美国国家公共电台 NPR--'Never Have I Ever' star Ramakrishnan says anyone can relate to Devi's growth

'Never Have I Ever' star Ramakrishnan says anyone can relate to Devi's growth

Transcript¹

In the Netflix teen drama Never Have I Ever, Devi Vishwakumar seeks romantic help from a divine source.

"I'd really, really like a boyfriend," she prays to the Hindu gods in the show's pilot. "But not some nerd from one of my AP classes. Like, a guy from a sports team."

Her dreams come true.

Devi has two main love interests competing for her affection. There's her academic rival, Ben Gross. And there's the hot, popular star athlete, Paxton Hall-Yoshida.

Her messy love life is complicated by the fact that she's still dealing² with the trauma³ of losing her father.

The show created by Mindy Kaling wraps up its fourth and final season this week.

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan reflected on playing Devi. She told Asma Khalid on Morning Edition she responded to an open casting-call, competing against 15,000 other actors, to land her first major role.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Some of the excerpts⁴ include some quotes from the interview that were not aired in the broadcast version.

Never Have I Ever is your acting⁵ debut⁶. I'm sort of stunned⁷ by how you got this role to begin with. Tell us about that.

I was just living my life as a regular high school kid does. And my best friend found this tweet from Mindy saying, "Everyone, audition⁸ for my show, please." But in all honesty, I didn't do the tape and make the video and send it in because I thought I had a chance or because I was, you know, very determined⁹ to get the role. I truly did it just because I wanted to hang out with my best friend.

You guys were in the library?

Yes, we were in the library at the community center because we are both brown and we have very big families that are very loud and we don't have a lot of blank wall space.

Over the last three seasons of the show, we have watched Devi Vishwakumar evolve. I think it is fair to say she's not the same Devi that we met freshman¹⁰ year of high school. How would you describe her growth?

She has definitely grown as a young woman. She recognizes, 'Hey, I am not as great off as I think I am mentally and I need to work on myself.' Which means, you know, truly loving yourself and being able to be comfortable with your own silence. Now, in season four, we see who this person is and we've seen the result of all of her mistakes come in the form of, 'okay, I need to be better to not just myself, but my friends and my family and, you know, my loved ones.'

I imagine you personally do identify with some aspects of Devi's character, though I hope not all because – I'll be honest – she's kind of unlikable in some ways. She's a little bit of a narcissist¹¹.

Oh, yeah! She's kind of a lot. I definitely do relate to Devi in the ways that make her very human. Just when it comes to that self-love journey, when it comes to acknowledging the insecurities that we have and acknowledging like, 'Hey, I feel a lot and I have a lot of emotions and sometimes I don't know what to do with them and I kind of freak out.' You know, just all those ways that even if you're not a young brown woman watching the show, you still see yourself in Devi because she is kind of the ultimate mirror of her own insecurities and judgments¹².

One of the most interesting aspects of this show to me has been the mother-daughter relationship. Part of why I love this show is that I never saw a teenage show like this growing up, with the brown girl as the main star. But also, I just think the mother daughter relationship on screen is something we don't often see. Like Devi is this headstrong teenager dealing with this strict South-Asian mom, and it feels like they're constantly talking past one another.

The dynamic between the two of them, I think, perfectly¹³ encapsulates a story of a young girl who is growing up alongside her mother, who is figuring out how to parent. Nalini is not at all, by any means, perfect. And she knows that. And she's still trying to figure it out. And I think that's a very mature, relatable dynamic between any parent and their child. You know, that seems like how it works. I mean, my parents aren't perfect. I will never forget, like the first time I saw my parents cry. You have that moment in your life when you recognize, oh wow, my parents are imperfect.

In real life - would you be Team Paxton or Team Ben?

I'm team Devi. I mean, I'm team "let the young woman figure herself out," you know. Her messiness, it's very real. We all have experienced the emotions that she has. Sure. Have we gone about it in the same ways? No. But Devi's jealousy¹⁴, we've been there. Devi's rage, we've been there. All of her insecurities, not feeling confident, not feeling pretty enough, not feeling like she's just enough. We've been there. At least I know I have.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

3 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

4 excerpts   

n.摘录，摘要( excerpt的名词复数 )；节选（音乐，电影）片段

参考例句：

• Some excerpts from a Renaissance mass are spatchcocked into Gluck's pallid Don Juan music. 一些文艺复光时期的弥撒的选节被不适当地加入到了格鲁克平淡无味的唐璜音乐中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is editing together excerpts of some of his films. 他正在将自己制作的一些电影的片断进行剪辑合成。 来自辞典例句

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

7 stunned   

adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The fall stunned me for a moment. 那一下摔得我昏迷了片刻。
• The leaders of the Kopper Company were then stunned speechless. 科伯公司的领导们当时被惊得目瞪口呆。

8 audition   

n.(对志愿艺人等的)面试(指试读、试唱等)

参考例句：

• I'm going to the audition but I don't expect I'll get a part.我去试音，可并不指望会给我个角色演出。
• At first,they said he was too young,but later they called him for an audition.起初，他们说他太小，但后来他们叫他去试听。

9 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

10 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

11 narcissist   

n.自我陶醉者

参考例句：

• Don't get caught in the trap of always trying to please a narcissist. 不要让自己一直陷入讨好自恋者的困境中。 来自互联网

12 judgments   

判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判

参考例句：

• A peculiar austerity marked his judgments of modern life. 他对现代生活的批评带着一种特殊的苛刻。
• He is swift with his judgments. 他判断迅速。

13 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

14 jealousy   

n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌

参考例句：

• Some women have a disposition to jealousy.有些女人生性爱妒忌。
• I can't support your jealousy any longer.我再也无法忍受你的嫉妒了。