Vijay Jojo Chokal-Ingam attacks affirmative action in “Almost Black: The True Story of How I Got Into Medical School by Pretending To Be Black.”
But he also attacks his sister, actress Mindy Kaling, of “The Office” and “The Mindy Project.”
“She tried to sabotage the book, and that’s not acceptable,” Vijay told me.
Kaling (née Vera Mindy Chokalingam) is quoted on the cover of the self-published memoir saying, “This book will bring shame on our family.”
Vijay says he replied to his famous sibling, “You play a slut on national TV, and you think this [book] will bring shame on the family?”
Despite Kaling’s public claim that she had no involvement in her brother’s scheme to expose discrimination against Asian-Americans and whites, he says she knew about the plot all along. The two were born in Massachusetts to Indian immigrants.
Vijay also claims things ended between Kaling and now ex-boyfriend Benjamin Nugent because she secretly asked her connections at William Morris Endeavor not to represent Ben’s sister, AnnieBaker, even though Kaling said she would “help.” (Baker has since become a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright.)
“My sister has engineered similar public and private plots against her many frenemies in Hollywood,” Vijay said.
“If Mindy thinks twice about stabbing someone else in the back because of what I’ve written, then I’m doing her a big favor.”
Since their falling-out nearly two years ago, Vijay and Mindy avoid each other at family get-togethers. “We don’t talk,” he said.
Having dropped out of medical school, Vijay is now an admissions consultant who helps students get into colleges. “But I don’t recommend anyone pretend they are black,” he said.
Kaling’s reps did not get back to me on the matter.