Netflix has a future star in Never Have I Ever’s Maitreyi Ramakrishnan. As a woman of color, this young artist is already saying the right things about representation in films and TV series.
The star, who appears in Mindy Kaling’s teenage Netlfix series, made the news recently. She revealed that she turned down suggestions to play the Pakistani-Muslim superhero Ms. Marvel. The teen star asserted that whoever plays Ms. Marvel should be Pakistani.
“The story of Kamala Khan, she’s Pakistani right, and I’m Tamil. If there was a Tamil superhero I wouldn’t want a see a Pakistani girl playing that Tamil superhero. Cause I would say ‘Really? You couldn’t find anybody who’s Tamil?‘ So why would I want to do that to the Pakistani community. It wouldn’t be fair,”
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With brown people tired of being considered ‘all the same’, it’s great to see an actress as young Maitreyi Ramakrishnan pointing that out. In her interview with Entertainment Tonight, the actress opened up about why representation matters.
Since the Marvel superheroine Kamala Khan AKA Ms. Marvel is a Pakistani-American, it would be unfair to hand that role to another South Asian artist.
“I’ve seen a couple of posts about that, but honestly, no. Kamala Khan is Pakistani and I’m Tamil.”
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The actress was very vocal about representation, from paving the way for more South Asian artists to how people pronounce her name.
As for an opportunity to play a Marvel character, she pitched an idea.
“Trust me, I’d love to be a superhero. I love Marvel so much, …. I could be the daughter of Deadpool or apprentice or something. Maybe Deadpool adopts a South Asian girl. It would make sense — Ryan Reynolds and I would both make the Canadian jokes.”
