Ep. 15 - BRIDGERTON Season 2: Marriage, Money, and the Sharma Family (Part 2)
Left to right: Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran), Kate Sharma (Ashley Simone), Mary Sharma (Shelley Conn), Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey). Photo credit: Netflix
Shondaland's Bridgerton (Netflix) presents a Regency Britain where people of diverse colors, races, and cultural backgrounds meet and mate through choreographed matchmaking in grand ballrooms and frolicking country estates of "the ton."
In this 2-part podcast Professor Durba Ghosh (author of Sex and Family in Colonial India) talks with The Boston Sisters about how the entrance of the Sharma Family, an Indian family from Bombay, into the ton's marriage season brings South Asian words, rituals, costuming elements, and Bollywood into the "what if" world of Bridgerton's Season 2.
Part 2 of the Bridgerton podcast includes our recap of season 2 followed by a conversation about cross-cultural dimensions of love, marriage, and sex as portrayed in the popular Netflix series. The episode also looks at the question of where does the Bridgerton family's wealth come from, and the role of colonial capitalism in the fortunes of Bridgerton's Regency.
Durba Ghosh, Ph.D.
Durba Ghosh is professor of history at Cornell University and the author of Sex and the Family in Colonial India: the Making of Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2006). She also wrote Gentlemanly Terrorists: Political Violence and the Colonial State in India, 1919-1947 (Cambridge University Press, 2017); and with Dane Kennedy, she is the co-editor of Decentering Empire: Britain, India and the Transcolonial World (Orient Longman, 2006). Professor Ghosh’s research has focused on gender, culture, law, archives, and colonial governance in British India. In connection with this research, she has taught courses on modern South Asia, the British empire, and colonialism.
Connect with Durba Gosh, Ph.D.
From Shondaland and creator Chris Van Dusen, the second season of Bridgerton follows Lord Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), the eldest Bridgerton sibling and viscount, as he sets out to find a suitable wife. Driven by his duty to uphold the family name, Anthony’s search for a debutante who meets his impossible standards seems ill-fated until Kate (Ashley Simone) and her younger sister Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran) arrive from India. When Anthony begins to court Edwina, Kate discovers the true nature of his intentions — a true love match is not high on his priority list — and decides to do everything in her power to stop the union. But in doing so, Kate and Anthony’s verbal sparring matches only bring them closer together, complicating matters on both sides.
Across Grosvenor Square, the Featheringtons must welcome the newest heir to their estate while Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) continues to navigate the ton whilst keeping her deepest secret from the people closest to her.
The series also stars Adjoa Andoh, Lorraine Ashbourne, Harriet Cains, Bessie Carter, Shelley Conn, Phoebe Dynevor, Ruth Gemmell, Florence Hunt, Martins Imhangbe, Claudia Jessie, Calam Lynch, Luke Newton, Golda Rosheuvel, Luke Thompson, Will Tilston, Polly Walker, Rupert Young, and Julie Andrews. The series is inspired by Julia Quinn’s novels. (Source: Shondaland)