Devi Vishwakumar, the 15-year-old protagonist of the hit Netflix show Never Have I Ever, hates being Indian, let alone first-generation American Indian. In one of the episodes, when she meets an old friend who once used to hate Indian culture just as much as her, she is supposed to see him evolved beyond it to fall in love with his culture. 18-year-old Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who was picked from an open call audition, has beautifully played the role. In an interview with Variety, she expressed that she wants her character to fall in love with her roots, which will help her be at peace with herself. Never Have I Ever Review: Mindy Kaling's Netflix Series Is Refreshingly Funny and Bold.

Maitreyi said that Devi should understand "that she needs to be more appreciative of her family and her friends because her friends do a lot for her. Her friends really are her day ones."

"And also understanding where her mother’s coming from. That is something that we’ll be able to have a lot of audiences relate to, understanding where our parents are coming from even though they might not go about doing certain things the best way possible," she added.

Devi is also struggling to come to terms with her father's demise. Maitreyi wants the protagonist to deal with grief. "Then also the idea of approaching that grief — confronting it, having that battle, even though it’s something uncomfortable to think about, [but] actually just running toward it and facing it, dealing with it head-on,” she added.

"And then number three, of course, embracing her culture because that is so important in a world where identity is everything. It’s how you portray yourself. It’s how you show yourself to the world and how everybody will view you, but also how you accept yourself. And I think if Devi does those magic three, she might be a little bit more at peace with herself," she concluded. Never Have I Ever: Is Netflix's New Series Parodying Indian Culture? Twitterati Divided Over Mindy Kaling's Pet Project!

Well, Never Have I Ever, produced by Mindy Kaling, has struck a chord with a lot of fans. We hope to see a season 2 of the show.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 04, 2020 04:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).