Diwali (The Office) - Production - Writing and Filming

Writing and Filming

"Diwali" was written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Miguel Arteta. While the episode is partly set at West Scranton High School, filming actually took place at Grant High School in Los Angeles, the same building where Freaks and Geeks was shot. That series' co-creator, Paul Feig, has directed several episodes of The Office, including "Email Surveillance".

Kaling used her own Indian cultural background as inspiration when writing the episode, which portrays the Indian festival of Diwali. She and her friend, My Name Is Earl writer Vali Chandrasekaran, had held a Diwali party in 2005 for the cast of their two shows. According to Kaling, NBC was "so excited. They were like, 'What the hell is this holiday? I've never heard of it'." The following year, while discussing the possible creation of a Halloween episode, she and executive producer Greg Daniels agreed to instead create one that was Diwali-themed, as the two holidays fall near each other.

When it came time to write the episode however, Kaling had to perform a Google search, as she had forgotten many details. She explained, "I was a little embarrassed with how little I knew about it. I'm Hindu, but I'm not really a practicing Hindu, so I had to do a lot of research." Kaling was pleased to learn more about her culture, at first being concerned that Daniels "and people I work with were a little antsy about assigning the Hindu writer the Indian episode. I didn't want to feel like they pigeonholed me, but I felt like I'd done enough episodes that it was okay." She found that making the episode "was kind of the perfect meeting of being the child of immigrants and writing for a comedy show." The series writers have since joked that they should do a Diwali-themed episode every year in the same vein as the Christmas specials.

When creating the story, Kaling knew that "a lot of stuff has to happen" in the midst of the festival, including Michael and Carol's relationship becoming "very roller-coastery." As with other series storylines, this development was decided upon before Kaling began writing the episode. She stated, "But it was always sort of built in that the peak of 'Diwali' would be this incredibly romantic overture ." Kaling was pleased that much of "Diwali" took place at Stamford, especially as she was able to explore the contrasts between the two offices. She also liked that the episode contained "romance, people getting dressed up in costumes, lots of food, smooching and making out ... and little girls making fun of B.J. Novak."

In her weekly blog for TV Guide, actress Kate Flannery wrote that "Mindy shares that B.J. Novak talent of being able to write an incredibly funny episode ("Hot Girl," "The Injury") and be in it. Diwali is the Indian festival of lights. So this week Dunder-Mifflin gets a spicy taste of Indian culture in a hurry. Michael decides the office needs an outing to the local high school for the annual Indian Diwali party."