Instagrammed by Maitreyi. (Courtesy: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan)
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is the talk of the town and for all the good reasons. The popular Netflix showNever Have I Ever – which she headlines – recently premiered its fourth and final season to great reviews. The show follows an Indian-origin American teenager Devi Vishwakumar through her final high school years in the aftermath of a personal tragedy. The comedy-drama is one of the most successful shows to feature a woman of colour in the lead role and has been praised for its South Asian representation. The actress, along with co-stars Darren Barnet and Jaren Lewison, was in Brazil recently to promote the series at the Netflix Tudum event. In an interaction with Anupama Chopra, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan was reminded of her admiration for the character of Hermione [played on-screen by Emma Watson] in Harry Potter and was asked how she felt to now be a role model for young women of colour, perhaps for the next few generations.
In response, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan said, “It just hit me now. Wow, I mean like if I think of young girls who were my age when I watched Emma Watson as Hermione and seeing me as their Emma Watson as Devi, that's I think really awesome. I can't even fathom and that I think is the big legacy of our show. Because when you're in it, it's hard to see the impact. Every day I'm so amazed about how many fans we have; what kind of fans we have from different backgrounds and walks of life… But I really do hope that those people who look up to me as their first representation, I hope, like very quickly there are others that they can also look up to… It's not just me.”
Recently, Indian fans of the actress and the show were in for a pleasant surprise when they spotted a fun interaction between Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Indian actress Rashmika Mandanna on Twitter. It all started when season 4 of the show was released and a video from the series went viral on social media. The clip from the finale episode features Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Devi and Richa Moorjani as Kamala dancing to the Tamil version of the song Saami Saami from Pushpa.
Resharing a tweet posted by a fan of the clip, Rashmika Mandanna – who features in the original song – wrote, “Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, stunner! you did sooooo gooooooddddd. sending you full love.”
To this, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan replied, “I will NEVER have imposter syndrome about dancing again. Thank you so much.”
All four seasons of Never Have I Ever can be streamed on Netflix.