And Just Like That, A Lehenga Was Mistaken To Be A Sari

We have officially stepped into the new year’s first cultural conversation. In case you missed Thursday night’s ‘And Just Like That’ episode or have it saved for a relaxing binge this weekend, let us give you a little insight on what went down.

As fans awaited Carrie Bradshaw’s cameo in the Falguni Shane Peacock 'lehenga' after a BTS picture shared on Instagram created excitement among them, the context was finally revealed in the latest episode. Carrie’s new friend and estate agent Seema invites her for the celebration of the festival of Diwali at her family home. While shopping for an outfit for this occasion, Seema specifically spells it out to Carrie that wearing an Indian outfit for the party would not be cultural appropriation but appreciation.

This presented the show the opportunity to diversify the very-white lives of the characters. But it was missed right away when they mistakenly kept calling a ’lehenga’ which is a long skirt and top set, a ‘sari’. It is confusing how this miswording took place under the nose of the many hired on set, including Seema who is played by Sarita Choudhary. This pushed the conversation on cultural appreciation to the back seat as the culture of ignorance took the wheel. It was like watching the Patil twins' Yule Ball from Harry Potter again. At least this time, it was designer.

During the Diwali season in 2021, Lilly Singh—the Canadian comedian of South Asian descent hosted a party in Los Angeles that saw a lot of famous American celebrities dressed in Indian designer wear by Papa Don’t Preach. The celebration of Indian wear by Liza Koshy, Richa Moorjani, Chrissy Teigen, John Legend, Priyanka Chopra, Nick Jonas, Mindy Kaling and many more was received well.

The American show came back with a purpose of reviving the characters and tracing their lives in today's day and time. However, throughout the series so far the script has pushed each of them into uncomfortable conversations that has made fans think that the characters had a nap through the evolution of New York's social scene. The awkward moments of realising how out of touch they are can be accepted as a learning curve. But if it were to be treated as an attempt to be inclusive, the last episode surely did not make the cut.