Charithra Chandran of ‘Bridgerton’ on Sharing Indian Culture and Characters with the World

Condé Nast Traveller India‘s annual Destination Wedding Guide is back, showcasing the latest trends and most glamorous destination weddings of the year, from a glamorous socialite-studded affair at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London to a fun-filled fiesta in Mexico. The ‘revenge destination wedding’ is here, with nuptials becoming more elaborate than ever, and personalization and customization reaching a new level. Every last detail matters. And the bride is at the center of it all—bringing her own personality and eccentricities to the show.

Cover star Charithra Chandran, star of Netflix’s hit show Bridgerton, is at the center of her own story too—a modern, multicultural woman who moves easily between worlds without feeling the need to compromise herself. On a sunny day in London, just before she started shooting, she arrived punctually at The Lanesborough Hotel in Knightsbridge, ready to play bride. Dressed in Manish Malhotra’s Khaab-Mijwan 2022 collection and wearing exquisite jewelry from Cartier, Boucheron, Dior Joaillerie, and Jessica McCormack, she’s accompanied by her own bride squad through the festivities. We spoke to Charithra about her cover shoot, Bollywood, and more.

What’s your experience shooting this cover for the Conde Nast Traveller India Destination Wedding Guide?

Being the hottest day of the year in the U.K., it felt perfectly appropriate to be shooting beautiful Indian wedding wear. It was a very fun, chill day and also kind of emotional seeing myself as a bride.

What was the response to your role in Bridgerton? Both globally and also in India?

Of course, I hope that people enjoyed the show and my performance. But more importantly, I hope that young, brown women felt seen and heard. That they’re deserving of love, romance and that they’re allowed to be complex, imperfect beings. Globally, I think it exposed more people to Indian culture and helped show that South Asian stories and characters are popular ones. In India, I hope we did our people proud on a world stage.

What’s your relationship with India?

I think of it as home as that’s where my family’s from. I’m so proud to be Indian, in fact I think it’s a privilege I was born into such a rich and beautiful culture. I try to keep up to date with what’s happening and songs and films as much as possible—although I have not been as good at it in the past few years.

Tell us about your travel style and what’s on your bucket list?

I’m very much an ‘explore’ person when I’m traveling. Which is why hotels matter much less to me because I literally only use them to sleep and wash. I love being outside, embracing an area and getting lost in it. This also means that I pack light—a capsule travel wardrobe is key. I really want to go to South America. I would love to spend a solid six months traveling from the north of the continent to the south. But I do want to learn a basic level of Spanish before I go.

What are you working on now and would you ever consider Bollywood?

I’m currently shooting my first feature for Prime Video, which is exciting. It’s been a wonderful experience and a completely different role to anything I’ve done before. At this current moment in the Indian film industry, I suspect I’m too dark and don’t have enough connections to be offered anything. But to me there isn’t much distinction in the art of acting between English language films and other language films including Indian films. In the Tamil film industry, my favorite actors were Suriya, Jyothika and R Madhavan. In Bollywood, I’ve always liked Aamir Khan and Vidya Balan.