American desi rocks in H'wood

So, here''s an Indian who has bagged meaty roles in Hollywood. Post his comic role in American Desi and brief appearances in popular TV serials like ER and Buffy, Kal Penn had almost decided to come to Mumbai and become a VJ.
But then came the call from his agent and a starring role in Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, which is currently on the US Top 10 charts, having grossed $12.3 million.
Kal plays the lead role along with John Cho. "My latest release is similar to Dude, Where''s My Car? in terms of genre," says Kal. "It''s cool because it''s got the teen comedy element. But it''s also got a lot of intelligence." The movie shows both Harold and Kumar eating more than a dozen hamburgers each, which is ironic considering that in real life Penn is a vegetarian. The Gujarati-Indian actor simply refused to eat the non-veg burgers while shooting for this film.
Next up for Penn is the part of J a m i e Kennedy ''s best friend, Jorge, in Mask 2. "I play this guy who is like a special effects techie who is really freaked out at what''s going on with Jamie''s character."
After that, Penn is set to be in A Lot Like Love with Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet. No other Indian actor has received such wide exposure in mainstream cinema as Penn since Sabu became a phenomenon in the 1940s with films like Elephant Boy.