Mindy Kaling was honoured with her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame yesterday. Her dad, Avu Chokalingam was with her, and there’s a lump in my throat right now thinking about how proud he must have been to see this moment. 

 

Mindy was born when he and Mindy’s mother, Swati, moved to America. At the risk of overstepping, they probably missed her – she’s said in the past that: 

“I talk about my mom with my father a lot. We take turns being the one that is sad. My dad will be reminiscing about her, and then I’ll have to be like, “OK dad, come on”. It’s good to have my father there because for every sad thing, he remembers a funny thing about mom too.”

 

The other man in Mindy’s life, of course, is  B.J. Novak. They’ve been best friends a long time and yesterday during her acceptance speech, she called him an "important and integral part of my family”. Mindy has three children, B.J. is godfather to her two eldest, and there are a lot of people who think he’s actually their dad. I’m sure everyone is being normal about this. 

 

I would rather talk about her work. Mindy’s new show, Running Point, which stars Kate Hudson in the lead role, premieres next week on Netflix. It’s about Kate taking over the family business which happens to be a professional basketball team. Just yesterday it was confirmed that Mindy's next series, Not Suitable for Work, was picked up by Hulu. That’s two workplace comedies, back to back. And when you consider that she got her big break on The Office which was followed by The Mindy Project, and her film, Late Night, work stories are a thing for her. We might be able to add Legally Blonde 3 to that since Mindy just told Variety that she co-wrote a draft of the script and “turned it in before Christmas”. Legally Blonde is sometimes referred to as a rom-com but, really, it’s about Legal Elle Woods doing her job. The third movie, if they can get it off the ground, will be about how Elle is doing her job in her 40s with some love sprinkled in, obviously. Mindy Kaling, literally, shows her work. 

Mindy Kaling received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 18, 2025, accompanied by Avu Chokalingam and B.J. Novak.
Photo credits: John Salangsang/ Jim Ruymen/ UPI/ Shutterstock

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