Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher’s Never Have I Ever is gearing up for the release of the fourth and final season this June. The show, headlined by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Poorna Jagannathan, and Richa Moorjani, has garnered immense love and praise globally. Ahead of the finale season, News18 Showsha caught up with Poorna and Richa, who play Nalini and Kamala in the show respectively, to talk about their biggest takeaways from the show, desire to work in Bollywood, and how they are paving the path for South Asian representation in international projects.
If we ask each of you to pick one of your favourite scenes from the series, which one would it be and why?
Richa and Poorna: Well, we will pick the same scene. It’s the beach scene at the end of Season 1.
Poorna, It was really fulfilling to see how Devi and your relationship grew. Would you say that these graphs helped you understand motherhood better personally?
Yes, I talk about that a lot. I really have set aside stuff in my own parenting style, set aside as much as possible for a South Asian parent to do, set aside the expectations and set aside the anxiety, and really have focused on giving my son what the show has taught me — that a kid needs a sense of belonging more than anything else.
So we have really focused on trying to have a home and give that to my own kid because I really understood from all our fans who wrote in, that sometimes it’s the one thing they lacked, and they find it in the show. And it’s a beautiful thing to hear when they say – ‘that my own family was this and this and that, you know, so and so couldn’t show up for me, but I found it on in the show’. It’s so beautiful.
Richa, we love the way how Kamala navigates the challenges of cultural expectations and personal ambitions. What have you learned from her?
I relate to her so much. I think all of us South Asian women can relate to Kamala and her struggles. Navigating family expectations, while putting her own needs, and personal ambition and prioritizing her career and then her love life and all of that. I think that is something that we’ve all had to navigate whether it was in the past or currently, and I felt a lot of the same pressures that Kamala is finding in this series. And I know exactly how crippling that can feel in the sense that it actually can be detrimental to your career and, and to your happiness because you’re just putting other people’s happiness before yours.
And I think it’s just really incredible how much she’s grown since season one, and she’s learned from the character of Devi and she’s learned from Nalini. And she’s learned through her experiences, how to really stand up for herself and it’s been very empowering for me personally as the actor playing her. I think I’ve learned a lot from her.
Poorna, it’s exactly a decade since we saw you doing a Hindi film. Will you come back to Bollywood?
Yeah, I know. It’s been 10 years of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. I mean, literally, Bollywood hasn’t come calling. It said goodbye to me, and then the phone hasn’t been [ringing].
Do you remember any fond anecdote from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani?
Yes, we were on a boat. We were filming on a boat. It’s in France. There’s limited time on the boat. Like they’re not sure you need three more hours. We’ll give him like, it’s limited time. The script is not written. They are writing the script on the boat. It’s like in Hindi and I need time with Hindi. My mother tongue is Tamil, not even Hindi. They’re just like [trying to write]. It was so funny.
I was with Ranbir (Kapoor) that day. It was so funny and so scary. And, you know, Ayan is just writing, as we go along, it was so typically Bollywood and then I remember meeting Ayan at the beginning. He’s like, listen, ‘I haven’t written the end’. Like he has gotten the money. He’s got financing. The locations are closed. We’re filming. He’s like, ‘I haven’t written the end. I was like, how is this working? Or just come together and then it turned out to be the highest-grossing movie in history. That’s incredible.
Well, are you open to doing Hindi films?
Richa: When she and I do a buddy comedy – A Bollywood female buddy comedy film, specifically directed by Zoya Akhtar. We’re manifesting it.
Poorna: Great idea, I’d love to do that. We both are open to Bollywood. And the stories coming out now are [much more interesting and better]. I mean, before Bollywood was just fantastical, and it was fun. But now the stories coming out or especially on streaming platforms or so good.
Richa: Even the TV series coming out, more than Bollywood. It’s just stories coming out of India, from every aspect of the industry. It’s very exciting for us. So, please cast us.(Laughs)
Richa, in one of your previous interviews you shared that you want to amplify South Asian voices and stories through your work, moving further…
Of course, being a part of a show like that. This is the first series that I’ve been on that where I’ve been a lead character, and what a privilege to have that first role on a show like this that has been such a platform for all South Asians, including us.
And, now it’s if anything, it’s given me more of a platform to be able to, I guess, be more selective about the types of roles that I choose moving forward. And I think this show has really spoiled us in the sense that we’ve become a lot pickier and, we never had the privilege before that, to to say no to things and to be more selective. So I’m just so grateful for that.
Poorna: But also like, we see what the impact of a show like this can have. And that’s also addictive like you want to continue doing work that’s as much as a conversation starter that gives as much of a sense of belonging to the viewers that makes people feel seen and visible. Like that’s the culture of change. It’s wonderful, it’s just luck, but it’s also a privilege.
