“Never Have I Ever” seen an immigrant mother character humanized
By Fareeha Molvi
(This post was originally published on Instagram on July 28, 2021)
Nalini (played by Poorna Jagannathan) caught my attention this season of “Never Have I Ever” (and not only because of her fire wardrobe!). Her storyline as an immigrant and widow raising her child by herself in a foreign country could have easily been reduced to just that. Often, in film, immigrant mothers are flattened to a simplistic depiction of a hard-working woman who is strict, in ways that her kids don’t understand but it’s ok because she loves them and would do anything for them. Not to say there’s anything wrong with that, but we usually consume these stories from the kid’s point of view. There’s rarely ever any insight into the struggles the mom is facing. That’s where “Never Have I Ever” succeeds.
“Often, immigrant mothers are flattened to a simplistic depiction of a hard-working woman. There’s rarely ever any insight into the struggles the mom is facing.”
Throughout the season, we shift from Devi’s story to Nalini’s and get to see firsthand her struggles with parenting, mom guilt, self-doubt, dealing with loss and trying to find her own happiness after grief. I loved seeing the scenes of Nalini in her office, where we got to see her outside of mom-mode. We got to see her as her own person, with her own whims, telling jokes and bantering with rivals. I love that Never Have I Ever reminded us that mothers are individuals too. They do not solely exist to serve their families day in and day out. We’d do well to remember that, onscreen and in life!
What did you think of Nalini?
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