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American actress Melanie Chandra opens up on working with co-actor Surina Jindal in the movie ‘Hot Mess Holiday’. She also talks about her character as it will have an Indian premiere on International Women’s day. Melanie shares why she said ‘Yes’ to the movie: “Surina and I have been collaborating on creative projects for over […]...

Melanie Chandra and Surina Jindal are celebrating Diwali as first-generation Indian Americans in Comedy Central’s Hot Mess Holiday, premiering on Saturday night.

The movie special celebrates the Festival of Lights which became more widely known as “Indian Halloween,” thanks to an episode of The Office that sees Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) attend a party thrown by the parents of Mindy Kalin’s character, Kelly. But Chandra and Jindal want audiences to know the holiday is more than that.

“People have that episode of The Office to point to and say, ‘Oh, Diwali is the Indian Halloween!’ That just carries forward and we want people to know it’s more than that,” Jindal told Deadline. “It’s so funny that we have a white guy in Hot Mess Holiday mansplaining it. It’s kind of spoon-feeding the ridiculousness of how this isn’t mainstream yet but doing it in a very digestible way.

Get ready to have a new fave holiday film. Actors and real-life best friends Surina Jindal and Melanie Chandra are starring in Comedy Central's Hot Mess Holiday, which will premiere on Saturday, Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. Et. But don't expect this to be your typical holiday flick, as the dynamic duo exclusively tells E! News that they wanted to steer clear of clichés and highlight "the boldness of a strong female friendship." The two also wanted to put a spotlight on their community, as the film takes place during Diwali, a festival that usually lasts five days and is recognized during the Hindu lunisolar month Kartika. According to...

Exclusive: Kal Penn is set as the male lead of Belated, FX’s comedy pilot written, directed and executive produced by Rescue Me and The Job co-creator Peter Tolan, I have learned.

The half-hour comedy follows Owen (Penn), a recently out man in his 40s, and his ex-wife Diana as they attempt to find their new normal and take on new relationships while continuing to co-parent together. The project also follows an unexpected intergenerational friendship between Owen and Clay, a 17-year-old trans teen.

This is a personal project for both Tolan, who came out as gay later in life, and Penn, 44, who came out a couple of weeks ago, announcing his engagement to his partner of 11 years in his memoir “You Can’t Be Serious”, published on Nov. 2.

Penn’s character Owen is intelligent with a dry wit. He seemed to have life all figured out: he had a great wife and family,...

Comedy Central announced its annual 31-day holiday extravaganza, featuring two new movies: “A Clüsterfünke Christmas,” debuting Dec. 4, and “Hot Mess Holiday,” premiering Dec. 11.

Both of these movies will air at 7 p.m. The network will announce additional titles for its”31 Days of Going Home for the Holidays” programming slate at a later date.

“A Clüsterfünke Christmas” stars Vella Lovell, Cheyenne Jackson, Ryan McPartlin, Nils Hognestad, Rachel Dratch and Ana Gasteyer and follows the story of real estate executive Holly who heads to a small town to buy the quaint Clüsterfünke Inn and transform it into a resort. While meeting the owners, Holly finds herself distracted by their handsome nephew Frank. It is a parody of more traditional holiday rom-coms.

Anna Dokoza directs “A Clüsterfünke Christmas,” which was written by Dratch and Gasteyer, who also executive produce alongside Meghan Hooper, Trevor Rose, Josh Van Houdt, Danielle von Zerneck, Jamie Goehring and Shawn Williamson.

Monday, June 4

– The Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) announced today the projects selected for the fourth annual Screen Forward Labs, Ifp’s yearlong fellowship for content creators with story-driven, serialized projects. The program kicks off today, running June 4-8 at the Made in NY Media Center by Ifp located in Dumbo, Brooklyn including for the first time both non-fiction and fiction series aimed at television and digital platforms.

“We are thrilled to be able to expand this year’s slate of incredible projects to also include nonfiction along with fiction serialized content. This year 73% of projects selected are created by female creators and 50% are led by all-female teams,” said Joana Vicente, IFPs Executive Director, in an official statement.

The twelve selected projects all have completed pilots and/or proof of concept shot; they represent a mix of genres ranging from comedy, nonfiction, to sci-fi, with intended formats ranging from app-based, digital series,...