| “ | Change is good. Change is necessary. | ” |
| — Nalini to Kamala Nandiwadal in ... set my mom up |
Nalini Vishwakumar (née Karthik) is one of the main characters on Never Have I Ever. She is a member of the Vishwakumar family and the widow of Mohan Vishwakumar. She is also the mother of Devi Vishwakumar. She is portrayed by Poorna Jagannathan.
Personality[]
Nalini Vishwakumar is a determined, hardworking, and a successful dermatologist. She is an organized woman is happy and confident with herself. She can be an overbearing, strict mother to Devi at times, but that just stems from her deep, and heartfelt love for her daughter as well as her traditional family values and beliefs. Similarly, to Devi, Nalini is also a bit stubborn, with a firecracker spirit. Nalini also seems to have a witty, and sarcastic sense of humor combined with her anger. Overall, she is a great mother, aunt, and worker who learns to open and be more vulnerable but still possesses her quick wit and humor.
However, it has caused much friction between her, and Devi as Devi feels like she doesn’t like her and feels like her mother is too hard on her. The truth is Nalini loves both Devi and Kamala very much and can show a much softer maternal side. This is seen in the finale when she reveals to Dr. Ryan why she is so tough on Devi, explaining the reason is because she is scared all of the time for her and when Devi couldn’t walk it was hard and traumatic for her as well.
Losing Mohan was exceedingly difficult and heartbreaking for Nalini because they were in love. She is a strong woman and chooses to hide her grief, but Dr. Ryan tells her it is okay to fall apart.
Physical Appearance[]
Nalini Vishwakumar is an Indian woman with shoulder-length dark brown hair. She is usually well-dressed in work attire such as blouses dress pants, and shoes for her profession as a dermatologist. At work, she is also seen wearing a lab coat.
For traditional Indian rituals and special occasions, she is seen wearing saris and jewelry.
History[]
Biography[]
Nalini Vishwakumar is Devi's mother. She is a dermatologist in the San Fernando Valley, and she is also a widow of Mohan and an aunt to Kamala. She tended to be quite strict towards Devi at certain times, due to her strict principles making it tough for her to express her true love for Devi. Just before Mohan's death, she accidentally said that she wished Devi weren't her daughter, which unbeknownst to her Devi heard. She had to go through a lot, after Mohan's death, following her own struggles with mental health amongst other issues, with Nalini having to cope with the burden of the whole family on her, loneliness.
However, her most important struggle was having to take care of Devi the best she could as she was the only child she had, being extremely worried for her as she couldn't walk for three months just a week after Mohan's death, for unknown reasons being worried for her all the time. Hence, to get some much-needed help for the family she invited her niece, Kamala Nandiwadal to live at her house if she needs to for her job and education, in exchange of her helping the family occasionally. For further support, she invited her mother-in-law, Nirmala, as she wanted to live where Mohan did, in turn for giving her the emotional support the family needs.
Throughout the Series[]
Season 1[]
In the first season, Nalini is shown to be tough on Devi, usually causing misunderstandings with her as she is continuing to cope with the stress of Mohan's death the previous year and Devi's current health since she just came out of her wheelchair. Due to this, she decides to behave with Devi very strictly to protect her from everything, which ends up creating a spiral of fights with her.
Deciding she cannot handle it alone, she wants to move with Devi to India. They have a huge fight with each other about how strict she was with Devi, leading to Devi leaving the house much to her dismay, feeling as though Nalini never loved her. However, they eventually clear their misunderstandings about each other by the end, as they finally spread Mohan's ashes, creating a new beginning for the previously fallen family.
Season 2[]
In the second season, Nalini still wants to move with Devi to India, as she doesn't feel at home in California, feeling she needs family support. However, she changes her plans immediately as she discovers her family doesn't want to support her at all, instead bringing her mother-in-law Nirmala to her house instead believing she should be where Mohan lived, whilst also believing she could offer the family the love and support they needed to go through tough times.
As soon as she meets Dr. Jackson to sell her dermatology practice's client roster to him, she, and Dr. Jackson, he becomes her nemesis, as he puts her into his mailing list much to her annoyance. She continues to be rivals with Dr. Jackson, until they attend the retirement party to her professor's party, where she learns he is a good person. Nalini becomes good friends with Dr. Jackson, soon after she asks for parenting advice from him after she learns how Devi bullied Aneesa. Chris' advice works bringing Devi and Nalini closer than ever, as Devi considers her a hero now. Soon after, she begins a secret relationship with Dr. Jackson, which she breaks soon after seeing how Devi didn't accept them and how she couldn't move on from Mohan so soon.
Season 3[]
Nirmala hosts a party where Nalini makes acquaintances with a nutritionist named Rhyah. The two become friends after spending time together after Valentine's Day. Nalini discovers that Rhyah has a son named Des. She tells Devi to bring Des out to a party to meet more people.
After Devi and Des start dating, Rhyah, Nalini, Des and Devi have an open conversation about their relationship. Nalini allows Devi and Des to date because she believes he is a good guy. Rhyah feels differently, even calling Devi crazy, and Nalini decides to end their friendship for good.
After Devi is accepted into Shrubland, a school for the "academically gifted", Nalini agrees not to send her there. However, after speaking with Kamala and visiting the school, Nalini and Devi decide that she can go.
Season 4[]
Supporting Devi[]
Nalini supports Devi through her ups and downs, offering guidance and advice. Nalini also plays a pivotal role in Devi's college application process, encouraging her to pursue her dreams. She is very proud when she hears Devi gets into all of the colleges she applied to, however later she is disappointed when she hears it was a lie.
Love Life[]
Nalini becomes involved in a flirtatious dynamic with Margot's father, Andres, who is working on projects around Nalini's house. Due to the ongoing tension between Devi and Margot, Andres declines an invitation from Nalini to a family dinner. Later, Andres changes his mind, and Andres and Nalini start dating.
Appearances[]
Season 1[] |
Season 2[] |
Season 3[] |
Season 4[] |
Relationships[]
Family[]
Mohan Vishwakumar[]
Mohan's bike for date nights.
Nalini and Mohan had a close relationship with each other, being clearly in love with each other. Mohan, emotionally supported Nalini, always keeping her mood uplift providing her the motivation to keep going on ahead in life, with Nalini always appreciating his support. Mohan and Nalini were an extremely affectionate couple as shown by how they used to love each other, going on date nights even during the most tough of times.
They worked with each other quite well, as shown by their effective communication of problems. Their effective communication is shown as they work through how Mohan was jealous of Nalini's success, with him eventually realizing that he should be supportive of his wife by the end of their conversation. Losing Mohan was exceedingly difficult and heartbreaking for Nalini due to their strong relationship with each other.
Devi Vishwakumar[]
Nalini is mesmerised, hearing her daughter finally playing her harp.
Devi and Nalini have a complicated mother-daughter relationship with each other due to their frequent disagreements with each other, due to their contrasting ways to handle things, often caused by their ineffective communication, as revealed by Devi's therapist. They initially had a lot of issues interacting with one another due to their lack of understanding, as up until Mohan's death he was the one who had interacted with Devi the most, he was the thread that kept the whole family happy. After his death, things fell apart as Nalini and Devi grieved his death a lot.
Devi's paralysis made Nalini extremely worried, leading to her becoming strict towards her being worried as she was her only daughter and she loved her a lot. When Nalini wanted to move to India, and Devi left her house in the protest believing Nalini never loved her, she realized that being strict wouldn't help Devi. Hence, when she finally opened to Devi on how much she loves her, which finally led Devi to understand her. Devi also loves her mother a lot, as seen by how she never wanted to hurt Nalini knowing she may be struggling as well. Later, their relationship prospers even more as Nalini saves Devi's friend Aneesa from leaving Sherman Oakes by convincing Aneesa's mother, Noor.
Romances[]
Chris Jackson[]
Chris and Nalini initially had a rivalry with each other with him being the other dermatologist in the office. Initially, Nalini believed that Chris wasn't a good man, and he didn't deserve the credit that he got in the community. However, she was proven to be wrong as she discovers Chris is a single father, who indeed cares a lot about people during the retirement party of her professor, who takes pride on both being her prized pupils. Eventually, they become great friends with each other, who help one another.
After, Chris's advice on parenthood works for Nalini, she and Chris eventually hit it off, starting a relationship. This relationship became one of the highlights of Nalini's life, until she realized that she wasn't truly over Mohan and his death, and that Devi needed her mom around. Hence, Nalini made a difficult decision by deciding to break up with Chris, knowing that dating him wouldn't work well for her family. The two agree to continue being good friends and work colleagues.
Trivia[]
- She was born in India. Nalini and her husband, Mohan, immigrated to the U.S. before Devi was born.
- She hesitated before throwing away Devi's favorite snacks.
- She once hugged a man at Circuit City when she found out a damaged printer was 80% off.
- Just like Ben, she faced extreme parental neglect from her own self-centered parents.
- She was the first person ever to win the Bevins Surgical Award as a resident.
- Like her love interest Dr. Jackson, she is also a dermatologist.
- Both were academically gifted students at her residency.
- Both are single parents, albeit due to varied reasons.
- Gale was the most annoying person at her residency.
- After having Devi, Nalini had a miscarriage.