Netflix's Indian Matchmaking makes a much-misunderstood practice relatable

The Hollywood Reporter

The reality show whose title is exactly what it sounds like starring Mumbai-based marriage broker Sima Taparia "hits a winsome balance between genuine insight, gentle humor, cringe-inducing spectacle and heartwarming connection," says Inkoo Kang. "(Closer to Netflix's soft-lit and naturalistic Dating Around than Bravo's chintzy and braying Millionaire Matchmaker, Indian Matchmaking is a reality show with docuseries aspirations.) All the featured clients fall into types, but that's fine — the point of the show is the process of matchmaking." Kang adds: "Indian Matchmaking illustrates that arranged marriage — especially for young Indian Americans and wealthy Indians today — is a process as much as Western dating is, albeit with more serious intentions and a compressed timeline. Following seven of Sima's clients — men and women in their twenties and thirties, roughly half in the U.S. and half in India — the series makes relatable a much-misunderstood practice that's been forced to contend with shifting gender roles, modernizing criteria for matches and stiff competition from the romance of 'love marriage.'" Indian Matchmaking creator Smriti Mundhra wanted to clear up arranged marriages for those with an outdated perception. “For me this show is an opportunity to show what it really is ... the diversity in the diaspora," says Mundhra, the Oscar-nominated director of the 2017 documentary A Suitable Girl. "That we’re not a monolith. That we have all sorts of different backgrounds, different ideals and ideologies. But also, we don’t have to be defined by the stereotypes of our culture.” ALSO: Indian Matchmaking called out for too much emphasis on "fair" skin.