Bridgerton season 2 released last weekend and while we were excited to see the romance and drama, the show’s makers definitely missed the memo about accurate representation.
The Netflix series has cast three South Asian actors playing main lead Indian characters. Namely, Kate Sharma (played by Simone Ashley), Edwina Sharma (played by Charithra Chandran) and Lady Mary Sharma (played by Shelley Conn). So you’d think they would have researched better.
From confusing the words Hindi and Hindustani, to mispronouncing Ghalib (can you imagine?), to interchanging Indian languages, the show messed up. A lot. And Twitterati, naturally, had a lot to say about it:
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.’
— Sunny Singh (@ProfSunnySingh) March 26, 2022
Confused much? #bridgerton pic.twitter.com/668uGsM4uN
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
It’s high time someone calls this show #Bridgerton out already. Firstly, this inappropriate reference of Marathi and Hindustani. Marathi is a language and Hindustani is what we call to the people belonging to India, that is, Indians. (1/3) #Netflix #India pic.twitter.com/m4iKf0MVZd
— Just another T-wit-t. (@AnotherWit) March 26, 2022
Watching Bridgerton Season 2 and why do they insist on bastardising Indian culture? I speak 'Hindustani'?! What the actual fuck!
— Karishma ✨ (@TheSoothsayer_) March 25, 2022
um i dont understand how the Indian sisters in Bridgerton are fluent in Marathi and HINDUSTANI and their names are Kate and Edwina SHARMA and they called their dad APPA but they came from Bombay?? the fuck AHAHAHAHA
— clowd (@vebosgf) March 27, 2022
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
NOT ME TEARING UP WHEN THEY SAID EDWINA SPEAKS HINDUSTANI THATS MY DESI PRINCESS AND WE’RE ONLY ON EPISODE ONE #Bridgerton pic.twitter.com/BGIIDit5A3
— nadia noor ☪︎ (@nadianoorx) March 25, 2022
Did they actually say Edwina speaks Hindustani ? 😂😩 #bridgerton
— ✨manifesting leaving pakistan✨ (@thatfeministfrn) March 25, 2022
The “Sharma” sisters in Bridgerton are named Kate and Edwina, speak Hindustani and call their father appa. 😭
— Sonika (@sonika_mm) March 25, 2022
HINDUSTANI?!?😭😭😭
— enza⁷💜💜 (@purple_moonrock) March 26, 2022
What- hindustani isn’t a language!!! It’s Hindi😭😭@netflix #Bridgerton #bridgertonseason2 #bridgertonS2#bridgerton2 @bridgerton pic.twitter.com/xNMZZGySWE
hindustani is not a language but a nationality @bridgerton
— rey 🥨 (@sheepymozzarela) March 26, 2022
Watching Bridgerton. One of the characters is learning “Marathi” and “Hindustani”. 😐
— potatotomato🥔🍅 (@ponchopout) 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
Ah yes, the Sharma girls who were trained in ‘Hindustani and Marathi’, referred to their father as ‘Appa’ and elder sister ‘Didi’ and were from Bombay.
— Rocket Raccoon (@006Pari) March 26, 2022
Couldn’t help but nitpick. Would have taken a 5 mins research to get these things right.#Bridgerton https://t.co/qXeXKMortA
Why are we low-key still following the Apu Nahasapeemapetilon model to portray South Asians onscreen? Also, Sharma is probably one of the simplest last names, here in India, yet we still find Hollywood unable to pronounce it without getting tongue tied.
