Review of south Asian Netflix show, Never Have I Ever

Shows about teenagers are some of the most important works on television. If you think back to your time as a teenager, it’s likely that the shows you watched about other teenagers had a big influence on you - on how you behaved, dressed and viewed the world and likely validated your experience of being a teenager - of the emotional, confusing and complicated time. However as universal as puberty is, historically, these shows have not examined the uniquely layered experience of growing up a south Asian teen in a western country. Which is why ‘Never Have I Ever’ is such an important piece of television.

Staring newcomer Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (who is fantastic to watch) in the titular role of Indian American, Devi Vishwakumar, the show follows her as she tries to navigate life, which includes a new year at school, a tremendous crush on the most good-looking guy in that school, being there for her friends, her strict and demanding mother and the recent arrival of her perfect and beautiful cousin who is about to be arrange-married, after two life-changing events that happened to Devi the year before. And this is what makes the show so wonderful - Devi is a normal teenager, having normal teenage experiences and neither her race nor her ethnicity change that.

Although her culture is a strong theme, it doesn’t define her. She is not shy, retiring and innocent as south Asian girls are usually portrayed to be. She’s bold, brassy, confident, believes in herself, knows what she wants and speaks her mind, even if it is at the most inappropriate, but hilarious moments. Devi is also determined not to stay innocent and it is endearing and humorous to watch her attempt to gain the affections of the good looking yet decidedly stupid jock, Paxton. It’s a funny and relatable reminder of the high school experiences of becoming obsessed with someone and trying to become popular.

Yet it is also refreshing to see typical aspects of south Asian - in this case, Indian - life being shown on as global a platform as Netflix. The Vishwakumar family have charming, Indian-tinged American accents, often break into their mother tongue, during moments of shock or anger, that is natural and flows from their lips beautifully, their house has Indian furniture and even features religious art native to Devi’s family’s origin of southern India, they eat Indian food (with their hands!), attend religious events wearing traditional clothing and perhaps most importantly, struggle to uphold some of the more conservative and perhaps now antiquated values and beliefs of their culture with the more open-minded liberality of a new generation of south Asians. The family’s planning of Devi’s cousin’s arranged marriage is perhaps the best example of this:

“You look like a careerist western woman, which you obviously are,” Devi’s mother says not unkindly to her cousin as she shows off the outfit she wants to wear to meet the boy, “but they don’t need to know that…yet. Kamala, his family wants to see that you can cook, clean and cater to their sons needs. They basically want him to marry his own mother.” When told that it sounds sexually confusing, she replies; “it is but this is just the wedding dance. After you get married, you move to the United States, you can do whatever you want.” But the beauty of the show is that it is able to deliver such moments, that most south Asian women are only too painfully aware of, whilst making you laugh out loud.

In fact, one of the things the show does best, is illustrate the struggle between south Asian parents raised in strict homes and their children: although they are raising their children with more freedom than they ever had, for their children, surrounded by peers from typically western and more liberal homes, it feels like not enough freedom and often that strictness comes from a place of fear which, as the child, it’s difficult to understand. Outside of this, the show also deals with a number of issues like bereavement, difficulty in coming out, bullying, disability and absent parents. It’s also a trailblazer for diversity, featuring characters of different ethnicities and sexualities and some with disabilities. And, produced by the exceptionally talented Mindy Kaling, this first season of the show has also seen two south Asian directors.

Ultimately, it is an hilarious, timely, relatable and necessary show with fantastic acting, brilliant music and a riveting and inspired storyline (which shares some similarities to the film, Easy A). Aside from the one moment where a male character describes Devi as having the beauty of Priyanka Chopra, which has now become the new “exotic” - a reductive stereotype thrown at south Asia women, it is fresh and an absolute must-see. The icing on the cake, is the surprising person who narrates it. But we won’t ruin that for you. Binge-watch it this bank holiday weekend!