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An Investigation Into How the Name "Kathani Sharma" Came to Be

Thanks to @jeanvanjer and @margoshansons for helping me research!

So here is the original article where Chris Van Dusen discusses Kate's name, among other things, and here's the pertinent bit:

So notice that CVD actually does not state the literal translation, and the link at the phrase "literal translation" takes us to this extremely dodgy website:

Notice that anyone can edit this, and it had a bunch of numerology BS too so... not the most accurate website, I think. But based on this, I Googled "Kathani Tamil" because the name ostensibly has a Tamil meaning, but the only meaning I found on multiple websites (including Google Translate lol) was "earring" or "ear ornament", and it was notably not featured in any name websites; all dictionaries. So Kathani isn't a name with any proper meaning (and by proper I mean having a religious or cultural meaning); it's just a word.

Kathani in Hindi, means "statement" or "utterance", that being said, it's not really a name from my understanding, and in addition, Chris Van Dusen said in this Bustle article that the Sharmas were South Indian, which begs two questions:

Why on Earth would any Tamil/South Indian family, especially historically, give their daughter a Hindi name? If you know anything about the pride South Indians, particularly Tamilians, have for their mother tongue, you'd know it's highly unlikely they'd do something like this. Like, it's one thing to speak Hindi (like Kate does in the first episode which, still, you'd think based on where she's been and what her family background is, it would be more likely she speaks in Tamil or Marathi), but it's another thing to have a name with a meaning that is not Sanskrit or Tamil based on the fact that they're South Indian.

Why would a Tamil family's last name be Sharma? Sharma is mostly a North Indian last name with a few minor exceptions but for the most part, it is very North Indian.

Ultimately, it is obvious no real research was done into the cultural mores of Indians at the time, particularly the fact that names are chosen for their religious and cultural meanings. Names often are connected to Gods, Goddesses, and other words of significance, and they were done more so historically, and especially in the South where you still see evidence of this (my own grandmothers have the rather lengthy, very meaningful names Satyabhama (after Krishna's wife) and Bhagya Lakshmi (after the goddess Lakshmi)). Clearly, the name "Kathani Sharma" was chosen for its proximity to "Kate Sheffield", and I don't like the fact that the Bridgerton showrunner is attempting to shove it down our throats as in any way honoring Indian traditions or historically accurate.

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i love your bridgerton takes and i’m curious - if you had a chance to rewrite s2 of bridgerton, what changes would you make?

ah thanks! you know, it's been two years and at this point I've kinda resigned myself to Shondaland's priorities (unnecessary drama, lady whistledown) and what they're disregarding (people of color, queer rep, the actual historical romance-ness of it all), but here's how I would rewrite Bridgerton season two:

Without explaining exactly what India's role in this post-but-not-really-post-racial world is, I'm uncomfortable with the colonial implications there as well as the fact that that they made the Sharmas from India, as opposed to the casting the exact same actors— Simone Ashley, Charithra Chandran, Shelley Conn— and having them be from Somerset. Hell, they could have kept some of the same customs like the Haldi and oiling hair, but made the Sharmas like allllll the other POCs in the ton; no one knows how they got there, but they're equal now so.... yay.

I also dislike how culturally confused the Sharmas were; they were using words from multiple Indian languages because the writers thought they'd do this weird pan-Indian culture for them. Pick a language, pick a region for them to be from, and stick to it

"Kathani" as a name should never have existed: here's all my research on why it's a name that means nothing, which is the antithesis of Indian culture, where name meanings matter. it's also insulting that her "actual" name was only used once; clearly the writers thought it was too ethnic to be used when she was introduced to us and other characters, but they wanted to pander to desi people so they included ONE Kathani in the end.

I want the Sharmas as a group to have WAY more screen time. I also think the family dynamic was royally mischaracterized. The writers were lazy and decided to make Kate's role in the family echo Anthony's which resulted in her basically.... taking over? And the results were disastrous even though she obviously meant well. A more feminist take, to me, would be this idea of all 3 Sharma ladies doing their part and pulling through together (well Mary and Kate a little more than Edwina) because there is no patriarch to provide for them, and that's something they could really have honed in on. So Kate and Mary would be making a lot of tough choices together, while Edwina is painfully cognizant that she's gonna be the one to marry up and provide for her family.

Because the Sharmas would be from Somerset, I think their backstory would be very similar to the book; dad is dead, they've scraped and saved up for one season, Kate is going to make a *sensible* match in the country (as opposed to having no marriage aspirations at all, which I found so weird considering she was 18ish when her dad died and COULD have married to save her family, regardless of her dowry or lackthereof she's a beautiful woman whose father clearly had some status as a royal secretary so that entire line of reasoning that she HELD OFF on marriage and decided to train Edwina to be the Ideal Debutante is bullshit on the writer's part to me) but Edwina is gonna be the shining star diamond who marries a rich enough dude to save all of them from destitution

Newton makes Anthony fall into the lake while he's still courting Edwina (similar to the scene's placement in the book)

And similar to the book I'd much rather Anthony take his courtship of Edwina only so far, like, honestly I'd be chill if he compromised Kate while still courting Edwina. I think it's unrealistic for Edwina to be entirely fine with this turn of events like she was in the books but the blowout would never have been necessary, and quite frankly, I think Edwina shrieked at Kate about the wrong things in the show. I'd personally be horrified my sister is conducting an affair with my suitor/fiancé and more importantly for Edwina, I think I'd want to know why, if my sister liked this guy, does she not think she's good enough for him and why does she keep throwing Edwina at him?

I'd do an extended study scene where not only do they talk about Edmund, but they also talk about Kate's dad who, when he died, left an even bigger gap in their family because like I said earlier, he was the male figure and it was SO Hard without a male in the family back then; The Bridgertons were actually lucky because Anthony was of age and was able to take over where it mattered most, with Violet's guidance. So that's what I'd want them to talk about and bond over.

I'd LOVE the book compromise moment; I think it's the most hysterical part of TVWLM and I'd want Portia Featherington to utter the immortal lines "Lud, girl, he had his mouth on your bubbies, and we all saw it." But then I think Kate should have refused to marry him because she she can't reconcile her dislike of him with her attraction buuuuuuuut then they have a blowout argument in the gazebo and then he eats her out and dickmatizes her into agreeing to marry him. They should have fucked a lot sooner than episode 7 because the chemistry was THERE and a compromise-turn-marriage plot like the book would allow for it. So less face-breathing, more fucking.

And that would lead to the wedding we all wanted to see except it's fraught with drama because a) the scandal and b) Kate still thinks she's Anthony's second choice

I'd loooooove a wedding night seduction scene

And then the issue becomes similar to the book's conflict at this point— Anthony still fears for his mortality, while Kate is falling for him but feels trapped in this marriage because she can't.... express those feelings because Anthony doesn't want love in their marriage

And then, fine, Kate has that riding accident except this time after she confesses her love and he freaks out and the accident is the nudge they need to make up and finally confess their love for each other

No Cousin Jack— that was such a bullshit plot because a) if he wasn't dicking down Portia while being engaged to her daughter what even was the point and b) he left in such a definitive way at the end of S2 so again, what was the point

We didn't need an episode devoted to the inner machinations of how Lady Whistledown works, nor did we need Marina implicitly endorsing polin which is so fucking disgusting considering Penelope literally shamed her into a botched abortion. I'd also like for Penelope to not microaggress Kate (calling a brown woman a "beast")

I think the Sheffield plot could have been reworked in some way; sure maybe Mary ran from her aristocratic family to marry a poor gentleman and they disowned her and now they're dangling an inheritance over their heads. I think it could have been more neatly done.

Colin's ponzi scheme crusher arc was unnecessary and dull

I liked where they took Benedict's arc actually; you really got the sense he wanted love but doesn't quite know what it is yet (his poem he gives to Anthony feels like he's worshipping a muse, not loving them for who they are), and he's in a shitty place by the end and doubting his abilities as an artist...... which would be a GREAT time for a love interest for him to come in

Eloise slumming it for a hot minute could have been done wayyyyy better starting with a hotter man, more chemistry, and more exploration

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let me destroy anything that hurts you.

i've hurt you too.

i'm destroying myself.

Me:

actually the best ship dynamic is i would kill for you. i would kill anyone who layed a hand on you. please let me kill for you. please let me show my devotion by dirtying my hands, it's the only way i know how. let me destroy anything that hurts you. i've hurt you too. i'm destroying myself.

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LITTLE WOMEN (2019) Dir. Greta Gerwig

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Simone Ashley | July 30, 2024 | 📷 IG

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HANNAH DODD as FRANCESCA BRIDGERTON — 3.06 "Romancing Mister Bridgerton"

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nicola coughlan via instagram

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hbo max blocks screenshots even when I use the snipping tool AND firefox AND ublock which is a fucking first. i will never understand streaming services blocking the ability to take screenshots thats literally free advertising for your show right there. HOW THE HELL IS SOMEBODY GONNA PIRATE YOUR SHOW THROUGH SCREENSHOTS. JACKASS

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downsizing seasons from 22 episodes to 13 to 8. describing miniseries as "8 hour movies". loudly declaring that shows with 20+ episodes per season cannot truly be good. complaining that "it couldve been a movie". complaining about filler episodes. complaining about bottle episodes. complaining about episodes that prioritize character over plot. fr i think y'all just dont like television

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My Lady Jane (2024) | s01e02 | 9/?

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Anya Taylor Joy as Emma Woodhouse in EMMA. (2020) dir. Autumn de Wilde

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i had wanted to post something to celebrate the world premiere of the season, but didn’t have the time to clean anything up.

then i heard from a lil birdy post that said that JB and S reunited at the premiere on the day of Kanthony’s wedding anniversary May 13….so I thought i’d just do a lovely lil kanthony sketch dump cuz why not.

Happy S3 world premiere and wedding anniversary to the couple who have continued to consume my mind and soul for the past years. Cheers 🥂

(this isn’t even all of them. just the best from the past 2 years :P)

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The Bridgertons talking about protecting their family’s reputation always makes me laugh a bit because like, you’re fucking people unmarried out in the open in public, you’re obviously not that worried about your family’s reputation

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“THE GREAT WAR”—TAYLOR SWIFT

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#we can feel the sexual tension from here My Lady Jane 1.02- Wild Thing

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BRIDGERTON 307 - Joining of Hands