junglee child

An Original Half-Hour Series

by Sarah Stunt
Deceptively charming and
uncomfortably funny,
Junglee Child is a
dramedy about a
complicated young white
woman navigating identity
amidst cultural pressures
from her traditional - and
largely brown - Anglo
Indian family.
junglee manifesto

Personal experiences shape this narrative; I am a white Canadian writer with a

Pakistani mother and an Irishy, Englishy father. I do have a sister and she actually
does look South Asian, whereas people don’t believe me when I tell them I am too. I
was born in Toronto but raised in a small city outside of the bustling metropolis. I
didn’t experience too much prejudice growing up, but I think that’s because no one
thought to offend me. Why would they? A caucasian, dark-haired, light-eyed “green
eyed” girl who could have more easily passed as Black Irish than Anglo-Indian? By all
appearances, I was just like everyone else in my small, diverseless town, a town
where my self-described East Indian Colonel Sanders looking Granddad would never
visit. On the inside however, I had a fire that was constantly smoldering, ready to
unleash at any mention of racial disparity or insult; when I was 9, a boy at school
addressed me only as “Paki.”  In defiance, I started dressing in a sari and told him,
“That’s half-Pak to you.”

Growing up kinda-Indian, colourful curries and the occasional head waggle from an
uncle were the only things that really made me feel, “Indian.” I began to wonder, does
it even count? Why did I have to kneel to priests and take communion when I could
be cross-legged in front of Vishnu or Shiva, burning incense, adorned in wreaths of
marigolds? Why was the only henna we ever used to dye our auntie’s heads instead
of on our hands for marriage? Why did our traditions only border on Indian? My
mother’s maiden name is French… How do you even start to explain that other than
by sheepishly stating, “Colonialism ruined everything?” 

Even now, it’s all still so confusing but I wouldn’t change a thing. “Junglee” means wild
and free. That’s who I am. And it is exactly what I hope these stories will be.
tone

This is an era of change. Diversity is such a hot topic right now, and rightly so. But it's often thought of in terms of race, ethnicity - visibilty. For me - someone who can’t actually specifically
identify what that looks like - it’s about perspective.

Millenials are the largest age group since the boomers. We’re taking our time finding our careers. We’re against labels, but use words like “fluid” and “non binary” as casually as IDGAF and
LOL’s. Marriage is on the decline and so is babymaking. We’ve demanded to be heard, but we haven’t quite found our voices. And it’s why we’re having a hard time finding out who we are,
and/or who we want to be. That's what Junglee is all about. It's the search for community, a safe-space for representation, a place to call “home” for all of the in-betweeners.

The tone of the show rides this line of uncertainty. It’s humour is edgy and uncomfortably grounded; the "ha ha" moments come with a twinge of awkward. It’s reflective and real as much as
possible; a lot our characters do live beyond the screen, so we do our best, to best represent them. We’re not about conceiving an ensemble of “Apu’s” here - we’ll not add affectation for the
sake of comedy.

We want to tell this story from the inside out. We do this by navigating the show from our lead ANDIE KELLY’S point of view.

She’s our white girl, brown soul conductor.

She’s “Hannah” from Girls, but more aware of herself and her surroundings.
She's “Emma“ from Vida, constantly pushing back against, well everything.
She acts out against gestures of love like “Gretchen” in You’re the Worst. Yet.
She expects love to show up how she wants, when she wants, for as long as she wants, like “Mickey” in Love.

One common trait resonates with all of them: they’re flawed and they know it. They struggle to both accept and remedy their faults with concerted effort, awareness, and take leaps into
vulnerbility when they're at their rawest.

It's a rollercoaster. It's sad. It's funny. It's lot of heavy lifting and self medicating/diagnosing/championing/stifling. It's fun. Mostly. It's full of love. Always.
the world
What the eff is an Anglo-Indian? Good (complicated) question. By definition, these are
people “relating to or involving both India and Britain.” But what about the Partition of
India? Are you still Indian if you were born in the Union of India but resettled to the
Dominion of Pakistan- because you had to? Were forced to change your citizenship to
Pakistani? And what about the French? If your lineage stems from French colonialism,
what does that make you... Franco-Indian? We haven’t even touched on the Dutch or
Portuguese Indians, let alone the Jewish-Indians. If your grandparents were from India but
your mother was born in Pakistan, then are you Pakistani or Indian? Or Anglo Franco
Indian? Maybe you’re just confused, like Andie. 

Back in the day, Anglo Indians were amongst the minorities. Seen as inferior by the
Europeans because of their mixed-race descent, and not accepted by the Indians because
of the colour of their skin, language, customs and overwhelmingly predominant Catholic
beliefs, these "Kutcha-Butcha’s" (half-baked bread), were left with uncertainty as to who
they were and where they belonged. 

For our purposes, the family as a whole will be regarded as Anglo-Indian. Andie embodies
this cultural distinction, but for ease of clarity, she tells people that she’s half-Pakistani -
because that’s where her mother was born. She prefers the hot and dry khana of these
regions anyway; butter chicken isn’t even really a thing.

Here’s how we break this down:

The KELLY sisters are inseparable. Best friends, roommates, makeout bandits; these two
thrive in their sibling marriage. The only thing that sets them apart, is the colour of their
skin. ANANDI aka ANDIE, late 20s, whose white father’s Irish-English traits dominate her
appearance, constantly fights against outside perceptions of her Anglo - Indian roots,
while struggling to come to terms with her own judgements about what their culture
actually means to her. 

With her dark hair and features, JESSMINDER aka JESS, mid 20’s, can play the part in
face, her hereditary attributes clearly favouring their Pakistani mother DEE’s genetic
makeup. From an early age, both cherished their upbringings and the rich diversity of
their culturally ambiguous lives with a shared commitment to becoming neither one thing
or another; identity is not beholden to familial expectations, it’s created and shaped by
self - experience. Jess however, slowly begins to disband all prior beliefs when she
replaces their “sister life is right life” motto with “hot and single and ready to marry up.”
series overview
Junglee Child is a half-hour dramedy about breaking free of familial co-dependence, even though culture and traditions’ vice-like grip refuses to let go; happily ever after is an
accidental byproduct and true love isn’t a requirement for arranged marriages. As our lead ANDIE KELLY struggles to come to terms with her own independence, the once
impenetrable relationship she had with her sister - her one true ally in all things antiquated - begins to unravel as their individual searches for “self” massively clash with one another.

Each episode begins with a themed teaser that will shape its overall narrative, the present day mishaps and adventures of our Junglee girl founded on real-life nostalgia, reimagined
and crafted by memory. The flashbacks stem from Andies youth, but the perspectives are not singular or exclusive to hers. Instead, we’ll also see how various situations infer Andie’s
renegade spirit through the stories of others.

Here’s an example:
                                                               
“THE HALF-PAK”

Andie at 7, sits in a seat alone on the school bus. Everyone around her speaks French, she the only anglophone on this ride. BASTIEN (12) pushes himself down beside her; he’s a
relentless pest, a bully without limits. Andie ignores him, keeps her eyes affixed on the window. Her face completely turns with a look of surprise as Dee comes into view, beaming and
waving from the street corner. Andie excitedly waves back; in this moment, there is no one else in the world except the two of them, until Bastien rudely probes, “Why is your nanny
picking you up?” Andie turns to him, uncertain of the insinuation and quietly replies, “That’s my mom.” Bastien raucously laughs, spews with pointed finger, “But she’s brown! She can’t
be ta mere!”

Andie skirts away from Dee when she bends down for a hug, recoils from her touch. As the bus passes by, Andie nonchalantly flips Bastien the bird, her expression stone cold and
unforgiving. Shocked, Dee reprimands her - demands to know why she did that - but Andie remains resilient in her newfound protest. The short-walk home is silent until Dee slowly
coaxes the truth out of a now trembling Andie. She’s upset - for her mother - confused over Bastien’s tone-deaf observation. Dee is upset too, her race as seen by others never
coming into question before, with regards to Andie or otherwise. Perhaps for the first time ever, Dee truly sees the colour of her own her skin, realizes that it’s not the same as Andie’s.
She goes on to explain her culture, where she came from and how marrying Michael made Andie mixed-race. Grasping to understand, Andie genuinely asks, “So I’m  Pak…’rish?”

And so begins an era of pride-driven defiance. 

Interwoven throughout are further explorations of their culture, what it is to be from this world, this family. It’s a constant learning lesson where curves are thrown at every juncture.
But it’s padded with woo, driven by love and built on the promise that our Junglee Child will rise up, time and time again.
the pilot
"SISTERING"

Ritual. Tradition. Marriage. Three words that Andie cannot stand. Although she’s proud
to be a “chi-chi,” her pseudo desi-half is a force that she constantly reckons with.
Especially when it comes to domineering, matchmaker NANA’S (70s, Auntie Ginny to
others) plight to marry her off to “a good Indian boy.” She and her hopelessly romantic
sister Jess have sworn off arranged marriages so as to maintain control of their own
romantic destinies, but on the night of cousin VEEJ’S (40s) wedding to newly acquired
bride PAMELA (30s), Andie begins to see her always boy-crazy sister slipping into a new
frame of mind. And it’s an absolutely devastating mode: wifey.

Desperate to elevate her writing talents as a segment producer beyond the naked
reporting station NEWS FLASHERS TV, Andie applies for a position at one of the
company’s affiliates. She’s a natural fit, a perfect shoe-in for QUEEN CITY CURRENT, but
corporate doesn’t think so. Instead, they hire her coworker NOUREEN (20s), the
annoying first-gen Indian know-it-all as their new Arts & Culture segment producer.
Andie’s pissed, her hurt compounded by the fact that she’s not “cultured” enough to fill
the role.

She turns to her sister, to her parents at their family-owned snack-shop Khanna Kitchen,
but her fire is only further fueled when Jess agrees to be match-made by Nana. Andie is
mad-shocked, their sister-pact based on the long-standing agreement to never date
South Asian brown out of principle, and sets off on a mission to dismantle all things
"rishta."
Along the way, Andie meets and inadvertently falls for (go figure) AVINASH aka ASH
(30), a not-so-typical Indian twenty-something who struggles with traditional
expectation in his own right. But not even pressure from his father to get a degree in
medicine/engineering/business, or his mothers whining desires to see him married
off to a fair-skinned Indian woman (but not Gori fair), will stop them from getting hot
and heavy. Much to Andie’s surprise, the spark of romantic potential abounds and
that... scares the shit out of her.

Although she remains tight-lipped about her own late-night rendezvous, she doesn't
keep quiet as Nana preens and primps Jess - her coconut princess - for the blind
date that’s about to go down. Andie is floored at how fast it’s all come together, but
even more so by the man who shows up at the door. It’s Ash, ready for his Nana-Jess
date. Holy mother f… Andie hides out of view, cringes at the sight of her sister ogling
over her new sorta dude.

Jess has no idea that she has had her own date with Ash, but Andie can’t help but
feel betrayed. This sends her into a spiral; her frustration with herself and Jess’s
obnoxious boastings over her latest “cockquest” lead to a massive blowout between
them, a loud clash of never before aired opinions of one another. The result is not
good, and Andie turns to Ash for comfort. The problem is, so does Jess and in doing
so unknowingly creates a shitstorm trifecta that leaves Andie questioning: how did
she get into this position in the first place, and how the fuck is she going to get out.

Add a little bit of body text

Characters
SISTERS
ANANDI “ANDIE” KELLY, late 20s, a force to be reckoned with. Confident and spirited yet
equally plagued with insecurity. Is she too white to be “properly” regarded as Anglo-Indian? Is
it some rude version of cultural appropriation to even call herself that? Her very present
heritage is deeply rooted within her, but literally not visible enough within her family, or to
others. And seriously, that whole milkman's daughter joke is hella old.

Andie prides herself on being independent, but is constantly disappointed by others—

emotionally and otherwise— although she’d never admit it. Her personality is naturally
contentious, but she's not a dick on purpose - mostly. She's constantly at odds with notions of
power, fights to be seen beyond “the gaze,” and yet, maintains that she is an equalist. She
sounds pretty judgmental, but she’s not. Working at a naked news TV station is testimony to
that. She’s aware that she's complicated and hates being told so, but it’s this alluring feature
that ultimately makes her likable. She’s just trying to figure it out, through trial and repeated
error, the best and only way she knows how.

JESSMINDER “JESS” KELLY, early 20’s, sweet, sassy and a closeted romantic. Her favourite
sayings include, “I’m more brown than you,” and “I’m not one for work.” Her close relationship
with Andie has muddled some of her own sense of identity, her loyalty a block in her own
growth. She’s not as strong as her sister, has no real desires to explore and succeed beyond
just getting by. If she were to be honest—which she struggles to do with spinster-driven Andie
— she would admit that all she really wants is to meet a man, get married, have children and
simply settle down.

Andie’s staunch opposition to anything remotely traditional or socially constructed as is this

idea, keeps Jess’s true desires at bay. Inklings appear every now and then, but when she
actually takes time to consider alternatives, irrationality and naiveté take over, forcing her to
run in the other direction. At times, both sisters make questionable decisions, but Jess is
notorious for making outright bad and rash ones, like saying yes to blind-dates and making
nookie with randos.
LOVERS
AVINASH aka ASH, late 20s, the worlds solution to an Indian Ryan Gosling. He’s smart and he knows
it, but his confidence rarely comes off as arrogance. He challenges Andie in all the best ways,
becomes the reason she begins to look beyond the racial stereotyping she swears she doesn’t do.
Ash maintains a healthy balance between his Indo-western lives, having been raised in a traditional
Indian home but afforded the opportunity to learn and grow in progressive Toronto. It’s part of his
appeal and what ultimately makes Andie fall for him. He's not immune to traditional pressures
though; even he doesn't have the balls to say no his mother's requests to find him a nice Desi girl.

ALAN, late 20’s, boring as hell but soft and agreeable in a nauseating way. He is very set on
contentedness, which is why he’ll maintain his position as a second unit cameraman at News Flashers
TV forever. He is a pushover on the hunt for love and has no idea what he’s getting into when he gets
love-steamrolled by Jess.

FRIENDS & FOES

LAUREN, late 20’s, Andie’s closest friend and co worker. She’s a lead anchor at News Flashers TV, a
position that she takes very seriously; she has zero judgment about the fact that she reports the
news 100% in the nude. Lauren's extremely intelligent and sees every opportunity as a stepping stone.
Her body-confidence is an admirable trait but her opinions and comments can often be
absentminded and unfiltered; she means no offense, usually.

NOUREEN, 20s, bubbly, East Indian and 100% annoying. She and Andie work together at News
Flashers TV until she's promoted within the corporation. There’s a quality about Noureen that irks
Andie more than it should, but is probably because she looks and plays the part of a "real" first
generation Desi. Of anyone, she is the most prejudiced, a self-proclaimed coconut— brown on the
outside but white within; she’s the kind of girl that will turn an accent on or off depending on the
company.
FAMILY
NANA aka AUNTY GINNY 70’s, an ethereal Indo-Pakistani beauty. Fluent in Hindustani and then
some, Nana is the authority on all things love, a serious believer in arranged marriage. When
her daughter Dee denied her efforts and ultimately married a white man, Nana made it her
life’s mission to become an official matchmaker, a RISHTA aunty. Although she’s maintained a
track-record of success, Andie and Jess have - for years - rebuked her requests to set them up
with “good Indian boys.” However, she triumphs over Jess’s eventual decision to let her find her
a date and refuses to let her granddaughters effect her 5-star rating. She’ll stop at nothing to
get these girls husband-upped. Rishta waits for no one.

DEE KELLY, 50s, Mummyji. Immigrated to Canada from Pakistan at an early age. Identifies as
Anglo-Indian but Western by all accounts- in dress, lifestyle etc… Dee is the glue that holds the
girls together. Constant advocate, frequent mediator and an enviable example of how to
balance cultural roots with modern and evolving society. A real-life “Clair Huxtable.”

MICHAEL KELLY, 50s, light haired, blue-eyed, rosy cheeks- a typical English/Irish hybrid. He's
easy going, all-around happy and content. Jess is similar in this regard; kick back, relax and
shoot the shit kind of personality. He’s adapted to the ways of Dee’s close-knit family, adopted
the rituals they maintain, but mostly because he relates. He too comes from a large albeit
waspy family.

GRANDAD is dead. A Colonel-Sanders looking Bangelorean man, this giant of a human was
everything to Andie and her family. The OG junglee, he brought his renegade motorcycle riding,
cricket dominating style over to Canada in the 60’s when he immigrated with the family. He was
the ultimate provider, his jockular spirit and penchant for embellished storytelling the catalyst
for Andie’s imaginative spirit. Although he is isn’t alive in our present-day narrative, he comes to
us in flashes, through memories in the teasers. Andie probably took his death the hardest; he
was the one man she ever totally trusted, the cruelty of fate aka dying of a massive heart
attack on a golf course, the reason why she keeps her heart locked up and untethered.
season overview

From the moment we are first introduced, we dive into the lives of Andie and Jess, meet their giant family, get drunk, have sex, fall in love and break hearts. But by the time episode one
comes to an end, it’s clear that the strong bond that once made them an impenetrable force is more malleable than they could have ever imagined.

As the season takes shape, Andie decides to keep her tryst a secret and bows out of the incestuous thrupple she's accidentally joined - Ash and Jess none the wiser. In doing so, she
unwittingly pushes them closer, the outcome further perpetuated by Nana’s insistence that they continue to see each other. Dee gently advises Jess to manage her “perfect ending”
expectations, to which she spins to the extreme; Jess maintains the facade of Gori-goddess as her relationship with Ash evolves, but beyond Rishta’s reach, she secretly reinstates her
old hump ‘n’ dump habits. Amongst the bedded -  Alan. Yes that’s right, Alan.

Noureen’s new position at Queen City Current has given her an even grosser superiority complex than before. Andie keeps her cool around her, but BTS, she’s crushed. Andie can’t help
but feel she’ll forever be relegated to News Flashers TV, her stories perpetually upstaged by the latest muff design trend. Lauren rallies around her, encourages her to pitch her new
show concept to Ming - an ongoing segment titled “Call Me By Your Culture." She loves the urban feel, the real faces of diversity approach to visual storytelling, but it’s not a good fit for
the nuder news. She suggests that she speak to Noureen about it instead.

Fuck. That. Andie cannot and WILL NOT hand over her last bit of hope to god-awful Noureen. She'd rather lay at the feet of the evil goddess Periyachi Amman and sacrifice her arm.
When Andie finds out that Jess hasn’t been honest with Ash about the boundaries of their relationship, she hijacks a blind date and sends a random Indian delivery boy in the place of
Nana’s would-be-suitor instead. Their meeting is so unbelievably terrible that Jess decides to take a step back from dating all together. Seeing an opportunity to retest the waters with
Ash, Andie reaches out in hopes that they might be able to rekindle their connection. But Ash has already moved on. Friends? Yes. Lovers? No more. Nana’s fondness for him and
frustration over Jess’s flippant behaviour sees her rishta-ing for him, which results in Ash being matched with a woman that he actually comes to like. This new arrangement makes
both sisters jealous, but Jess is outright offended. Determined to get back into his good-graces, Jess pushes herself back into Ash’s life.

Ash puts his budding romance on hold in favour of seeing things through with Jess. In light of their newfound friendship and still unaware that they’re related, Andie quietly suffers
through Ash’s accounts of his “datecapades” with her sister. It’s clear that he’s not really into her, and why he continues to date Jess is beyond Andie. So when Jess starts sleeping with
Alan on the side again in the midst of her newfound vow of monogamy to Ash, Andie takes matters into her own hands.

As the family gathers for Sunday dinner on the patio of Khanna Kitchen, Andie outs Jess’s dalliances to the whole family. Their reaction is not what she expected, their disappointment
directed to Andie for ruthlessly exposing her sister instead. To make the situation worse, Ash arrives to Andie’s surprise at the height of their confrontation. Having caught the tail end of
their fight, Jess goes to him and tries to justify her actions. But Ash isn’t listening. He’s staring at Andie, wondering why she’s here in the first place. The truth comes crashing down as he
and Jess begin to put it all together; no amount of explanation can remedy the hurt she’s created, although she tries. In the end, she’s asked to leave, to go home and think about the
person that she’s become.

Andie’s about to jump headfirst into her downward spiral as the season winds down to an end when something most deceitful stops her fall. Turns out that Ming has no allegiance to
Andie either; the proof is in the pitch, Andie’s pitch that is. Swearing she had no mal intent, Ming shared Andie’s treatment with Noureen, who went and sold it to Queen City Current as if
it were her own. Andie is impressed, the brazenness a move only fit for a true Junglee.

Andie cranks up her mental anthem: Live fast, die young, bad girls do it well.  Two can play at that game.

Bring it, kutti.

contact

Tina Grewal
Sarah Stunt
Snake Charm Productions
[email protected]
[email protected]
323-610-2879
416-961-1416