Never Have I Ever- A sincere attempt

The review in cinemaexpress online magazine states that Never Have I Ever (NHIE) is ‘eerily similar’ to All the boys I’ve loved before. I couldn’t control my laughter reading that line. How else do you want a high school series to be? 

It is indeed comfortingly similar because most teenagers worldwide, regardless of their ethnicity, behave in a certain way. Their hormones are raging. They can be self-centered. They use curse words. They can be horny. They can be nerds. Some think of the opposite sex(most of the times) or think of people of same-sex. Comparing NHIE to previously released series, indefinitely proves that emotions are universal. We are all similar, despite our differences. Isn’t that what we all yearn to see in the world?

Largely indulging in all the traditions of the genre, Mindy Kaling, the main writer of the show, has successfully crafted an honest, sentimental take on the lives of hormone-addled high school students. It is not just about the friendship struggles and crushes of a Tamil girl, Devi, the series includes subplots such as a story of a father-daughter duo, a story about Devi’s close buddy Fabiola who gradually builds up her courage to reveal her sexual orientation to her friends and parents, a story about cousin Kamala who is sandwiched between her family’s choice in an arranged marriage and her boyfriend, Steve.

In an interview published in Newyorker Times Mindy Klang, the writer of NHIE, mentions that she is quite particular about the criticism from- “young Indian-American women, (these) are the people that I want to like it the most. And they’re the ones that are going to be the toughest on me. So it’s one of the biggest things I care about now as an artist.” On that note, the show has encapsulated many emotions of teenagers, growing up in America. The show might be criticised for endorsing stereotypes but in doing so, I believe it is only done to embrace each of the stereotype positively, weaving heft and magic within them.

In fact, I like how every character is written funnily. There is humour in every one of them, which makes it a great delight to watch. The subtle savage burn that Indian mothers unapologetically do to their kids, is literally the best thing to watch on screen. This authentic portrayal is one of the best-written parts of NHIE.  Either be the moment when Nalini (devi’s mum) warns Devi not to giggle during a conversation with a boy or the moment when Nalini tells her neighbour that smacking is still an acceptable punishment in many minority cultures, Indian mothers simply rocks!

Devi, in a particular scene, explains to Paxton about how there are Muslims, Jains and Christians and people of different faiths within the Indian community. In a series which highlights religious differences, NHIE miserably fails to tell us why Devi, a girl from a Tamil family, keeps saying Ganesh Puja when a more common term ‘Vinayagar Chatruthy’ is what Tamilans usually refer the festival to. In another scene, where Ganesh Puja celebrations are held in her high school, there are dance performances. Do we dance on Vinayagar Chatruthy? Or is that a forced way to sprinkle some ‘Bollywood’ness? Thank god, there isn’t a cameo appearance from Priyanka Chopra in the last episode. I hope these significant cultural specific elements could have been clearly established. If not, even after several centuries of civilization, education, and celebrations and eating our vadais, we would still have people wishing us ‘Happy Indian New Year’

As much as it is necessary to show teenagers seeking help from therapists, how come Devi’s mum is fine with her daughter seeing a therapist? Isn’t mental health a taboo topic in most of the Indian families? So the question of how much of ‘Indian-ness’ does this family possess keeps popping up. Although these details may not hinder the progress of the story, it keeps bugging me. As an Indian woman, who is always told to stop using the phone and to pray to Lord Murugan to deal with depression and anxiety, it does bother me a bit- how come  Devi’s mum is progressive all of a sudden?

Nevertheless, you can happily overlook these choppy bits because it is a sincere attempt. When was the last time we saw a Tamil girl as a lead in a Netflix series?


Forget about the ‘Takali sambar’ line. How sweet it is to hear a character on Netflix go ‘ok Periyappa’. Their intoxicating optimism, humour-laced dialogues and lovability of every character overshadow those narrative missteps and cultural representation mistakes.