Why can't Indian teens have smart comedies like Never Have I Ever to watch while growing up? We are feeding the young adults the desi-series which are nothing but Indian TikTok videos stretched into long-form comedies. Co-created by Mindy Kaling (The Office, The Mindy Project), Never Have I Ever dropped on Netflix. It is refreshingly funny, cute and bold. The show tells the story of a  first-generation Indian American teenage girl, Devi, played beautifully by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.

If you are an Indian, some scenes and dialogues that might, initially, for a little while, feel offensive to your culture. But, then there are dialogues like, "I found a Bollywood movie about a princess who falls for a lowly street sweeper. It's only seven hours long." And you realise Never Have I Ever is only exaggerating on the pre-existing tropes of culture for comedy. In fact, the cast is vividly diverse, and no culture is spared.

Never Have I Ever is a wildly specific story: a teenage girl, whose father died in front of her school in the middle of her stage performance and she lost her ability to walk for a few months, is now trying to upgrade her status in the sophomore food chain. But despite the specifics, it's powerfully relatable. You'd see your former (or current in cases) clueless but confident, lost but fabulous self in Devi. You'd be totally *smh* at the hijinks of living in Indian household - the rules, the restrictions, the tough love, the tension, the pressure.

The gutsy humour, bustling with razor-sharp jibes, high-witted cockiness, fabulous clapbacks and some good old situational comedy, only scratches the surface of the story. The intricately layered writing explores themes of grief and loss as well. Jolts of poignancy are sent the viewers' way, right after a comical scene. Imagine Fleabag, but for young adults. The emotional pathos of the series holds the cards close to the chest, revealing them one by one, as you get more and more attached to the protagonist.

The writing is undeniably fresh and, even, insane at points. The narrator ditches the main storyline because it's too boring and would rather talk about the more exciting storyline abut the best friend. There is a creepy subplot about Rick and Morty and their crazy fandom. The supporting characters are well-developed and do not just exist as showpieces. Hell, even the narrator gets to have fun with the material provided.

The commentary on the pedantic and overbearing Indian culture hits home. "Aunties are older Indian women who have no blood relationship to you, but are allowed to have opinions about your life and all your shortcomings. And you have to be nice to them because you are Indian," the narrator describes the intrusive women that Indians regularly meet at social gatherings.

The cherry on the top, the topic of popping the cherry. In pop culture for teens, sex is either hyper-sexualised (*cough*Riverdale*cough*) or brushed under the carpet to the gravity that stork-delivery might actually be counted a viable theory by the pure-hearts. Never Have I Ever flaunts sex in all its awkward AF glory. The desire and the temptation are interspersed with unruly stress that tags along. The show refuses to lose its innocence despite the main lead happily talking about getting 'railed' so bad that she'd be paralysed for a day again. It is a tight rope to make that dialogue work.

Watch The Trailer Here:

Yay

- The comedy

- How the series deals with grief

- Doesn't think young adults are just horny idiots who can be fooled with superficial writing

Nay

-Sometimes falls into the tropes of teen comedies

-The Indian accent is funny

- A few details are off like we don't touch the Gods' heads, but their feet

Final Thoughts

Never Have I Ever is the mature and well-crafted comedy that the young adults deserve. The series gives its young viewers some credits (read: benefit of the doubt), assumes they are smart and doesn't spoon-feed or distract with glitz and glamour. Well, not much. And if Mindy Kaling kind of comedy is your thing, then you'd enjoy the show even as a well-rounded adult. Give it a whirl.

Rating:3.5

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 28, 2020 05:06 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).