But then I realized too, neither can Maitreyi-the person beyond the screen. ” She continues, “I realized Devi can’t represent all South Asian experiences.
I want to continue and progress to a point where our culture and our stories are just normal. I don’t want to be a little trend that fades away. We shouldn’t be a ‘flavor of the month’ kind of thing. “But, what I will say is that we’re still pretty far. “There’s no better time to be a brown girl than right now,” she asserts. Ramakrishnan is a proponent for the green-lighting of more South Asian narratives during this much-needed time of progression. As Hollywood extends its call to diversify, the rise in representation and defiance of the status quo is a long-awaited feat for minorities who have endured cultural repression in the media-the South Asian community being one of many. She is one of the first female South Asian leads in a Netflix original series. Ramakrishnan’s portrayal of Devi challenges mainstream media. I think younger me would be flipping her shit.” Now we get to see the brown girl get that. It’s the white girl that gets the romance, it’s the white girl that gets that attention. Younger me didn’t see those things happen to someone who looked like me.
“What I love about NHIE,” she considers, “is that within those romantic love triangle scenes, we get to see a brown girl be desired for. Ramakrishnan wields her limelight with great responsibility, and acknowledges what NHIE has achieved for South Asian women.
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While the Tamil-Canadian actor hoped the Mindy Kaling-helmed show would earn traction with audiences, its coupling of beautifully awkward romantics with very real, very human hardships are what have elevated the series into its own league. Members of the NHIE crew anticipated Ramakrishnan cracking under pressure within the first week, but with season three already in the can and premiering this August, she has proven her chops. Ramakrishnan was chosen as the one of 15,000 candidates to play Devi following an impromptu audition for an open casting call. I couldn’t fully commit to the lifestyle.” “I’m an embarrassed theater kid,” she relays. Before her on-screen debut, Ramakrishnan grew up in Ontario, Canada, where her high school years were spent on-stage as a theater kid-no, not the ‘belting-Ham-ilton-at-the-top-your-lungs’ theater kid archetype, but more of the ‘acting-is-fun-so-why-not’ type. Ramakrishnan plays Devi Vishwakumar-an Indian-American hot-head stumbling through high school, while coping with the loss of her father. This was, in fact, Ramakrishnan’s induction to the coming of age comedy-drama, Never Have I Ever (NHIE), which has amassed devoted fans and critical acclaim in its soon-to-be third season. In the blink of an eye, the stakes have skyrocketed and ‘firsts’ appear to have lost their tenderness. It’s your first day on the set of a Netflix original, your first time getting dressed to play the lead, oh-and it’s your first time ever professionally acting. Put yourself in the shoes of 20-year-old actor, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.