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"Apu" redirects here. For the film series, see Apu trilogy. For similarly spelled abbreviations, see APU.

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Ph.D. (legally named Slime Q Slime Dog; see below) is a fictional character (voiced by Hank Azaria, based on Peter Sellers' character in The Party) featured in The Simpsons television series. He is the proprietor of the Kwik-E-Mart (a subsidiary of Nordyne Defense Dynamics), the local convenience store. An immigrant from India, he is, like most Simpsons characters, a caricature of a common stereotype—in his case, that of the South Asian convenience-store owner. His most defining characteristics are his exaggerated Indian English, his devotion to the Hindu god Ganesha, and his indefatigable immigrant work-ethic. His catchphrase is "Thank you, come again!"—cheerfully and dutifully repeated to customers (no matter how unpleasant) after each transaction. His first name is an homage to the main character in the "Apu Trilogy" directed by Satyajit Ray. His surname, Nahasapeemapetilon, is a spoonerism of the name Pahasaneemapetilon, the surname of a schoolmate of Simpsons writer Jeff Martin.

Apu's family and background

Apu is married to his wife Manjula, who bore octuplets: Anoop, Uma, Nabendu, Poonam, Pria, Sandeep, Sashi, and (Mama's clear favorite) Gheet.

For more on Apu's family, see Characters from The Simpsons.
Apu and Manjula were wed through an arranged marriage. Despite trying to wriggle out of the arrangement at first, Apu was won over soon after meeting Manjula and the two actually did fall in love. Later, Manjula gave birth (in the episode "Eight Misbehavin'") to the amazing number of eight children after receiving a larger-than-recommended dose of fertility drugs. Apu and Manjula have a mostly happy marriage, despite understandable marital problems caused by Apu's workaholic nature (he seems to be at his post around the clock), the strain of caring for eight children, and two instances of infidelity by Apu. He and his family are devotees of the Hindu gods Shiva, Ganesha, and Vishnu. At Apu's wedding, Homer, in a misguided attempt to play on the bride and groom's families' fear of the gods, arrived dressed as the Hindu god Ganesh. The impersonation was seen through by one of Apu's relatives and failed miserably. Before his marriage, Apu became known as the leading ladies' man in Springfield, because he holds a Ph.D. and runs his own business. He also admitted, "I'm not much of a talker, but I love to listen. I also like to design and build furniture and then to have a discussion about where it could be placed in a room," which made the single women of Springfield go crazy for him.

In addition to being Brahmins, Apu and Manjula appear to be Tamil because of their last names and especially dark complexions; however, Apu has also been shown to be Bengali, which would be consistent with the title of Apu's sketch in the episode "22 Short Films About Springfield", "The Jolly Bengali". However, in one episode, Manjula speaks Hindi (interpreted as "baby talk" by Marge), to Maggie, as opposed to Tamil or Bengali, further complicating the matter. Still, Apu's parents in the episodes "Much Apu About Nothing" and "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons" very strongly appear to be Tamil. The episode "Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore" features a relative of Apu, Kavi, who lives in Bangalore, which is part of Karnataka, South India; this would suggest that they are actually Kannadigas.

During the 1960s, while still living in India, Apu spent some time as a student of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, in which capacity he became a friend of Paul and Linda McCartney. Apu's friendship with the McCartneys caused him to be referred to by some (mainly himself) as "The Fifth Beatle". They visited Apu in Springfield around the time he became naturalized.

Apu is a naturalized U.S. citizen and holds a Ph.D. in computer science. He graduated first in his class of seven million at 'Caltech'—the Calcutta Institute of Technology—going on to earn his doctorate at the (S)pringfield (H)eights (I)nstitute of (T)echnology. His doctoral dissertation was the world's first computer program to play perfect tic-tac-toe (Bart Simpson ruined it years later by plucking a random punch card out of the box along with several others while commenting, "Hey, what's this one do?" Apu promptly pitched it into the trash). Apu began working at the Kwik-E-Mart during his college years to help pay off his student loan but never left. He remained an illegal immigrant until Mayor Quimby proposed a municipal law to expel all undocumented immigrants, at which point Apu, with help from Lisa Simpson, successfully passed his citizenship test.

During the early 1980s Apu was a member of the barbershop quartet The Be Sharps, which also consisted of Homer Simpson, Barney Gumble and Seymour Skinner. Upon the advice of Nigel, the band manager, Apu took the stage name Apu du Beaumarchais (probably as a reference to Beaumarchais, a French author) and denied that he was actually Hindu.

When Apu was unfaithful to Manjula, one of his punishments was to legally change his name to "Slime Q Slime Dog". However, everyone still knows him as Apu.

Sanjay, Apu's brother, helps him run the Kwik-E-Mart. Sanjay's daughter (and Apu's niece) is Pahusacheta. Sanjay's son is Jamshed. They all share the Nahasapeemapetilon surname. Apu has another younger brother, who is only mentioned in the episode of his marriage. When Apu's and Manjula's parents were first arranging their marriage, Apu was shown as the oldest of three on a chart. Apu also has a cousin living in India named Kavi, who helped Homer while he was in India. He works for many American companies taking service calls and can speak with American, Western, and Jamaican accents. Kavi appeared in the episode "Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore". This episode, seeing that it takes place in Bangalore, strengthens the theory that Apu is South Indian.

Apu is the only non-Simpson playable character in the video game The Simpsons Hit & Run, and his standard vehicle is a yellow version of his Pontiac Trans Am called "Longhorn".

Kwik-E-Mart

The Kwik-E-Mart chain was started somewhere in the Himalayas, where the world's first convenience store still stands on a mountain peak (even though it's not a very convenient location). Visiting pilgrims are allowed to ask three questions of the resident guru. Apu's visit was rather spoiled by Homer's three questions, "Are you really the founder of Kwik-E-Mart?", "Really?" and "You?".

Apu was fired from his job after Homer was poisoned by tainted meat he bought at the Kwik-E-Mart. He was replaced by James Woods, who was studying to be a convenience store clerk for a role in an upcoming movie. Apu was re-hired a short time later after he foiled a robbery attempt at the Kwik-E-Mart and saved James Woods' life. Apu was shot during the attempted robbery. Later it was retconned that Apu owned the Kwik-E-Mart.

Apu is known as a legend in the realm of Kwik-E-Mart employment for working for over ninety-six hours in one shift. During the shift he experienced a hallucination in which he thought he was a hummingbird and tried to drink nectar out of Sanjay's head.

Despite generally being a good-natured and friendly individual, Apu often exhibits a ruthlessly capitalist streak. Homer once complained (during one of the many armed robberies at the store) that Apu should indeed be shot for pricing his wares so extravagantly. He has also been seen to hug his cigarette machine in gratitude for it failing to dispense product after taking a customer's money.

After the town of Springfield fined Mr. Burns $3 million for illegally dumping toxic waste, a town meeting was held to discuss how to spend it. Apu suggested spending some of it on hiring more police officers, as he had been shot eight times that year and nearly missed work. Chief Wiggum responded, "Crybaby."

A few real-life retailers have attempted to capitalize on the Kwik-E-Mart name. For instance, there is a chain of "Kuik-E-Mart" stores in Minnesota.

Episodes Starring Apu

This is a list of Simpsons episodes in which Apu plays a substantial role in driving the plot, not simply a supporting role.

Apu also plays a significant supporting role in:

Trivia

  • When Springfield became overly patriotic and took the name "Liberty-Ville" (in the episode "Bart-Mangled Banner"), Apu quickly caught on. He renamed his kids Lincoln, Freedom, Condoleezza, Coke, Pepsi, Manifest Destiny, Apple Pie, and Superman.
  • The media attention and subsequent shower of donations at the birth of the Nahasapeemapetilon octuplets are a parody of the McCaughey septuplets.
  • Apu has been shot numerous times. He may have been shot eight times in 1993 (after which he claimed he could survive any caliber up to 9mm), and as a result he almost missed work. In fact, Apu has been shot so many times that the punishment for shooting him is now just a States dollar|$100" target="_blank" >* fine. Other Simpsons media made the (likely untrue) claim that the bullet removed from Mr Burns was the first piece of ammunition removed from someone other than Apu.
  • Apu is a Vegan, and the hot dogs sold in the Kwik-E-Mart are actually tofu dogs.
  • When Apu is shot and killed in "Treehouse of Horror XVI", he is immediately reincarnated as a rabbit, before being killed again. In "The Sweetest Apu", before he attempts suicide, he looks at a tapestry depicting his past path of reincarnation, passing from a tiger to a snake to a clod (with a picture of Alfred E. Newman) to a goat with a hat before his current life, and projecting that his next life will be as a tapeworm, and the one after that as assistant to Lorne Michaels.
  • Before marrying Manjula, Apu had some kind of relationship with Princess Kashmir.
  • Apu wears a wig. This fact was revealed in the Deleted Scenes feature on one of the four Season 5 DVD's when Bart, sleeping in Lisa's room when Apu stays with the Simpsons, teases Lisa with Apu's wig.

Quotations

External links

Simpsons characters | Fictional immigrants to the United States | Fictional Indians | Fictional shopkeepers | Fictional vegetarians | Fictional vegans | Fictional Asian Americans

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon | Famille Nahasapeemapetilon | Apu Nahasapeemapetilon | Apu Nahasapeemapetilon

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Apu Nahasapeemapetilon".

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