The portrayal wasn't racist.
I would even say that it wasn't really a product of its time, for it may very well have been more racist if we use that measure. That is, Bakshi could have been made out to be a character without dignity, that his ethnicity would be a point of derision, perhaps, and so on.
But, that is not the case. He comes off quite well.
As to hiring Sellers over, say some, Indian actor, well that wouldn't be economically practical. They had Sellers play a Frenchman with Clouseau and surely they could have found a Frenchman for the role, but Sellers would have probably been the better talent. Indeed, decades later, people still marvel at Sellers' ability.
Sellers's was known for this talent. See Dr. Strangelove where he played multiple roles decades before it was fashionable and before tech could make it virtually seamless to have an actor play several roles within the same scene (Eddie Murphy popularized this 20 years ago in The Nutty Professor.)
This chameleon-like ability was part of Seller's appeal, which is why having some nobody in the role, just because they came from India (or had some relation to it) would have made no sense. On the one hand you have an A-list star and on the other side, a nobody. Like it or not, it's called show business, for a reason and having Sellers in it is good business.
Perhaps, we can cavil about "diversity" and such in the 21st century, as many do with something like Gods of Egypt. I can't comment on the merits of the movie, but it has a poor reputation, perhaps deservedly so. Would having non-white actors in the roles made it better? Maybe or maybe not. The movie is going to be dubbed all across the world so when we hear Gerard Butler's Scottish accent, we may wince but it's not going to be heard in China.
But, if we are going to complain about miscasting and such, saying GOE should have olive skinned folks or blacks as the cast members because it's culturally accurate, then we should complain that there are black and Chinese "gods" in the Thor movies when everyone knows that the Norse myths comprise white folk. I liked Idris Elba in the movie but, c'mon--a black Viking god.
The point of bringing up Heimdall is the selectivity of the grievances made, usually by people who feel offended on behalf of the purported victim. With Elba it's fine, with Butler its whitewashing. Meanwhile, real Egyptians probably don't care much at all.
As it is, most Indians probably don't feel offended by Sellers portrayal. Indeed, at the time, Indira Gandhi liked the character and quoted him.
The problem with PCness is that there is a perpetual grievance when no grievance was intended and only really perceived by the most apparently sensitive, when in truth they aren't sensitive at all.
In the late 90's and early aughts, WB banned Speedy Gonzalez cartoons from airing, purportedly because it was offensive to Mexicans. Yet, Mexicans loved Speedy Gonzalez! Generations of kids, of all nationalities like him too. I know I did in the USA.
The PC police didn't have any respect for other groups, as you say, for if they did, Speedy would have been on American TVs. More often, the offense is either imagined or exaggerated.
And if the PC police had respect nowadays, they'd understand that a person or group, in general, have the strength to accept a joke now and again, even if it is at that person's expense, or even if it is not at anyone's expense, as it is with Sellers and Speedy.
[EDIT]
By coincidence, I searched for Speedy Gonzalez and apparently after nearly two-decades of keeping him off-limits, WB is planning on making a movie with the character. I came across a page where the actor to be the character says they loved the character in Mexico. Another page told of a woman from South America, I think, who had all these stuffed animals of Speedy and didn't understand why he was controversial. She's told because the Mexicans are depicted as slow, to which she replies that Speedy is fast.
Touche.
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