Mindy Kaling is a brilliant comedian, writer and producer of Indian origin who has made it big in Hollywood. So, when she announced the teenage rom-com Never Have I Ever… with an Indian girl as the lead, there were hopes. Serious hopes.
Hollywood is still finding it extremely difficult to shed its nasty habit of stereotyping every other ethnicity other than white and American. The industry has earned the dishonour of caricaturising or criminally misrepresenting almost all racial and ethnic groups across the world through its films. Asians and Africans have faced it more and Indians haven’t fared any better.
The grossest offender in my book is none other than Steven Spielberg. The dinner scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom where a local ruler treats his guests including Indie with live snakes, scorpions and tops off with monkey brains as dessert. It was simply put criminal. And don’t get me started with the costumes Indian characters are made to wear and the hotchpotch accent that is neither Indian nor American.
Okay, so back to Mindy and her widely acclaimed series that supposedly got Indians right. And what a let down it was. This series was rife with inaccuracies and at times downright ignorance. Now it would have been acceptable if this series was created by anyone else. Though I have a litany of gripes to go through, I’ll restrain myself to the cardinal ones for now.
Gripe 1: Having an Indian-origin girl as lead does not elevate this series from being the run-of-the-mill rom-com fare that comes from the Hollywood stables. Hormonal, socially awkward, studious and confused teen – check. Nerdy friends – check. Masking real issues with superfluous things – check. Pining for the hot-bod jock – check. Dysfunctional family – check. Pissing off friends and patching up – check and check… I can go on. But you get the drift.
Gripe 2: Misrepresentation of customs and traditions is another biggie. Being the daughter of a Tamil father and a Bengali mom raised in Mumbai, should have given Mindy some insights about Hindu festivals. In the episode based on Ganesh Puja, we get a half-assed cliff notes version of this important Hindu ritual. Okay, the explanation was fine, but the montage that went with it is simply put, irresponsible. The clip had shots from Ganesh Puja, a wedding and Durga Puja! Why Mindy why?
Gripe 3: Once upon a time there was a man named Columbus who accidentally discovered the continent of America instead of India. The dude decided to call the indigenous people Indians, probably he didn’t have the energy to simply sail to the spice-rich country in a different part of the world. So, the natives, who had to bear the sorry sobriquet red Indians for centuries, believed that the spirit of their dead inhabited various animals. That brings to my next gripe. Our heroine, Devi, thinks her dead father is communing with her in the form of a coyote. And this is sprung to the audience as if it is something that Indians, the actual ones from that patch of land in Asia, believe. Well, they don’t. I know for a fact that Hindus in Kerala believe that ancestors come in the guise of ravens during the annual ritual where people offer pujas to appease the souls of their family members.
Gripe 4: Devi’s cousin Kalyani is seen talking to her prospective in-laws via video chat. I laughed at the scene, not with it. Though not said specifically, Devi belongs to a Tamil family. And the alliance is with a ‘boy’ from another Tamil family. In the chat the guy’s father is wearing a kurta. Yes, a freaking kurta. Which age are you living in dear series makers? (This question is for all the Indians in that team.) It seems they just borrowed the idea from Big Bang Theory, another that caricatures Indians, but it does not hide the fact.
Gripe 5: Kamala again. India is not the country that it was 20 years ago. The youth here, even from small towns date, sometimes have multiple affairs, eat American fast-food and are very active on social media. And yes, they get to watch almost every American series and films, including Riverdale. So which age, did Kamala come from? Was she teleported from the 80s? Because the story is based in 2020.
Gripe 6: There are a number of aspects about being Indian that could have been explored here. But the series never seems to go beyond the superficial. Be it addressing racial issues, sexual identity and sexual awareness, processing grief or navigating the very regressive nature of Indian society in the states.
There are these and much, much more. But nit-picking isn’t the point here. Now to give credit where it’s due Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who plays Devi, is a stellar find. She does not have the nerves or inhibitions of a debutante. Her performance is the highlight of this series. Another plus is the differently abled character played by Lilly D More who has down syndrome. What makes this character unique is that she is a confident, no-nonsense young woman who owns a fashion label. This character is not for the sympathy factor.
Never Have I Ever… could have really made a difference if the makers weren’t aiming for shallow. That’s where the Netflix gem On My Block comes out strong. It’s also a teenage comedy about a group of friends comprised of Latinos, black and mixed-race children who try to figure out life, love, friendship, family and honour all the while trying to survive their crime-infested neighbourhood. Check this one out to see what I mean.
Mindy here’s hoping you dig deep into your talented self and take your project to better heights.
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