Don’t we deserve at least one show where their biggest concern is who to marry and what dress to choose for the next lavish ball? The horrors of colonialism don’t come up either but, again, why should they? Plenty of historical dramas-arguably most-still show characters of color enduring unimaginable levels of suffering.
The Sharmas don’t face racism and the color of their skin isn’t central to their stories. It’s also worth adding that Bridgerton is a revisionist romp in which the proudly Black Queen Charlotte has paved the way for a diverse, almost utopian society. They never came, but, of course, why would they? The second installment of Bridgerton is not about the lives the Sharmas led in India, but about their arrival in the Ton about the suitors that flock to Kate and Edwina about Anthony and how he was shaped by his father’s death and about him overcoming his fear of intimacy and understanding that he can and should marry for love.
In this post- Parasite entertainment landscape, where the predominantly signed CODA just won best picture, are subtitles still a barrier for Western audiences? Couldn’t we have had a glimpse of the sisters confiding in each other in their mother tongue, as they presumably would’ve done back home? And, although their costumes, with their jewel tones and paisley prints, do pay tribute to their heritage, I’d have given anything to have seen Edwina walk down the aisle in a ruby red sari or lehenga instead of her (admittedly beautiful) white gown.Įvery time Kate recalled the monsoon season, or the turtles in the river outside her childhood home, or her father, the clerk who swept Mary off her feet, I kept waiting for a flashback, like the ones afforded to Anthony this season. Similarly, Kate declares early on that Edwina speaks both Marathi and Hindustani, but we only hear them speak to each other in faintly accented English. It’s in keeping with Bridgerton’s penchant for whisking different elements together without much regard for realism-just as the Ton, visually, is an amalgamation of London and Bath-but I, for one, would’ve loved to have heard more about their lives beyond Bombay. There seems to be a deliberate lack of specificity surrounding the regional background of the Sharmas: their surname is north Indian, but Kate and Edwina call each other “didi” and “bon” (the Bengali words for elder and younger sister) while calling their father “appa” (a Tamil term). Then, there’s the moment in that same episode, “A Bee in Your Bonnet,” when Kate tries to soothe her younger sister by massaging her scalp with oil, an ancient Indian practice that’s still common in many homes today.Īfter zipping through all eight episodes, I was left wondering if the show went quite far enough. Later in the season, when she visits the Bridgertons at Aubrey Hall, we see her picking cardamoms and cloves, both key ingredients of masala chai, out of a silk pouch to add to her cup.
In the very first episode, Kate makes it clear to Lady Danbury (Adjoa Andoh) that she despises English tea, and that detail isn’t forgotten.
But, for me personally, it wasn’t simply the casting of Simone Ashley and Charithra Chandran as Kate and Edwina Sharma that felt significant, but the nods to Indian culture that are sprinkled throughout the season. There’s a lot to love about the second installment of Bridgerton: the sight of Jonathan Bailey emerging from a lake, dripping wet Lady Featherington besting the new Lord Featherington all of Queen Charlotte’s ridiculously intricate costumes and of course, the fact that two dark-skinned British-Indian women are its leading ladies.