Netflix brought together diverse tastemakers to celebrate the launch of Bridgerton Season 2 and South Asian culture with lead Simone Ashley at Arth Bar & Kitchen in Culver City.
Hosted by Teen Vogue Editor-in-Chief Versha Sharma, the dinner event showcased a South Asian influenced culinary experience and conversations about cultural appreciation, and how diversity in entertainment can serve as inspiration and connection for society.
Arth’s Chef Sagar Ghosh treated guests to a Tamil Nadu inspired dinner menu in homage to Simone Ashley’s heritage, featuring vegan options made with Daring Foods Plant Chicken. A Bridgerton themed dessert was created by Hetal Vasavada from Milk and Cardamom with rose petals from the Tamil Nadu region of India.
Simone Ashley expressed her joy “to be standing here, sharing this space, celebrating beautiful, wonderful South Asian talent and culture. We’re normalizing this conversation in hopes that we’re creating opportunities for the years to come.”
The guests were overwhelmed with positive emotion. Kal Penn expressed that “this evening was so meaningful. It’s a celebration of an incredible show, from an incredible platform that understands the difference between tokenization and representation in a way that makes audiences of all backgrounds laugh, cry, and love. It’s an amazing thing to celebrate.”
Lilly Singh shared “tonight’s event meant so much to me. It is such a journey for me to feel like I have a community, and I have a place where I feel celebrated. It is so validating and everything that I want to see in the future.”
Versha Sharma reflected “this event was an absolute dream come true, to be with all of the incredible talent in this room. To be a part of this inspiring community that lifts each other up with intention and respect. It was a really beautiful experience and something I could not have imagined growing up. I’m thrilled that young people everywhere now have successful creatives like Simone, Kal and Lilly to look up to.”
Netflix stars in attendance included Never Have I Ever’s Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Poorna Jagannathan, Richa Moorjani, Definition Please’s Sujata Day and Ritesh Rajan, Special’s Punam Patel, and Bhaag Beanie Bhaag’s Swara Bhaskar. Additional guests included Lilly Singh, Kal Penn, Alok Menon, Liza Koshy, Sophia Ali, Anurima Bhargava, Nina Davuluri, Anjula Acharia, Payal Kadakia, Shruti Ganguly, Sana Amanat, and Gia Peppers, among others.
