NEW YORK (TIP): ‘Never Have I Ever’, the hit Netflix coming of age comedy-drama television series created by Indian American Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher has won the People’s Choice Award (PCA) for the Best Comedy Show of 2020. Breakout star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Indian American comedian, actress, producer Kaling accepted the award for the series about an Indian American high school student dealing with the death of her father.
“I can’t believe we were nominated in such an amazing company. We feel so grateful just to be with that group of shows. Thank you so much for this award and a huge thank you to Netflix and Universal TV,” said Kaling accepting the award. “This means the world to us because it is coming from you, the fans. We set out to tell a funny story about an Indian American girl and her family and had no idea that we would get this response,”
Ramakrishnan, an Indo-Canadian, thanked her show’s audience for believing in them.
“It has been amazing to see how our show has connected with people of color, LGBTQIA+, immigrant communities and more from all around the world,” she said, Partially based on Kaling’s childhood in the Boston area, the series has been described as a watershed moment for South Asian representation in Hollywood and has been praised for breaking Asian stereotypes Premiering on Netflix on May 21, 2020, it was renewed for a second season on July 1.
The story centers around Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan), a 15-year-old girl from Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles. After a socially horrible freshman year, Devi wants to change her social status, but friends, family, and feelings do not make it easy for her.
After Devi’s father, Mohan (Sendhil Ramamurthy) passes away, Devi loses the use of her legs for three months.
The following year, she tries to deal with her grief, Indian identity and school life, also struggling with her relationship with her mother, Nalini (Poorna Jagannathan), her beautiful cousin, Kamala (Richa Moorjani), her two best friends, Eleanor (Ramona Young) and Fabiola (Lee Rodriguez), her high school crush, Paxton (Darren Barnet), and her nemesis, Ben (Jaren Lewison). The series is mostly narrated by professional tennis player John McEnroe, with one of the episodes narrated by Andy Samberg.