Warning: This article contains spoilers from “It Lives Inside.”
Children of immigrants are no strangers to battling inner demons on their journeys to self-acceptance. In the new horror movie “It Lives Inside,” those demons are very much real — and they prey on the distress of diaspora kids.
Against the backdrop of suburban America, a monster conjured from scary South Asian bedtime stories feeds on the characters’ souls. The film, in theaters Friday after debuting at South by Southwest in March, follows Indian American teen Samidha (Megan Suri), who rejects her parents’ language and culture in order to fit in with her peers. That changes when she accidentally unleashes a demon known in Hindu mythology as the pishach, which is said to infiltrate people’s thoughts and feed on their energy.
In order to contain it, she realizes she needs the help of her Hindi-speaking immigrant mom, played by Neeru Bajwa, whom she pushes away and dismisses as a “Desi housewife” in the film.
Suri, known most recently for playing Aneesa in Netflix’s “Never Have I Ever,” says this story of cultural discomfort and acceptance is dear to her. Throughout the movie, her character quietly endures microaggressions from her peers, abandons her packed Indian lunches and cringes at the thought of speaking Hindi.
Born in the U.S. to Punjabi immigrant parents, Suri said habits she picked up while living in India for two years as a kid made her feel like a foreigner when she came home.
“I understood on a cellular level what it was like to experience those emotions,” Suri told NBC News. “There were things I had been doing for years in India, and then I did them in the U.S. and kids just looked at me like I was a complete weirdo.”
The movie also explores the push and pull of first-generation kids relating to their immigrant parents, with Suri’s character saying in the movie that she doesn’t want to end up like her mother. Ultimately, though, when it comes time to…
Read the full article here
