Never Have I Ever: A Non - Spoiler Review

Never Have I Ever, directed by a very popular Indian American director - Mindy Kaling, was released on Netflix on April 27 this year. This show as told by Mindy Kaling in one of her interviews to Netflix was inspired by her own childhood. This coming of age teenage drama might sound analogous to other teenage centric shows but it truly stands out in many ways. 

The story is set in Sherman Oaks, California and revolves around Devi Vishwakumar which is played by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan who was selected out of a crowd of 15000 people who auditioned for this role. And it truly shows why she bagged this once in a lifetime opportunity of starring in a Netflix Original as a lead role. Moving onto our topic, Devi is an intelligent, quick-witted and sassy Hindu girl of San Fernando Valley who had a terrible fresh year in high school for a number of reasons. To make up for the devastating  and dreadful last year, Devi devises a plan for her and her Girl Friends Fabiola and Eleanor to get out of their misery. The interesting thing about this series is that it is not only from the viewpoint of Devi but also her two friends. Fabiola is a mixed race girl and Eleanor is Chinese American, together this group of girls are called the UN by a group of people, which is totally racist but that is what this series tries to show as a problem area in a light hearted way. The only motive for trio for the sophomore year is to get popular or a little extreme in the case of Devi that is to "pop her cherry" in her words.

Devi often struggles with her Indian identity in an attempt to be American enough. She absolutely envies her cousin Kamla who according to her is very Indian as she says to "Open the TV" instead of "turning it on". However Devi is still a lovable character as she doesn't let her temporary emotions to make her stride too away from her indianness. Many people may feel like there are too much stereotypical references of Indian Culture in the series, which is true to a degree as well and one can totally feel it in the scene where Nalini (Devi's Mother) describes Kamla to her would be in-laws as a domestic woman who is good in cooking and is vegetarian without even letting her talk about her research program at the university. Another scene which includes a congregational meeting of Indians, shows 'problematic aunties' who have a habit of picking on anyone and everyone which kind of gets over the top while watching. Keeping aside a few of these instances, the series is well written and directed and doesn't let you think even for a second that it is all the same like other teenage dramas. It has an authenticity when it tries to convey Indian thoughts and understanding.

The casting of the series is also near perfect with teenagers who actually look like teenagers instead of adults playing the role of teenagers which is the case for most of the shows out there. Another interesting angle of the show is rivalry, which happens between and Devi and her nemesis Ben and its totally refreshing to watch. The rivalry can be called as yielding rather than a consuming one. As an Indian girl , there are far many instances on which I relate with Devi than I expected to be. The run time of the series is also just right which does not make watching it a tedious task. You should definitely give it a go if you're into comedy dramas because I felt that it was worth the time I invested on it.