Review: Aditi Mittal, “Things They Wouldn’t Let Me Say” on Netflix

How’s your Hinglish?

That’s not a rhetorical question. Because Aditi Mittal, the first Indian woman to get her own Netflix hour comedy special, freely mixes English and Hindi in Things They Wouldn’t Let Me Say. Most of her work translates easily.

But as I wrote in my review on Decider:

“I realized that being 30 and single and an Indian woman is like being that Tupperware container at the back of the fridge,” Mittal jokes. “Where you’re like, ‘Is this still good?’”

It is, and she is, but you’ll want to turn on the subtitles/closed-captioning because of Mittal’s use of Hinglish, flipping back and forth mid-joke and often mid-sentence between English and Hindi.

And if you’re not up on your Bollywood, many of her references likely will sail over your head. Such as when a cat-caller compares Mittal to Kareena Kapoor. Mittal’s reply? “Please, I am an artist. Call me Shabina Azmi…At the current rate I’m going, Nasseruddin Shah will also do.” You won’t need as much help following along when Mittal jokes about how more contemporary Bollywood soundtracks make it more difficult for cat-callers to whistle accurately.

Read my full review of Aditi Mittal:Things They Wouldn’t Let Me Say on Decider.

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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