Thampy Antony Thekkek is a critically acclaimed Malayalam writer, film producer, actor and activist. Born and brought up in Kerala, Thampy moved to San Francisco in his late 20s. His Indian-American experience had been a major influence on his work. Thampy walks us through some of his films, short stories and his latest novel inspired by his experience in the diaspora. He describes the freedom that Malayalam lends in his writing and how the Malayalam movie industry has a reputation of telling hard stories and how different it is from mainstream Bollywood films. Through his writing and his acting, he tells stories of the marginalized and finds beauty and complexity in even the simplest of characters. He has acted in more than 30 Malayalam and English movies and has produced internationally acclaimed films like Papilio Buddha, Calcutta News, Janaki, Made in USA, Sufi Paranja Katha, Evan Mekharoopan and Parudeesa.