THE RACE COCKTAIL & BRIDGERTON SEASON TWO

INDO-BRITISH LOVE STORIES ABOUND IN HISTORY, BUT IN THIS NEW SEASON OF BRIDGERTON THE CASTING OF INDIAN WOMEN IS MISLEADING AS THEY ARE BRITISH IN EVERY DIMENSION..THOUGHT, MANNER, ACCENT…WITH THE EXCEPTION OF ONE SISTER CALLING THE ELDER ONE ‘DIDI’ AND OTHER INCONSISTENT TOKENISMS IN SPEECH. THEIR STYLING AND MAKE-UP HAVE BEEN CALLED ‘APALLING’ ON SOCIAL MEDIA. SANGEETA WADDHWANI REVIEWS ROUND 2 OF THE MATING SEASON DRAMA

If season one of Bridgerton introduced us to a very Austenian Brit storytelling style with the socially correct deliberations of 18th century British manners, with the hottest pop tracks of the day playing out as ballroom dance orchestra music…the cherry on the cake was pairing up Daphne Bridgerton (the Diamond debutante of last season) with the rakish but charming Duke of Hastings, Simon. It was a gamble twisting around the historic race divide but the chemistry between the two lead actors..Rege Jean-Page (Simon Basset, the Duke) and Daphne (played by Phoebe Dynevor) virtually exploded through the tube!

She was a dainty, vestal looking Caucasian actress and he is born to a Zimbabwean mother and a British father. Yet the racial diversity…with an African Queen..only seemed to make the Daphne- Simon coupling more interesting and he seemed -with his haunting backstory and resistance to commitment- far more exciting than her other pale and insipid suitors.

Season 2 of Bridgerton however, focuses on another Bridgerton’s marital prospects – Daphne’s brother Anthony, the highly eligible Viscount. AND VOILA! Who are the prime female eligibles for him? Two Sharma girls from India!

Now in reality, the actors are Indians of British citizenship. Charithra Chandan plays the younger Sharma sister, Edwina, while Simone Ashley plays Kate, the toughened sophisticate. With luck, the Queen declares Edwina to be the Diamond of the Season. Hmmmmm…this brings Edwina into the radar of the tall, majestically handsome and pragmatic Anthony Bridgerton.

Kate the elder sister takes an instant dislike towards Anthony, having overheard him say typical male chauvinist things about marriage and wives in a man talk session not meant for her ears. She repeatedly warns her debutante sister Edwina, that Anthony is a terrible candidate for husbandhood.

And so the season unfolds…

But somehow, the casting of this round feels a little off point. Edwina has a diabetes-inducing sugary temperament, is way too short to realistically even twirl in the ballroom with the lofty Viscount, and to me, is not even styled in colours that enhance her dark, chocolate skin tones. She has beautiful features and a pleasing voice, but that lack of height sadly diminishes her presence. Certainly not Diamond material. Perhaps they could have come casting for Edwina in the corridors of Indian theatre and TV…even wannabe Ms Indias could have thrown up more statuesque lasses in the first bloom of womanhood.

Edwina’s taller and sturdier sister, Kate, seems to be a better casting choice but one sees too much darkness in her nature, as if she were a fixed, obstinate and downright offending creature, living too much in the head and too little in body.. in a way that feels monotonous and lacking in the Eastern seduction. At least in the early episodes. Both Anthony and Kate are initially unaware of their attraction to one another but even when it does unfold ( leading to the love triangle KJo would be proud of…)…it feels like two rather alpha masculine beings are trying to be soulmates. Kate is rarely ever prettified, vulnerable, feminine..

By comparison, Daphne and Simon had that masculine-feminine polarity in all pristine glory. Also the cooking of that chemistry was slow and devilish, filled with hints of potential fireworks. In this season, in Anthony’s place, most men I reckon would leave well alone a woman like Kate, who ostensibly chooses her freedom over the prospect of life partnership…but is contriving enough to engineer her sister’s path to wifehood to secure an inheritance that would take care of all her spinster years… in financial terms.

Both the Sharma girls could have been less British in tone and been shown to be at a little cultural variance, to acquire deeper dimensions of character…although as the story acquires more depth we see a haldi uptan for Edwina on the eve of her marriage. Also a nice sentimental twist when Edwina places their late mother’s bangles on Kate’s wrists..and it is the accidental tumbling of a bangle that reveals the intensity of Anthony’s focus on the elder Sharma at the precise moment he and Edwina are about to take their vows on the altar. Whew! The way a family ghost can reside in an heirloom to bring in justice!

Viewers have been hugely disappointed with this season’s tokenisms and the rather unflattering representation of Indian charms. Shobhaa De has posted, “What on earth is this? Desi viewers saying Bridgerton is a lousy joke with the worst make-up, hair, costumes and styling. How did those smart folks go soooooo wrong?” (@shobhaade on instagram).

And some of her responders make truly valid points…like @anjula.m12 who points out, “The representation is so confusing. The Sharma sisters have features from Southern India, call their father Appa, the younger sister Edwina is referred to as ‘bon’, (which is sister in Bengali), they speak Marathi and Hindustani, have fluent British accents, and they play marauli (what’s that?)….Make-up and wardrobe too wierd. Yet good to see the diversity,” she says. Am not so sure the ‘diversity’ did justice to Indian female charms, is my only point. I appreciate all her other observations.

For the most part, we truly miss the magic of the Duke of Hastings and Daphne…there was a rebelliousness and struggle for their coupling too…and it is a pity that Rege Jean-Page is no more a part of the webseries. There are nice curveballs worked into this season..like how the Sharmas are undone by the wagging of a tasteless and materialistic aunt who knows that if Edwina and Anthony do wed…the Indian girls will get their due inheritance. She doesn’t clearly care for that to happen…And also the revelation of the true identity of Lady Whistledown. That is a truly suspenseful thread woven to reveal that Penelope is a businesswoman at heart and a Feminist who leans on her powers as a scandalsheet doyenne…and even when she has to take extreme steps to remove Elouise from the Queen’s suspicion, and she virtually stops writing…the pen snaps back into action when her heart is once again injured by a young man.

But all in all if Bridgerton season one was addictive, season 2 did seem a bit of a forced cross racial love story. Perhaps because one has seen at Indo Brit events, the English keeping to their tribe unless there are Indians who can adopt to their manners of speech and dress. Sure there were Indo Brit alliances but many of them were about the British becoming Indophiles and being turned on by the bare bellied bosomy Indian women who floated around them….as housemaids, nautch girls, governesses, mistresses, even artists’ muses.

Howevet, after sitting through the entire season, one is relieved to see that what initially felt contrived does acquire richer nuances. That cultural contrast is not such a contrast after all. Both Anthony and Kate have had to lead their families in lieu of their fathers being no more…and had learned to stop listening to their hearts. Just this psychological thread binds them together fairly adequately.

Kate’s character may have become more calloused than her sister’s because she was trying to make the right sacrifices…but when that veneer wears off, we do see a Kate with feelings unraveling. Some softness does enter her gaze in scenes where she learns of Anthony’s personal tragedy…and still, there is a typically Indian sense of stoic sacrifice for Edwina’s happiness even when Anthony declares his infatuation for her. This is very Indian, very soap opera ‘Didi.’ What we call in good Bombaiya terms, Emotional Attyaachaar.

It’s quite amazing how two strong individuals bearing a similar inner blueprint can be drawn to each other even when every other consideration could keep them apart. Towards the end, one is able to empathise far more with the distinct nature’s of the Sharma sisters…even the sugary Edwina proves her mettle when she does a U-turn on Anthony — at the altar mind you — and clears the space for Kate to act on her true feelings.

Now, what do Bridgerton fans feel? One fan responded to me by saying Jonathan Bailey (who plays Anthony) is gay. In that case, the passionate moments he manages to bring to his scenes with Simone (Kate) are praiseworthy! I too started feeling a genuine spark between the two.

Would love to hear your views!