Maitreyi Ramakrishnan Admits She Trolled Reporters On Whether She’s Team Paxton Or Team Ben. Narcity's Brooke Houghton sat down with “Never Have I Ever” actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan to talk about her Dream Cookies collaboration with Tim Hortons, her Robert Pattinson-inspired trolling, her dream of playing Rapunzel, and why she still lives in Mississauga, Ontario. Ramakrishnan also addressed the backlash Mindy Kaling has faced over her brown female characters ending up with white male leads.
Category
🏖
TravelTranscript
00:00Why are these people saying that she trolled us?
00:02You swapped me to Team Paxton.
00:04I'm just switching up because I feel like people
00:06don't really believe that I am Team Devi.
00:09Robby P was the info.
00:11She said Twilight Core.
00:12Yes.
00:13What's up, Mercedes?
00:14Guess who we're with?
00:16Hello, it is I.
00:18My turn.
00:19So many actors, especially Canadian actors,
00:21they move to LA or Hollywood or New York
00:23the minute that their career really takes off
00:25and their career has definitely taken off.
00:26But you're still in Saga.
00:28Why did you stay in Ontario
00:30and what's that important to you?
00:31I mean, I get the move.
00:33It makes sense.
00:34I understand, you know, it's sometimes easier
00:36to be where chaos is.
00:39But for me, family and my friends, they're all here.
00:44That's what grounds me, that's what keeps me sane.
00:47In the end, we're all gonna die.
00:50So we might as well be around people we love
00:52doing things that we love.
00:54Maybe I'll get out of Saga and I'll go to Toronto.
00:56We love it.
00:57I have to ask, is it true that you're still
00:58going to York University?
00:59I can hold a fork, so I go to York.
01:02It is true.
01:03Human Rights and Equity Studies.
01:05Yeah, that is the degree.
01:07And do you think that you'll move away from acting
01:08and maybe into advocacy in your future?
01:10No, like hear me out, I was like, no.
01:14Advocacy, no.
01:17I think that's just something I will inherently always do,
01:20like as just a human being, especially as a human being
01:23that is also a brown woman, right,
01:25in a career that has my face be a part of the brand.
01:30So advocacy is something that I'll always care about
01:31and I would hope other people care about, you know?
01:35But acting is what I love to do.
01:36That is my career.
01:38Having the privilege to go to post-secondary,
01:40being able to afford post-secondary,
01:42because it is a very privileged time for people.
01:46So because I can, that is why I am doing it.
01:49I do just like to learn, so yeah.
01:51I think that's incredible, and you are such an advocate
01:53and for representation on screen.
01:55I want to ask, you know, some fans on Twitter
01:57have called out, you know, Mindy Kaling
01:58for her brown characters always ending up
02:00with white male leads.
02:01And I want to talk to you about that,
02:03about how South Asian women in Hollywood
02:04are so harshly critiqued on these things.
02:06I mean, women of color, for sure,
02:09are always harshly critiqued for anything.
02:13There will always be a reason to critique.
02:15And for Mindy, she's writing from what she knows.
02:19These are her stories.
02:20People can have an issue with that, and that's fine.
02:23Everyone's entitled to their opinion,
02:25but you can't take away from someone's lived experience
02:29or the story that they want to tell.
02:31That is Mindy's choice.
02:33If she wrote just to appease other people,
02:35I think that A, it wouldn't be fulfilling for her,
02:38and that's just kind of sad.
02:40You're just writing for the sake of others
02:42and not for yourself as a creative.
02:44But B, it probably wouldn't be as authentic,
02:47because it wouldn't come from her.
02:49Instead of first and foremost getting mad at Mindy,
02:52who really works hard and does truly have my respect,
02:55why don't we get mad at the people
02:56who make it so hard for women who look like Mindy and I
03:00to be at Mindy's level?
03:01That's the problem.
03:02If we had more people who look like Mindy at her level,
03:05then I'm sure we would have so many stories.
03:07Because Mindy can have her types.
03:09I mean, I love brown men.
03:11Let's just put it out there, okay?
03:12We've talked about this before.
03:13Yes, we have, we have.
03:14I'm all about a South Asian man.
03:16Des let me down, okay?
03:18I was rooting.
03:19I was also rooting.
03:20I was rooting for him.
03:21But regardless, I digress.
03:23If we had more people at Mindy's level,
03:26then I think people would be a little bit more easy on her.
03:29But alas, that's not the case.
03:31I get it, as in people,
03:33not every single South Asian girl can relate to me,
03:35and that's fine.
03:37I don't expect every single one to.
03:39I think that that would be just unrealistic.
03:41No.
03:42I can only do what I can, right?
03:43And hope that other people come along the way,
03:46and you know, people get the option to pick and choose
03:49who they feel represented by.
03:51In short, don't get mad at the women of color.
03:54Let's look a little deeper
03:55at the people who are creating barriers.
03:58So we had an interview a couple weeks ago.
04:01I think you told me a little.
04:02So we gotta get into it.
04:04I asked you, were you Team Ben or Team Paxton?
04:06What did I tell you?
04:07You told me Team Paxton.
04:08We told somebody else Team Ben.
04:10Okay, this is the first time
04:13I'm getting confronted about this.
04:14Yeah, this is a confrontation.
04:15Do you feel betrayed?
04:17I do, because I'm such a big fan of you,
04:20and when you put that tweet out
04:21that said, interviewers, please ask me this,
04:23I sent it, my producer Josh and bosses behind.
04:25I was like, I'm so excited to ask her this.
04:30Yeah, I lied.
04:32To everyone, not just you.
04:34I just kept switching,
04:35and I would make a passionate argument for each side.
04:38I was convinced.
04:39You swapped me to Team Paxton.
04:41I was like, 100%.
04:42These arguments are all so valid.
04:44I'm just switching up,
04:46because I feel like people don't really believe
04:47that I am Team Devi.
04:50I mean, Devi is the center of the show.
04:52I'm all about her and her journey as just an individual.
04:57In interviews, ever since the beginning,
04:59I've always talked about her self-love journey.
05:01I think both Ben and Paxton are great characters,
05:04but I just think, Devi, you can do better
05:07than the high school sweetheart.
05:08Girl, come on.
05:10Like, you know?
05:12But I did have fun seeing fans react.
05:16Chaos ensued.
05:18I know, I was looking at the comments
05:19on the video that we did together at nursery,
05:20and I was like, why are these people saying
05:22that she trolled us?
05:24I trolled everyone, and I would do it again.
05:27Honestly, I like that.
05:28When people say like, oh, she's so much so like Devi.
05:31If I've ever done anything in my career thus far
05:33that is very Devi-esque, it was that.
05:36I love it.
05:37It's also kind of being Robert Pattinson.
05:37I don't know if you know,
05:38he always flies in interviews.
05:40You get me.
05:41That was the info.
05:43Robby P was the info.
05:45She said Twilight Core.
05:47Yes, no, next gig that I get, next press tour,
05:50I'm gonna make some lie about the fact
05:52that I don't shower, like Robby P.
05:54He lied about the fact that he doesn't shower.
05:57Obviously he does.
05:58He's a face for a whole perfume.
06:01He probably smells really good.
06:02I mean, I'd take a whiff.
06:04I'd take a whiff.
06:05I'd take a whiff of Robby P.
06:06Well, you basically just graduated,
06:08Never Have I Ever.
06:09We've had this amazing season's run.
06:11I love the finale.
06:13Now, looking towards the future,
06:14I know you've talked about wanting to do
06:16a live action Tangled Rapunzel.
06:19We've heard all about it,
06:20but who would you fan cast as your Flynn Rider?
06:22It has to be a fan of like, you know, Tangled.
06:25You can't just like be a hot guy.
06:28Flynn is not just a hot guy.
06:30Okay, good old Eugene.
06:31No, he is someone who like knows he's attractive,
06:34but deep down has a lot of insecurities.
06:37You know?
06:37No, he's got layers.
06:38He's got layers.
06:39The smirk.
06:40The smolder.
06:41The smolder.
06:42The smolder.
06:43So I don't, I generally don't have an answer for that.
06:46I mean, I gotta get my foot in the door first.
06:48You're like, I gotta get in first.
06:50But it has to be someone who's a fan
06:52and it has to be, yeah,
06:54it has to be a good personality matched in.
06:57Yeah.
06:58Absolutely.
06:59And you know, your fans are so passionate.
07:01You are, you're an icon.
07:02You're so well loved.
07:04I'm a little icon, but thank you.
07:06Absolutely.
07:07How does it feel to have your fans support you so much
07:10on your journey and wanting to be Rapunzel?
07:11I straight up cried.
07:14I cried in Brazil while I was backstage
07:18in the middle of like the Tudum Festival.
07:20Cause I saw on Twitter that someone made a sign
07:23that said, you can be my Rapunzel.
07:25And I saw like another fan in front of them,
07:27like holding up the flashlight
07:30to like illuminate the sign for them.
07:32And then like all the fans have been saying like,
07:34you can be my Rapunzel,
07:35like the people's Rapunzel and all that.
07:37And like that, regardless of, you know, anything,
07:40like that is so sweet.
07:42Cause putting your dreams out there is very scary.
07:44It takes a lot of courage.
07:45So it's really kind to have people embrace your dream
07:49and let you dream, right?
07:51Like, yeah, people can be kind of mean at times
07:55when it's just like, truly it's a dream.
07:57And if it happens, it's even better.
07:59Suck it up.
08:00It's even better.
08:01Even better.
08:02But I'm not going to let anyone tell me I can't dream.