'Never Have I Ever' star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan explains why she's Team Devi 'now more than ever' in quarantine
Lara Solanki/Netflix
"Never Have I Ever" star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan spoke to Insider about the show's love triangle involving her character, Devi Vishwakumar, Ben Gross (Jaren Lewison), and Paxton Hall-Yoshida (Darren Barnet).
The actress, who's promoting her partnership with TAZO Tea, said that she's on Devi's side.
"With quarantine, I feel like everybody should really understand the concept of Team Devi now," she told us. "Like, come on. Self-love, that's where it's at, working on yourself. We like that."
"Never Have I Ever" star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan weighed in on the Team Ben vs. Team Paxton debate and explained why she's Team Devi "now more than ever."
"I'm still sitting in Team Devi, now more than ever," the 18-year old actress, who's promoting her partnership with TAZO Tea called "Routine Reboot," told Insider.
She continued: "With quarantine, I feel like everybody should really understand the concept of Team Devi now. Like, come on. Self-love, that's where it's at, working on yourself. We like that."
"NHIE" premiered on Netflix in late April and became a hit for the streaming service, with more than 40 million households watching the coming-of-age series. Centered high schooler Devi Vishwakumar (played by Ramakrishnan, in her first-ever role in Hollywood), the show was praised for its diversity, representation, and telling the story of a young South Asian lead.
Lara Solanki/Netflix
The show's love triangle involving Devi, academic rival Ben Gross (Jaren Lewison), and popular jock Paxton Hall-Yoshida (Darren Barnet) has also been the subject of much debate among fans.
Both Lewison and Barnet have previously spoken to Insider about why their characters are the better match for Devi.
Lewison explained that "Ben relates to Devi in a lot of ways and he definitely cares for her," plus they "challenge each other, personality-wise and academically."
Meanwhile, Barnet said that Paxton has "been kind of a knight in shining armor." Plus, Ben has a girlfriend and "has also been really terrible to her for her entire life."
Lara Solanki/Netflix
For her part, Ramakrishnan said that she enjoys seeing her costars make points to support their sides.
"Whenever either Darren or Jaren makes a point for Team Paxton or Team Ben, I'll just make a point for the other team, just to fuel the fire, because I'm just like that," she told us. "I gotta keep things interesting and keep them debating."
It's unclear when the stars of "NHIE" will be able to return to work, due to the coronavirus pandemic, but Ramakrishnan said they'll start filming once it's safe to do so.
Until then, she's been "diving into my hobbies," which includes: posting about social justice issues, sleeping in really late ("it's sort of like a superpower"), learning to play the violin via YouTube lessons ("still working on it"), and drinking TAZO tea while staying up at night playing video games ("I just want something chill while I drive really fast for Mario Kart").
Ramakrishnan added that the success of "NHIE" has "definitely" led to more opportunities in Hollywood. She's attracted to a variety of genres, but wants to be part of something "that has a message to say."
Lara Solanki/Netflix
"And as a brown girl, I want to make sure that I take on characters that aren't just surface-level, one-dimensional sidekicks," she told us. "I want to keep making different projects that have different roles, like a South Asian girl that's different from Devi, all different personalities, but actually has depth."
More than that, the actress hopes that the entertainment industry "can write roles with realistic representation in terms of people of color, queer identities, all kinds of minorities and backgrounds, and realize that we won't set your show back or make it quirky or anything, but we'd rather actually enhance it and we'll make it realistic. And people will resonate with that."
Ramakrishnan is hosting TAZO's Routine Reboot during the week of August 17-21 on both her and TAZO's Instagram accounts. The partnership calls for Americans to reimagine their routines and explore a new way of living to gain new perspectives and collectively create a better path forward.
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