MUMBAI: Everyone’s current favourite show Indian Matchmaking about a matchmaker from Mumbai who is catering to the high demands of potential brides and grooms and their parents, has triggered an online debate about arranged marriages in India. The eight-episode series, Indian Matchmaking, premiered on Netflix last week and is currently one of the most top-ranked shows. It features Sima Taparia, a real-life matchmaker, who offers her services to families in India and abroad.
Sima navigates through the series implying that arranged marriages in India are mostly guided by parents who want to find a "suitable match" for their children. The show has become the subject of memes, jokes, and criticism, and has triggered an online debate about the pickiness of the potential spouses and their parents, with long lists of demands centring around factors like caste, height or skin colour.
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The show "makes very clear how regressive Indian communities can be. Where sexism, casteism, and classism are a prevalent part of the process of finding a life partner," wrote a Twitter user. "The show is simply holding a mirror to the ugly society we are a part of," another user, wrote.
Created by Oscar-nominated director Smriti Mundhra, the show follows Sima Taparia's visits to the homes of families who want her to help find an ideal spouse. After understanding their criteria, she presents the resumes of prospective matches and then arranges for meetings. "The two families have their reputation and many millions of dollars at stake. So the parents guide their children," Taparia says at one point in the show, referring to some of her wealthier clients.
In the first episode titled Slim, Trim and Educated, we see Taparia sitting with an Indian mother. Just as she says: "So you want smart, outgoing, height ..." the mother interjects, "I won't even consider a girl below 5 feet 3 inches." The mother tells Taparia her son had received a lot of marriage proposals, but none have panned out because, in most cases, the prospective bride's education or height were not ideal.
While most people are left perplexed by the unrealistic standards the show sets and encourages, some have also praised the show for its honesty and treating its subjects respectfully, "The hate against it is, frankly, baffling, Indian Matchmaking is well on its way to becoming a cultural phenomenon," a Twitter user wrote.
SOURCE – PINKVILLA
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