Indians characters on American TV always tended to follow a set pattern.

In years gone by we have had our fair share of embarrassing creations with strong Indian accents and attitudes to match.

In the UK, things look to have moved on considerably from the time when we needed actors to put on Indian and Pakistani accents to get some work.

In the US though, where you would expect things to have progressed they are still trying to force the familiar story lines and characters down people’s throats.

You have a great little actor, Karan Brar putting on a strong Indian accent in the TV series Jessie.

Yes, it is a kids show and I guess it requires the character to talk as such but it was certainly cringeworthy at times.

We love The Simpsons Apu and we have a soft spot for him and always will.

If anyone was to ask me who the most influential Indian TV character of the past twenty years was then I would certainly opt for Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.

In film, I recollect only seeing Kal Penn (Kumar, in the Harold and Kumar films), and feeling ‘Now, there’s my kind of American Indian’.

How to Be Indie featuring Melinda Shankar played to some of the issues many third generation Indians came up against in their adopted countries. But then this was a Canadian show.

Parminder Nagra on ER was in a league of her own…but she did speak in a British accent.

And that was it.

The problem was, TV characters, especially kids shows featured on Disney and Nickelodeon watched by millions of young impressionable minds always featured stereotypical Indian sounding characters.

There is nothing wrong with the accent – I love it – but if you are born and brought-up in the states you want TV shows to represent that.

Maybe shows were keen to explore the notion that it does not matter how you talk – America will accept you.

But then that isn’t entirely true is it?

This all changed until I came across Sanjay and Craig. In it Sanjay, voiced by Maulik Navin Pancholy is as ever bit American as any other character I have seen on TV.

The show is about a 12-year-old human boy who owns a talking pet snake named Craig, which just happens to talk.

It aired for the first time last year and is quite funny for a kids show.

Vijay Patel, voiced by Kunal Nayyar (Dr. Raj Koothrappali, The Big Bang Theory) plays his father is every bit Indian as the next person.

But here for some reason it does not matter because the main character and the one that gets all the attention – Sanjay – comes across…well like an American born Indian would.

Okay, minus the gross out humour that is!