The Netflix comedy-drama series, starring a young Canadian, takes a non-traditional approach to South Asian and teenage culture.
By: Aru Kaul
The title card for the Netflix show Never Have I Ever.
Just like the drinking game, the comedy-drama series Never Have I Ever is about making decisions. Some bad ones, some good ones, but all memorable ones. The show is the perfect blend of comedy and realism. It tells the story of 15-year-old Indian American Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) taking her life back after a traumatic first year of high school.
Ramakrishnan, who is originally from Mississauga, Ont., filmed her audition for Never Have I Ever on a whim in a public library. She barely had any acting experience but was determined to send in her audition. Needless to say, she got it! In this way, she has a lot in common with her character Devi — they both stop at nothing to get what they want.
However, Devi is not the perfect protagonist. Her short temper gets her in some pretty sticky situations. I mean, who stalks their mom while she’s on a date ? This isn’t even the most messed up thing Devi does. She’s not perfect but that’s what makes her character so believable — she’s a messed up teenager.
Teenagehood is more than just drugs and partying and sex. It is often shown that way in mainstream media; especially in terms of how teenage girls are portrayed. Some of the most prevalent teenage girl stereotypes are always caring about your looks and what boys think of you and putting others down because you’re more “popular” than them. However, these approaches fail to recognize that teenagehood can be the hardest years of an individual’s life.
Never Have I Ever takes an entirely different approach to portraying teenagehood. Devi has issues, unresolved trauma and a tendency to run from her problems rather than face them. She sees a “normal teenage life” as her escape, and thus never initially acknowledges why she feels the need to escape in the first place.
So much of Devi’s life has already been decided for her. She is an honours student in high school who is heavily involved in extracurriculars and aspires to go to Princeton — and her mom doesn’t let her forget that last part!
While Devi, her mom and cousin are at a religious ceremony, known as a puja in Hinduism, Devi’s mom very clearly tells her, “Pray you get into Princeton. Don’t waste your prayers on stupid things like world peace!”
The pushy Indian mother trope makes Never Have I Ever relatable for many South Asian children. According to a study from the University of Texas, parental pressure is very common in the South Asian community, especially when it comes to academics. This can cause South Asian children to become aggressive, seek approval from their peers and hide things from their parents — all of which Devi does.
In season two, Devi meets another Indian girl. Although Devi is initially jealous of her, she realizes that she has a lot more in common with that girl than she thought. Teachers mispronouncing their names, overprotective parents and people thinking they look the same, all part of the South Asian American experience, are bonding moments for them.
Like Devi, Ramakrishnan has dealt with people mispronouncing her name. Shortly after the release of the second season of Never Have I Ever, she posted a voice note recording of the correct way to say her name on Twitter. In this voice note, Ramakrishnan says the phonetic pronunciation of her name.
She mentions that she’s had many people mispronounce her name to the point where she began to allow it to happen. However, in her voice note, she says that it’s her name — so she gets to call the shots.
Never Have I Ever presents the South Asian identity in a way that it is not usually seen in media, by making it a main focus of the show and making sure the audience understands South Asian culture. A 2021 study found that from the top 1300 films over the last dozen years, only 44 featured Asians in the lead roles. Never Have I Ever challenges this narrative by making South Asians and their culture the face of the show.