^{(Photo courtesy Teen Vogue/photography by Allyssa Heuze)}

British Tamil actress Charithra Chandran, one of the breakout stars of the hit Netflix show Bridgerton, told Teen Vogue that her “dream production” would be on the Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka, as she spoke on colourism and culture this week.

Speaking to Versha Sharma, the 25-year-old Oxford graduate brought up the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka when speaking about her dream projects and future roles.

“My dream production, whether I’m producing or starring in it, I’d love to make a film about the crisis in Sri Lanka with the Tamil population,” said Chandran. “I think it is so complex and nuanced: the situation with the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government, the genocide that happened. It’s something obviously near and dear to my heart because it’s my community.”

In her interview with Teen Vogue, Chandran spoke on how the casting of herself and fellow British Tamil Simone Ashley was important for darker-skinned South Asian women.

“Both actresses are Tamil and acknowledge the importance of seeing people like themselves onscreen,” writes Sharma.

“No one let me forget that I was dark-skinned growing up,” she told Teen Vogue. “My grandma was very light-skinned. Whenever we’d go around in India, they’d always say, ‘Oh, you’d be pretty if you had your grandmother’s coloring.’ ‘Shame about the color of her skin.’ ‘She’s pretty for being dark-skinned.’ All of these comments, all the time.”

“For me, colorism in some ways is more painful because it feels like a betrayal of your own,” Chandran said.

Read the full interview here.

Bridgerton is currently one of the most popular streaming shows in the world, breaking global records when it was first released on Netflix, with 193 million hours watched and becoming the most-watched show in 92 countries.