From ‘3 Idiots’ to ‘American Warrior,’ Omi Vaidya Loves Playing The Guy You Hate

In the recently-released action drama American Warrior aka American Underdog, Omi Vaidya plays the snarky older cousin to convict-turned-MMA fighter Jai Kumar (portrayed by Vishy Ayyar). Beyond calling it a “realistic portrayal of an Indian-American doing sports,” Vaidya also gets to channel the antagonistic energy you may have seen from him as Chatur Ramalingam in Bollywood film 3 Idiots.

Vaidya says over a video call, “People really hate me in the film, and that’s in a good way. They said, ‘When I see you, I want to punch you in the face.’ It’s a good reaction, because then I’ve been effective in my role.”

Perhaps real resonance for his character comes from the fact that American desi families, in reality, have their own share of detractors when a member aspires to becoming anything other than a doctor, an engineer or a lawyer. In American Warrior – directed by Peruvian-American filmmaker Gustavo Martin Benites – when Ayyar’s character seeks “confront his past demons” and foils a convenience store robbery and is spurred on to train and compete in a local MMA tournament (trained by Dennis, a seasoned coach played by Danny Trejo), his Indian family is dissuasive. Vaidya says, “It’s a very different view of an NRI who’s not successful, who’s not killing it in business. He’s struggling, he’s estranged from his family, and he’s basically hit rock bottom.”

An underdog in search of self-confidence more than money or fame, the story of American Warrior also touches upon how Indian-Americans are not typically represented in a field like mixed martial arts just yet. Vaidya plays a part of the group that puts Ayyar’s protagonist down, which in turn makes the audience root from the lead even more. Vaidya adds, “I play his [Ayyar’s] older cousin, who’s extremely successful, has a huge house and looks down upon him, thinks that he is not valuable, and is disappointed and ashamed in him. I had to portray a character that was not very nice, it’s a very serious… jerk.” Part of getting into the role for Vaidya was to “manipulate my brain to think this [MMA] is worthless.” He adds, “My character despises this sport.”

With the film getting its Asia premiere at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa in November, American Warrior was previously showcased at numerous festivals including the 33rd Heartland Film Festival, Tallgrass Film Festival, Tasveer Film Festival, San Antonio Film Festival, and the Santa Fe Film Festival in 2024 where the film and the cast were honored with four awards including Best Actress for Veronica Falcón and Best Cinematographer for Derek Fisher. It’s slated for a worldwide release in April 2025.

Vaidya recounts that working on set with the likes of actors Danny Trejo, Veronica Falcón, Taylor Treadwell and Andrew Gray on a “project that isn’t a big budget movie” created a “wonderful bonding effect.” He adds, “If you see Danny Trejo, it’s really marvelous. He’s got such a strong personality on screen and it’s really enjoyable to see him play a role that feels like what he is in real life as well. Mind you, he’s almost 80, but it doesn’t feel like that in the film. He’s got so much energy.”

With the legacy of Chatur in 3 Idiots very much following Vaidya around, the actor says “people get very happy” when they see him on screen, even if it’s for a character like the older cousin in American Warrior. He says, “Even though this character is serious, some of his lines are rude and offensive, and that can be funny or offensive, depending on how you receive it. But for him, he thinks he’s being funny, even though he’s just being rude.”

As American Warrior makes its way to more people, Vaidya hopes some of the spotlight comes to his 2024 Marathi film Aaichya Gavat Marathit Bol. Released in January in Maharashtra and now on Amazon Prime Video, Vaidya directed, co-wrote, co-edited and acted in the comedy, following a study stint at NYU Film School. “This is a NRI Marathi character who comes to India and basically wants to get money and con people and but he has to learn about the culture. To learn, he has to pick being Marathi. And through that experience, he learns the value of being Marathi, being Indian.”

Coming up is a role in the Apple TV+ series For All Mankind, on season five of the space Sci-Fi show. Between ads and brand collabs on social media, he’s well aware that he’s among the few NRI actors that desi immigrants relate to. He’s “still learning” about Indian culture as an NRI, but at the same time, developing Hindi and American projects now that his debut feature as a director is out.

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