Netflix series, %u2018Never Have I Ever%u2019 created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher is a young-adult series says star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. The 19-year-old actor also proves that there is a growing market and scope for stories with South Asians in lead roles.
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Maitreyi, the 19-year old is a Sri Lankan-Canadian. She became the breakout star of the series when she landed the character of Devi Vishwakumar, by beating 15,00 others in the audition. Devi is an overachieving Indian-American teenager growing up in Southern California, US, and navigating life as a teenager with best friends Eleanor and Fabiola played by Ramona Young and Lee Rodriguez respectively.
The streaming platform released the second season of %u2018Never Have I Ever%u2019 on 15 July, Thursday. After the actor%u2019s successful debut in the teen-drama show, she said, %u201CI was initially under a lot of pressure to not let down the fans and creators with season two but eventually decided to enjoy the process.%u201D
Also read: The unlikeliest role of my life: John McEnroe on narrating Never Have I Ever
Ramakrishnan said, %u201CI think the reason why people like the show is because we haven%u2019t seen South Asians take the lead role as often as they should. It%u2019s happened before, I%u2019m sure, and most of the time it%u2019s because they make that space for themselves.%u201D
She further added, %u201CBut that%u2019s not enough. We need more representation and need to see more South Asians take those lead roles because clearly there is a market for it, and a want for it,%u201D in a Zoom interview with PTI.
Also read: %u2018We better get a third season: Fans react on Never have I ever season 2
If we notice, Devi was shown as a teenager with anger issues in season one. While in the second season, Devi is trying to double date, as her mother prepares to shift base to India. She said Devi is maturing %u201Cjust a little bit%u201D in the second season. She tries to be a good child but is not always successful. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan will also be seen in her first film role with The Netherfield Girls, a Netflix romantic comedy.
