“Bridgerton” star Charithra Chandran is opening up about the significance of one of Netflix’s biggest shows featuring two dark-skinned female leads in its second season.
Chandran plays Edwina Sharma in the new season alongside Simone Ashley who portrays older sister Kate Sharma. The sisters are at the center of season two’s major love triangle, which also includes Jonathan Bailey’s charming character, Anthony Bridgerton.
Following the release of the sophomore season on March 25, fans flooded social media with their thoughts and many praised the introduction of the Sharma sisters.
“The fact that Kate and Edwina (The Sharma’s) are two dark-skinned Indian women, which even Bollywood fails to employ is so damn refreshing,” one fan wrote.
Chandran, who is Tamil, fully understands the importance of a South Asian, dark-skinned woman being declared the “diamond of the season” by the Queen (Golda Rosheuvel) in season two.
In an interview with Teen Vogue published on Tuesday, Chandran spoke about dealing with colorism as a child from strangers and even family members.
“No one let me forget that I was dark-skinned growing up,” she said. “My grandma was very light-skinned. Whenever we’d go around in India, they’d always say, ‘Oh, you’d be pretty if you had your grandmother’s coloring.’ ‘Shame about the color of her skin.’ ‘She’s pretty for being dark-skinned.’ All of these comments, all the time.”
She shared that her grandparents, who “were trying to make my life easier,” would prevent her from playing outside.
“I’d have to play early in the morning or in the evening (to avoid the sun),” said Chandran, who added that she doesn’t hold any resentment toward her grandparents.
Now, Chandran still catches herself being concerned about the shade of her skin.
“When the sun is shining and I tan, my instinct is like, ‘oh f---, I tanned,’ she said.
While she wants to “unlearn” this initial reaction, she knows it is going to be a “lifelong struggle.”
She continued, “It’s really, really traumatizing. I just desperately don’t want that for my cousins. I just pray, pray, pray that it’s not like that for them.”
The “Bridgerton” star revealed during the interview that she was initially worried that Indian audiences wouldn’t like her character. After seeing the support from fans, she is happy that viewers are pointing out how Edwina and Kate defy stereotypes.
Chandran explained, “The stereotype that Indians are nerdy and insecure, shy or whatever is not at all what Kate and Edwina represent.”
She applauded the show for “expanding people’s knowledge of not only our culture but also of our people.”
The 25-year-old actor has also noticed fans picking up on certain references to Desi culture.
“Only Desi people are likely to get them,” she said. “So it’s been amazing to see people pick up on all the little, subtle nods to India and South Asia.”
Making the Sharma family arrive from Bombay instead of the countryside was one of several ways the second season of “Bridgerton” diverged from Julia Quinn’s books.
Throughout season two, the show incorporates South Asian culture. In one scene, a Haldi ceremony (a traditional Indian pre-wedding event believe to bestow blessings upon the married couple) is held to the tune of an orchestral cover of the popular Bollywood song "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham."
Ahead of the season two premiere, executive producer Shonda Rhimes told Shondaland that the changes were “a very simple choice” to help the Regency-era show relate to its global audience.
“I wanted to feel like the world we were living in was as three-dimensional as possible, and I wanted to feel like the representation was as three-dimensional as possible too,” Rhimes said at the time. “Finding some South Asian women with darker skin and making sure that they were represented on-screen authentically and truthfully feels like something that we haven’t seen nearly enough of.”