When a work of fiction, or any art form, tries to depict any foreign culture or tradition, it is ought to be well researched. That’s because a slight misrepresentation can offend the people identifying with the community resulting in a lot of backlashes especially when the internet and media are so proactive these days.
This is precisely what happened with the second season of the popular TV show ‘Bridgerton’.
The show tried to be inclusive by including people of Indian descent. However, it allegedly failed in accurately portraying the culture on the screen. The show includes an Indian family, the Sharmas, with three South Asian actors namely Kate Sharma (played by Simone Ashley), Edwina Sharma (played by Charithra Chandran), and Lady Mary Sharma (played by Shelley Conn) in lead roles.
However, apart from their colourful clothing, undying love for tea, and the Haldi ceremony, they messed up pretty bad.
And since we live in the era of social media, people online gave their opinions without mincing their words.
As far as I know there is no language 'Hindustani' or an instrument 'maruli'. There is Hindi & murali (flute) of course. I wonder if creators of @bridgerton shouldn't have at least done some research & checked the correct terms before introducing brown characters in #Bridgerton pic.twitter.com/XOBLD467lY
— Prof. Pragya Agarwal (@DrPragyaAgarwal) March 25, 2022
So #bridgertonS2 casts two South Asian women in major roles, gives their characters the last name Sharma, they supposedly speak Marathi and Hindustani but they call their father ‘appa,’ and the older sis calls the younger one ‘bon.’
Confused much? #bridgerton pic.twitter.com/668uGsM4uN
— Sunny Singh (@ProfSunnySingh) March 26, 2022
It's difficult to pick a favourite clumsy Indian reference on Bridgerton 2, but mine's gotta be Edwina asking Anthony if he has read "Guhleeeb". pic.twitter.com/XJYjX8OwM0
— Amaal Akhtar (@begumakhwrote) March 27, 2022
pls what language is hindustani????? 😭 #Bridgerton pic.twitter.com/D17xMyHvWV
— Ave👾 (@nottodayimbored) March 25, 2022
What's annoying is that white characters- written by white people OR poc- will have names and mannerisms specific to the CITY they live in and Bridgerton has Sharmas who speak Marathi and hindustani and call their father Appa and sisters Didi
— juju (@beetrotchip) March 27, 2022
Most historically inaccurate part of #SouthAsianRepresentation in Bridgerton for me is how two Indian women fresh off the boat from Bombay nibble & chew all that tasteless British food without once asking for pickle, chillies or even some damned pepper. Sinful egregious omission.
— Nirdiganta (@SevenDeviled) March 27, 2022
hindustani is not a language but a nationality @bridgerton
— rey 🥨 (@sheepymozzarela) March 26, 2022
I'm not watching Bridgerton but I'm annoyed that they refer to "Hindustani" as a language & that ppl on reddit/Google says it's correct. Personally, I don't recall anyone ever referring to Hindi/Hindi-Urdu as Hindustani except maybe in old books. Feels *very* colonial. Ugh.
— Ren (@the_rebel_ren) March 27, 2022
Watching Bridgerton because…don’t ask me.
Indian family wid Sharma father n Sheffield mother r part of British aristocracy. But even if v forget this bit, Sharmas call their father Appa n call younger sisters’ Bon while living in Bombay
Mash everything uv ever heard of India!
— Pratyasha Rath (@pratyasharath) March 26, 2022
Some backed the show with explanations and said that they managed to showcase the diversity pretty well.
1) Hindustani is a language
2) In 1800s, calling Hindi as Hindustani was very much a thing
3) The maruli thing I'll concede was stupid
4) Just coz they are Sharmas and call their Dad as Appa, doesn't mean they cant know Marathi/Tamil
5) Their Dad could be Tamil and Mom Marathi https://t.co/AwYxQXD4Ho— Sampada Moghe Pandey (@SampadaMoghe) March 28, 2022
In response to the north vs south Indian debate in my mentions, I really enjoyed the fact that the show had Tamilian women portraying characters coming from Maharashtra but who spoke fluent Hindi and Marathi, and were trained in classical music.
Unity in diversity.#bridgerton pic.twitter.com/H4CEkNpLHG— 🐝Promenading Anthony’s Pinnacle🐝 (@chaoticguitar) March 28, 2022
All of these Bridgerton critiques are fair enough, but I just want to point out that there actually were Indian women in Regency England who moved around in high society, so the show is not completely making this up.
— Zaalim Samaj (@EmpressMarket) March 25, 2022
The fact that one of the Bridgerton writers was of Indian decent and pitched to have the Sharma’s and all the other life-affirming incredible things – the haldi ceremony, Kate’s love of chai, hair oil etc – just shows how damn important it is to have a diverse creative team tbh
— Sim (@SimKSandhu) March 27, 2022
While some felt the glitches were hurting the experience, others backed it with solid explanations. What do you have to say about it?