The Success of Bridgerton: One Step Forward for South India

Radiant greenery, the abundant culture and bewitching landscapes that make up the basis of South India. Recent years have seen an increased amount of South Asian representation and characters of color in the limelight of Hollywood. However, nothing quite sparked conversation like the new season of Bridgerton, which saw two main South Indian female leads.

Bridgerton has surpassed Indian cinema — Bollywood — in all aspects of promoting women of color and shedding a different light on them than before. Bridgerton has placed them in a light of appreciation and beauty. After the release of this new Netflix series, we are seeing a widespread romanticization of South Indian women, and a newfound admiration for their culture, charm and allure. Bollywood, on the other hand has had a history of downplaying and even denigrating South Indian women, favoring fairer skin as the status quo. The constant advertising of ‘Fair & Lovely’ — a skin brightening cream — has made younger girls feel the need to lighten their skin tones in an unhealthy manner.

Bridgerton, in that respect, broke past the long built up Indian stereotype of darker skin tones being unwanted and undesired. Yet, the insufficient research and awareness of Indian diversity in culture and time frame, takes away from what was achieved. The two leads Simone Ashley (Kate Sharma) and Charithra Chandran (Edwina Sharma) come from South India, but the specific region or location remains a mystery. The name ‘Sharma’ is typically a North Indian name that counterfeits their South Indian origins. The melange of languages used by the characters ranging from Hindi (‘didi,’ which means sister) to Tamil (‘appa,’ which means father) to Bengali (‘bon,’ which means sister) displays the lack of attention to detail from the playwrights. Additionally, the entrance line of ‘baap re’ (‘Oh Father’) by Kate Sharma is highly inaccurate for the regency era the series is set in. Such a phrase would not be used by a woman of high status. Whilst the distaste for British Tea was widely acclaimed, the ‘Masala Chai’ with its range of aromatic spices was only introduced long after the Indian Regency era which ended in the 1820s.

Despite this lacking in detail and accuracy, we can focus on what Bridgerton got right. The integration of Indian culture into multiple scenes of the show presents a massive win for many. The ‘Haldi’ ceremony prior to the wedding, the jewellery, the details and colors of their gowns, the hair oil massage, and the use of Kate’s full name at the end of the season. All these factors mark success and wins for South Indian women. Whilst Bridgerton may not have proved perfect, it achieved more than Bollywood has in its past few decades. We could focus on the imperfections, but then we would completely miss the main point of the show and all that it does for South Indians.

From a personal standpoint, Bridgerton’s second season made me feel proud. It didn't really matter whether the show denoted Indian culture down to a T, what really mattered was this interpretation and viewpoint that South Indian women are truly beautiful. It felt like magic to see women who shared similar if not the same skin color as me and I think that was the most powerful aspect of the show. Bridgerton renewed my appreciation for my culture and roots — a feat that not many shows have had the power to do.