, who, according to devi, held a special place in her late father's heart. >> this is john mcenroe. he is my favorite player of all time. look at him. giving it back to that umpire. he's a firecracker. just like you. >> nawaz: what drew you to want to be a part of this project in the first place? >> well, mindy kaling's sense of humor is very aligned with my sense of humor. and i had been doing, you know, and as i got deeper into the process, especially in retrospect, just the opportunity to play an immigrant mom. i'm an immigrant mom, i'm raising a child, a teenager in los angeles. the parallels were- the parallels were really something that i'm drawn to. >> nawaz: your family's originally from india, too. mindy kaling's family is also originally from india. how did all of that lid experience inform how these stories were told and which stories were told in each episode? >> from day one, we entered a set and there was a sense of belonging that was immediate. and what that means is every single aspect is something that you can have input on, which i've never experienced. and there w