Poorna Jagannathan on how ‘Never Have I Ever’ smashes Asian stereotypes

Actress Poorna Jagannathan is presently busy promoting her new show Never Have I Ever, which premieres its fourth and final season today June 8.

Jagannathan plays the character of an Indian immigrant mother Nalini who is singlehandedly raising her teenage daughter Devi Vishwakumar, played beautifully by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. The actress has been praised widely for her portrayal of an Asian mother on the show.

Talking to an Indian newswire, Jagannathan opened up about how the show has broken all barriers of type-casting South Asian characters. “I always say this about the show that finally our outsides are matching our insides. What I mean by that is our representation in media... we are finally being represented and reflected as who we are inside our house and how we feel inside. There's a balance...,” she said.

She further added, "We are always such a side characters and are always like the stereotypical Indian characters with absolutely no dimensions. But suddenly we have shows like Never Have I Ever.”

Jagannathan drew a parallel with her on-screen character and said she herself is an “immigrant mother” and how the show tells a lot about what “it means to be an immigrant, mother, what it means to struggle, joy, as a woman to have desires and sexuality. What an amazing feeling to step into these characters' shoes that have a fully lived life as an actor and as a South Asian woman.”

Created by Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher, Never Have I Ever is streaming on Netflix.

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