Meeting India, from India! Conversation with Queen Charlotte's India Amarteifio

As per all Netflix accounts the romantic period drama Queen Charlotte A Bridgerton Story premiegravered at number one pretty much across the world including India when it dropped online in May 2023And wersquore from India Therefore canrsquot resist soon as we meet the showrsquos eponymous lead actor India Amarteifio ldquoHey is there a story behind your namerdquoIndia is quick to respond ldquoI wish there was My parents had never been to India And apparently when I came out my mom said thatrsquos an Indianrdquo Which still doesnrsquot quite explain the global starrsquos name that has naturally piqued our interestUnless you consider ldquoMy mom is a big fan of RampB music and there is an artiste called India Arene so maybe it had something to do with it But I know a lot has to do with the country I should ask her thatrdquo That shersquoll actually call her mom to check makes this conversation special to us alreadyCorey Mylchreest and India Ria Amarteifio at Netflixrsquos Tudum event in Sao PauloWhat zaps us further still are the two Britishborn actors themselvesmdashCorey Mylchreest in particular who plays King George III in Queen Charlotte If yoursquove sat through the firstrate series yoursquod know the pictures of gravitas in the midst of turmoil they play on the showSeated beside us in Sao Paulo Brazil to participate in Netflixrsquos global fanevent Tudum Coreymdashadorably fidgeting fixing his posture before the cameramdashcould pass for any other fratboy whorsquod rather Netflix amp chill ideally with India Itrsquos kinda surreal to mentally adjust to this during the interviewldquoGen Z oh he hates that termrdquo India suggests for Corey as we imply how difficult it mustrsquove been to get into the frame of mind of young people alrightmdashbut from another era in a relationship drama Coming from a world of dating apps and hookup culturemdashdealing with childbearing and consummation on screen instead India was also in Sex Education 2019 for heavenrsquos sakeldquoIrsquod love to be a millennial but I am a Gen Zrdquo Corey sighs and adds ldquoSorry this is going to be an incredibly boring answer I donrsquot think there are generations defined in terms of dating apps or hookup culture And it wasnrsquot the difficult gap to bridgerdquoldquoThat wasnrsquot at the core of the onscreen relationship Making it about other thingsmdashthe duty the pressures theyrsquore fighting againstrdquoIndia helps him out ldquoThe show is a lot more emotionally driven and we are emotional people Exploring love which is not a straight roadmdashit contains multitudes It was quite refreshing to play characters in a culture that has no phones or people seeking social hype no pretencesrdquo ldquoNo social media cloutrdquo Corey chimes inThe aspect that matches their onscreen chemistry though is how Corey still looks in awe of India in lifemdashdirecting his answers at her for approval heaping praise on her specifically for how she aced the younger version of actor Golda Rosheauvel from Bridgerton also in Queen CharlotteldquoTherersquoll be those who wonrsquot agree butrdquo she sweetly butts in pointing out how she was precisely instructed by the ldquocreative team to take nothing from the actor playing the older version I have probably subconsciously imbibed some of Golda watching her as a fan on Bridgertonrdquo Their character graph over decades showsTo speak in journalese if it wasnrsquot for an exclusive conversation albeit a quick one with India herselfmdashwe may not have watched Queen Charlotte of Bridgerton ourselvesFor one itrsquos a spinoffprequel to Bridgertonmdasha series about London soirees matingwedding season singlessuitors all the modern updated Jane Austen stuff based on Julia Quinnrsquos novels A wildly popular fiction genre yes Yet not everybodyrsquos cup of light syrupy teaNothing quite prepares you then for Queen Charlotte also scripted by Shonda Rhimes Greyrsquos Anatomy mixing fact with fiction that is so much more lsquohistoryrsquo than lsquosocietyrsquoIt depressingly deals with mental health of King George III that Corey says he had to get right with research from books papers doctors ldquoThe job is to get as specific as possible and to give your heart to the subject and give the man a voicerdquoItrsquos not soapopera but just as massculture stillmdashyou can tell going by the Queen Charlotte pavilion next to Squid Games and Stranger Things at the Tudum lsquospoiler nightrsquo Netflixrsquos own ComicCon in Sao Paulo where fans gather around replicas of Queen Charlottersquos palace orange orchards and the Man Fridays Brimsley Reynolds ushering you inAt its base itrsquos the story of how black lives matter with a queen of colour taking charge Was Queen Charlotte really black While that changes British imperial history altogether itrsquos open to historical debate White Helen Mirren for instance played Queen Charlotte in the film The Madness of King George 1994India says ldquoHaving studied history in school I never knew that this was even a possibilitymdashitrsquos not surprising to me either that blacks have been erased from historyrdquoldquoItrsquos a question that Rhonda deals with brilliantly in the scriptmdashwhat if the British Queen had an African bloodline So not just a woman in power but a black woman Would it change how society ranWhat she shows is as relevant to society todayrdquoSpeaking of societies lastlymdashnot that India needs hosting we canrsquot help but invite her to the country shersquos named after Shersquos still never been ldquoItrsquos terrible I have to go I just have to gordquo