'Very Quintessentially American': S Jaishankar On Watching The Diplomat

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke about his choice of OTT shows and how closely they reflect the realities of diplomacy during his appearance at the NDTV World Summit 2026.

In a conversation with NDTV Editor-in-Chief and CEO Rahul Kanwal, Jaishankar was asked what he likes to do when he is not working and whether he watches shows about diplomacy and geopolitics, including The Diplomat and Fauda. He was also asked which of the two comes closest to what actually happens at the Ministry of External Affairs.

Jaishankar revealed that he watches The Diplomat, but pointed out that the American political thriller presents diplomacy in a distinctly American way. 

"I'm watching The Diplomat, but I want to say one thing. No value judgement here, but The Diplomat is very quintessentially American. Even then, when you make these shows, you make them because you want to dramatise things. If I made a real show about how diplomacy works, people would go to sleep," he said.

"I look at it with a somewhat critical eye. I relate to some of it. I looked at the ambassador having reflux and told myself, 'Okay, that problem I know.' So the point is, I travel, I read, I do everything which you guys do. But it's always a bit of a busman's holiday. When you look at some of these things that are in your line of work, you can't disconnect from that line of work," he said.

The Diplomat is an American political thriller created by Debora Cahn, starring Keri Russell as Kate Wyler, a career diplomat who is appointed the US ambassador to the United Kingdom amid an international crisis.

The series premiered on Netflix in April 2023 and has since returned for multiple seasons.

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