Never Have I Ever

By Marium Abdulhussein

…looked into the hit show “Never Have I Ever” and its attempt at South Asian representation

Actress and comedian Mindy Kaling has long been recognized for her hilarious and multi-faceted characters. “The Offce” and “The Mindy Project” introduced the general public to her witty humor and her spunky characters. “Never Have I Ever” is the creator’s newest project, boasting a diverse cast and a spot on the big screen for South Asian Americans.

The hit Netflix series follows the life of Devi Vishwakumar, a frst-generation Indian American, as she attempts to balance her Indian heritage and her American lifestyle. Devi struggles with many issues throughout the show, including the loss of a loved one, familial relationships, and trying to ft in at her high school.

After decades of being underrepresented in the media, “Never Have I Ever” should be a breath of fresh air to South Asian Americans. Kaling is of South Asian descent herself, which made many people hopeful for an accurate and honest portrayal of a region that has often been the butt of the joke. The question is, did it miss the mark?

Khushi Shinde, a frst-year student at the University of Florida, was less than thrilled at the depiction of South Asian culture, especially by the portrayal of accents. Shinde felt it was mocking Indian culture.

“To heavily include the accent for almost every adult seemed very unnecessary and out of pocket,” she said. Shinde was also disappointed by the plot point surrounding a character’s arranged marriage.

Shinde acknowledged that arranged marriages are a large part of Indian culture, some people prefer arranged marriages, while others choose their own spouse. However, arranged marriages are not black and white. Depending on familial values, a person may be able to choose their spouse and still have it considered an arranged marriage. Overall, the concept of an arranged marriage is an incredibly complex issue. The main problem with representing them in the media is that they are presented negatively so often that it is hard to portray them correctly without the negative connotation attached to them.

In the frst season of “Never Have I Ever,” Devi’s cousin Kamala is pushed into an arranged marriage with a man she’s never met. She struggles with the life she’s made for herself in California and the expectations her family has for her. Unlike other shows, Kamala chooses the path her family has set out for her. Once she meets Prashant, the man her parents have chosen for her, she gets along with him quite well. She begins to fnd a middle ground between her two spheres of influence, the east and the west.

Amisha Patel, a second-year student at UF, shared a different opinion. “I think the show is a great representation for Indian or Desi American teens who feel the struggle of trying to balance being

American and being Desi. It also had great Hindu representation, which is something I had not experienced seeing in American media,” she said.

For Patel, the portrayal of arranged marriages was not a signifcant issue for her. She believed the concept was shown in a positive light, where Kamala actually liked the man she was supposed to marry. Patel saw a good start to positive representation of many different aspects of Indian culture, not just arranged marriages.

Patel acknowledged the show’s faults, however. One of the main ones that she brought up is their use of diversity.

“I feel the LGBTQ relationship seemed added on and not well developed. A lot of the [people of color] actors on the show were lighter-skinned too. However, I think it’s a good start to diversity in the media,” said Patel.

One of Devi’s closest friends, Fabiola, is an Afro-Latina LGBTQ teenager. In the frst season, Fabiola comes out to her friends and starts dating Eve Hjelm, another student at their school, and their relationship is fleshed out in the following season.

Shinde followed a similar line of thought and added that the use of stereotypes made it hard to relate to the characters.

“It seemed that the show was written from the perspective of an individual who only knew Indian culture through stereotypes.”

The overall sentiment regarding diversity is that the showrunners attempted to be as diverse as possible, which led to their inability to accurately portray all the character’s issues. The complex personalities of each character became simple caricatures of the vibrant cultures, backgrounds and experiences they endeavored to represent. As Shinde said, “It seemed that the show was written from the perspective of an individual who only knew Indian culture through stereotypes.” Despite the fact that the show was written by a majority of female, Indian writers.

Kaling’s depiction of South Asian teenagers may be accurate to one individual, but it is not accurate to all. This seems to be

an issue that many writers have when attempting to represent a culture. For a country as vast and diverse as India, writers will never be able to encapsulate the customs, relationships, and culture so ingrained in Indian society. When an audience demands this from their shows

they are automatically encasing the culture the show aims to represent in a rigid box.

Kaling is one of the only South Asian comedians and writers who’s gained mass popularity, and it is a daunting task for Kaling to represent an entire culture’s media representation. Instead, Hollywood, and perhaps Kaling herself, should open up opportunities for South Asian directors, comedians, and actors in order to gain more accurate portrayals of culture.