ACTOR Kumail Nanjiani is all set for his upcoming Hulu Chippendales’ series, Welcome to Chippendales. The Silicon Valley star, who is set to play Chippendale’s founder Somen “Steve” Banerjee, expressed his excitement recently to bring the character and story to life.
“People don’t know that the real story of it is really wild,” said Nanjiani. “Some really surprising stuff happened, and it’s surprising that people don’t really know about it.”
The upcoming eight-episode series is said to tell of the rise and fall of the 70’s male dance troupe. In fact, the show will detail the “insane, darkly comedic, crime-ridden story behind the unique male revue that became a cultural phenomenon.”
“The behind-the-scenes stuff that happens is crazy. It’s enough for, like, 10 podcasts,” Nanjiani added with a laugh. The late Banerjee was an Indian American entrepreneur who made his mark in 1979 after launching the male stripper dance troupe for his Los Angeles nightclub.
Since the Chippendales was the first of its kind, the group became a hit among nightclub goers. Unfortunately, their success was tainted by Banerjee’s later actions.
The founder not only killed his business partner, Nick De Noia, but also plotted to murder some of his former Chippendale dancers whom he considered to be a threat to him.
This cruelty and intensity were what exactly drew Nanjiani to the role. “I kind of like playing sort of bad guys. It’s fun,” he sneakily noted. “You get to be like, ‘How would I decide that I want to do something bad to somebody?”
“I love doing that,” Nanjiani concluded. “I want to play more bad guys.”
In addition to his starring role, Nanjiani will also serve as an executive producer for the series, alongside his wife, Emily V. Gordon.
