All of us might know Devi Vishwakumar as an impulsive girl from the hit Netflix show Never Have I Ever. The character is often pegged to be a hopeless romantic who did not mind breaking hearts to get what she wants. I was of the same idea as her until I binge-watched the entire series over the weekend and came out of it with an absolutely newfound admiration for her.
A little exploration of Devi’s life brought a character into light that was far from all things she was painted under. Devi Vishwakumar is no less than a profound inspiration for me.
Devi has been set up with a unique character design. Even while serving as the main character for the show — the one person around whom the entire story revolves — Devi was never gifted the main character persona. The near perfection, the universal admiration, and all the glory that usually marks the primacy of the character were absent. Instead, she was always portrayed as a character who stumbled down different roads, delving into a lot of morally grey areas. Some might also say that she’s the only protagonist who has committed more mistakes in the show than all the other characters combined.
For a person seeking the generically well-placed heroine to govern a TV show, Devi might be someone who could only serve as a satirical reflection on society. A character like Devi previously served as a vilified example — present only to sway the moral rhetoric of a woman’s place in the world.
But it is exactly someone like her, who would act as a much-needed relief from the moral and social obligations that bind girls like us in today’s world. She breaks free from the guided image of a well-kept, high-headed, prim girl. She holds herself up even in the face of a constant backlash from her peers and inspires the viewers into the same self-assurance.
We’ve all wanted to be confident personas exuding an aura of relentless passion in our life, with little to no examples of people to look up to. Having a character like Devi represented in such a beautiful way might just have been the push for all of us to shed our doubtful selves behind and adorn the self-assured poise Devi expresses so freely.
Devi Vishwakumar is just that icon every teenage girl stuck in the turmoil of social madness needs in her life. She is unapologetically herself and she is never afraid to stand up to the truth. What marks Devi as such a lovable character is that every part of her life is not only relatable but her reactions and experiences throughout are just as raw as ours.
She does not idealize the image of perfect teen life with an impeccable image and accurate decisions. The entire charm of her character is that she stumbles at all the exact places as any normal person would and learns through the journey of her mistakes.
Her love life is not a perfectly placed or overly romanticized one, it is exactly proportionate to real-life young love stories, mixed with the bittersweet feelings of impulsivity and indecisiveness. She does not make us feel bad for not being able to snag the best love life in town. She empathizes with the shortcomings and the blunders of our inexperienced relationships through her own experiences.
The pure authenticity with which Devi is presented to us is no less than a feat, a positive breakaway from glamorous storytelling into the intricacies of the real world. Devi Vishwakumar does not just serve as a relatable character. She also acts as that one friend who would hold your hand, give you a positive assurance in life, and help you conquer the world, one step at a time.