances.

Even though the film is yet to premiere, its topical nature is dividing social media.

WHITE DUDE: Everything is politically correct! You can’t say anything you want anymore without someone complaining.

ME: I’m making a movie about Apu from The Simpsons.

WHITE DUDE: You snowflake! Way to be politically correct! Everyone just says whatever stupid shit they want now. — Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) November 11, 2017

"Apu is a racist stereotype."



Oh bore off. Literally *every* character in @TheSimpsons is an exaggerated stereotype. And that's kinda the point. What else do these worry-warriors expect from a cartoon comedy? Smh. pic.twitter.com/FKSs7w7C84 — Marc Winsland (@Marc_Winsland) November 9, 2017

S9e7, apu is the most desirable bachelor in an auction because of positive stereotypes. Simpsons also promote other cultures strengths — Sikender Singh (@SikenderSingh09) November 8, 2017

Simpsons makes jokes about literally every race, religion etc.

This pretty much translates to "I like when this show makes fun of people apart from me" — Bray (@Papa_Bray) November 12, 2017

Exactly! If anything they make fun of the "Dumb fat lazy American" stereotype waaaaaay more often. I'm a Hindu and I've never seen Apu as a problem, they're actually fairly accurate which means they spent the time researching the faith. — Nines (@TmluZXM) November 12, 2017

Apu was a family favorite if only because he was an Indian on American TV. Sure it was a racist stereotype, but..Hey look! We exist! https://t.co/qLG115F2nb — Sid Chaudhury (@direwolfc) October 4, 2017

#TFM310 When you're watching old Simpsons episodes and you can't decide whether Apu's positive characteristics and actions make him a good character or if the fact that he's a racial stereotype makes him bad from the start pic.twitter.com/iCol1Gn53z — Matthew Looney (@LooneyMatthew) November 8, 2017

So what’s next? A Hillbilly making a show because they don’t like Cletus? A Jew making a show because they don’t like Krust? A 50 something bachelor living with his mother making a doc bc he doesn’t like Skinner? — Juancho (@FCtuitter) November 12, 2017

This wasnt a problem until 2017 because no one was so annoyingly PC — Uzair Ahmed (@Uzair4211000) November 12, 2017

I understand the problem with #apu . If this is the only representation that you have of a culture, it can be more harmful than good. #TheSimpsons — Inspirationislimited (@FolukeO) November 12, 2017

Do you think Apu from The Simpsons a problematic stereotype? Continue the conversation in the comments below or with Matthew Dunn on Facebook and Twitter.