India’s Chandler Bing opens up on ‘cruel’ memes about Friends role

‘Hello Friends’ ran for just 26 episodes in India between 1999 and 2000

An Indian actor, who played Chandler Bing in his country’s version of the hit sitcom, Friends, has responded to a cruel meme about him which went viral.

The international phenomenon that was Friends, which starred Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Courtney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry, was adored by millions and is widely considered to be one of the best sitcoms ever.

However, few people are likely aware that India attempted to make their own version of the show. Hello Friends ran for 26 episodes and aired between September 1999 and February 2000.

All of the characters were virtually the same as the US version, except the names had been changed and many storylines and locations, such as the coffee shop and Monica’s apartment, were similar too.

In an op-ed in The Guardian, Cyrus Broacha, who played the show’s version of Chandler, who also happened to be called Cyrus, opened up about his experience on the show and how viral fame impacted him.

Broacha admits that he “hadn’t seen the original” show when he was cast in the series but when he eventually watched it realised that director, Ajit Pal Mangat, had cast him “because I’m the loudest and won’t stop talking.”

Broacha adds that the show had cultural issues such as Chandler not being allowed to smoke and Ross’s wife being unable to leave him for another woman. “I think we lost in translation the irreverence, the cheekiness of the show,” says the 53-year-old.

The show remained relatively obscure until it was rediscovered in 2020 and became a viral meme in India, with people mocking the show for being a poor imitation of the original.

“It was cruel although, for me, most of it was quite funny,” says Broacha. “But then I started getting called up by the Indian media, asking why we did the show and what was its aim. You rarely talk about something that doesn’t work in detail. It’s almost like you’d failed your exams.”

The cast of ‘Hello Friends’ (Zee TV)

It comes after Friends creator, Adam Chase, revealed to The Guardian in September that the cast was unhappy with the decision to pair off Joey and Rachel in the later seasons.

“The cast was very much against it,” Chase said. “It felt very incestuous to them.”

The pairing proved not only divisive among the cast but with fans as well, as many felt it was “wrong.”

“The Joey/Rachel thing I know is controversial,” Friends co-creator David Crane told RadioTimes in 2019. “I love it. I love it because it’s wrong – and we knew going in: this is wrong. And that happens in life. There is the relationship that shouldn’t be. Even though you love someone, that’s not who you’re going to be with.