Everything about Apu Nahasapeemapetilon totally explained
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is a recurring character on the
animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by
Hank Azaria, and first appeared in the episode "
The Telltale Head". Apu is the proprietor at the
Kwik-E-Mart, a popular
convenience store in
Springfield. For a long time, the Kwik-E-Mart was Apu's sole purpose in life. This started to change when Apu got married and had eight children.
Role in The Simpsons
Personality
Apu is proprietor of the
Kwik-E-Mart, a local
convenience store. An
immigrant from
India who arrived in 1978, he is, like many Simpsons characters, a caricature of a common stereotype – in his case, the stereotype of the
Indian convenience store owner. His most defining characteristics are his
Indian English and his immigrant work ethic. His catchphrase is "Thank you, come again!" — cheerfully and dutifully repeated to customers (no matter how unpleasant) after each transaction, even after the store has been
robbed or he's ejected unwanted customers. Apu is a strict
vegan, and sells many vegan foods at his store. He has also been shot and robbed many times, often by
Snake Jailbird. As the proprietor of the Kwik-E-Mart, Apu charges high prices for low-quality products which are often past their
shelf life or otherwise unfit to consume. Apu seems to be the only person to know about the quality of the food, as he refuses to eat it, even when trapped inside the Kwik-E-Mart for 96 hours (near the end he thought he was a
hummingbird).
Biography
Apu is a
U.S. citizen and holds a
Ph.D. in
computer science. He graduated first in his class of seven million at '
Caltech' —
Calcutta Technical Institute — going on to earn his doctorate at the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology. Apu began working at the Kwik-E-Mart during his college years to pay off his
student loan but never left. He remained an
illegal immigrant until
Mayor Quimby proposed a municipal law to expel all undocumented aliens. Apu responded by purchasing a forged birth certificate from the
Springfield Mafia that listed his parents as U.S. citizens Herb and Judy Nahasapeemapetilon, but when this failed, he successfully managed to pass his citizenship test with help from
Lisa and
Homer Simpson. During the early 1980s, Apu was a member of the
barbershop quartet The Be Sharps along with
Homer Simpson,
Barney Gumble, and
Seymour Skinner. Upon the advice of the band manager Nigel, Apu took the stage name Apu du Beaumarchais (a reference to
Beaumarchais, author of
The Barber of Seville).
Family
In the episode "
The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons", Apu enjoys a brief period as Springfield's leading ladies' man after being spontaneously drawn into a bachelor auction. He spends the days following the auction on a whirlwind of dates. These come to a sudden halt when his mother announces it's time for his
arranged marriage to a woman named
Manjula, whom he hadn't seen in years. Apu tries to wriggle out of the arrangement at first but is won over when he meets Manjula face-to-face, and the two decide to give the marriage a try (Manjula notes nonchalantly that they can always get a divorce). Later the two actually do fall in love. In the episode "
Eight Misbehavin'", Manjula receives too many doses of
fertility drugs from herself, Apu, and the well-meaning, but unsynchronized, Simpsons. This leads to her giving birth to
octuplets: Anoop, Uma, Nabendu, Poonam, Priya, Sandeep, Sashi and Gheet.
Apu and Manjula have a mostly happy marriage, despite understandable marital problems caused by Apu's
workaholic nature and long hours, and the strain of caring for eight children. A further strain came up when Apu was unfaithful to Manjula, and one of his punishments was to legally change his name to
Slime Q. Slimedog. He and his family are devotees of the Hindu gods
Shiva,
Ganesha, and
Vishnu.
Sanjay, Apu's brother, helps run the Kwik-E-Mart. Sanjay has a daughter named Pahasatira, and a son named Jamshed. They all share the Nahasapeemapetilon surname. Apu has another younger brother, who is only mentioned in "
The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons". When Apu's and Manjula's parents were first arranging their marriage, Apu was shown on a chart as the oldest of three. Apu also has a cousin living in India named Kavi, who helped Homer while he was in India. He works for several American companies taking service calls using American, cowboy, and Jamaican accents. Also, in the beginning of the opening sequence, Apu is shown to have a small dog on a leash.
Character
Creation
Apu's first name is an homage to the main character in the
Apu trilogy directed by
Satyajit Ray. His surname is Nahasapeemapetilon, and it was first used in the episode "
A Streetcar Named Marge". It is a
morphophonological blend of the name
Pahasadee Napetilon, the full name of a schoolmate of
Simpsons writer
Jeff Martin. Originally, Apu being Indian was thought to be too offensive and stereotypical and was going to be changed, but
Hank Azaria's reading of the line "Hello, Mr. Homer" received a huge laugh from the writers, so the concept stayed. He took Apu's voice from the many Indian and Pakistani convenience store workers in Los Angeles that he'd interacted with when he first moved to the area. He also loosely based it on
Peter Sellers' character Hrundi V Bakshi from the film
The Party, who Azaria thinks has a similar personality to Apu.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Apu Nahasapeemapetilon'.
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